<p>Since you asked, I guess a few specifics are:
- Already mentioned location. The city of Stockton recently filed bankruptcy, and despite the citys monumental efforts to revive the downtown area, there isnt much to see or do there that you wouldnt otherwise be able to do in a different, and cleaner, location. I lived there for 6+ years, so believe me when I say the city mostly has that worn out look to it. The only real interest in downtown for college age students might be the new area at the Port where you can see AAA baseball and ice hockey. They do have the asparagus festival every year (which is the only thing I return for, besides my parents still living there), and thats kind of cool. Every time I drive in from I-5 I smell a distinct odor of dog food and indeed Ive been told theres some dog food factory off the highway just before you reach the Southern border (French Camp area).</p>
<p>Alternatively, Santa Clara is cleaner, smaller, and more centrally located to the greater SF Bay Area. Closer drive to either SF or LA during a long weekend. This is where I live now! Ive driven from SC to Disneyland in one nights drive. I also recently drove to SF, visited Coit Tower (again), dined at my favorite Fishermans Warf spot, and watched the Broadways Lion King all in one afternoon/evening. So its safe to say there is plenty to do a little ways outside of the city, let alone what is almost inside the border. Ive even driven from SC to Vegas in a days time. Paramounts Great America is right there, and supposedly sometime in the near future they will have the new 49er stadium complete. CalTrain station right near campus can get you to the 3rd & King stop in SF in about 1 hour perfect spot to be let off for Giants games at AT&T Park. To get to the park from Stockton, yous have to drive to Pleasanton or somewhere first to catch BART (CalTrain nor BART run as far as Stockton).</p>
<p>But seriously visit both campuses if possible. The UOP campus itself is awesome and the church there blows the Santa Clara Mission out of the water.</p>
<ol>
<li>Endowment and Financials. UOP endowment is ~$200M with 3500 undergrads. SCU endowment is ~$700M with 5000 undergrads. However, Im actually a numbers nut and I like to point out that endowment doesnt exactly paint an accurate picture of the schools finances. For example, per the Presidents Reports for each school - UOP Revenue from Tuition for 2011 was $200M, and they gave $56M, or 28%, back as an expense toward Financial Aid, going to helping students affording to attend. SCU Revenue from Tuition for 2011 was $270M, and gave $63M, or 23%, as an expense toward Financial Aid. Therefore, it may be viewed that while SCU has a bigger endowment, they are spending less of it as a percentage toward helping students afford attending there.</li>
</ol>
<p>Also, while their endowment ends have a $500M difference, their total Revenues for 2011 were $318M (UOP) and $355M (SCU), so a relatively smaller difference of $37M. If I were looking for a school that appeared to dilute their funds in a more equitable way and managed their finances well, I would look towards UOP, and not SCU.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>National Recognition. I dont have much to say in regards to this, as its hard for me to recall a time Ive heard someone mention either school outside of the greater CA Bay Area and San Joaquin Valley.</p></li>
<li><p>Rankings. I think theyre almost worthless, but heres the facts: UOP has consistently ranked in the top 100 or just outside of it (low of the current 106) for National universities, which are classified differently from Regional universities where SCU consistently ranks 2nd in the West region states West of Colorado. Interestingly enough though UOP and SCU ranked 2nd and 1st respectively by PayScales most recent analysis for highest paid undergrads in the West. Guess you cant go wrong either way for that one.</p></li>
<li><p>Programs and Academics. Very generally, UOP is more solidified for health careers with schools of Dentistry and Pharmacy, but SCU does have highly recognized (state-wide at least) schools for Business and Engineering. Both have highly reputable Law Schools. SCU has a school of Theology, of which UOP does not, but UOP has a more dedicated school of Education for credentialing teachers. Greek life plays a bigger role at UOP than SCU as SCU does not officially recognize the Greek societies, though they exist to a capacity. Sports will be much bigger at UOP. Some people dont agree with my view of this since SCU is in the WCC, the West Coast Conference consisting of 9 member schools that play throughout 4 different states (and therefore people assume more notoriety because of the farther travel), but all members of the WCC are private schools and all do not have a football team. Being private they all have student bodies less than 10,000 (with BYU as the exception). Not all students go to athletic events and that creates lower turnout for attendance. UOP on the other hand is in the Big West Conference and is the only private school member of the 16 members all in California. Each member has a student body of at least 20,000 (UOP is the only exception). Watching and playing games with UOP proves to be much more exciting when a few thousand are in attendance rather than a few hundred.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>But alas, UOP will rejoin their peers in the WCC after this academic year (2012-2013), but coming from a bigger attendance conference I predict their momentum will keep going within their athletics, at least for the near future.</p>
<p>Summary:
Location, SCU
Financials, UOP
Recognition, Tie
Rankings, Tie
Academics, depends on what you intend to do
Sports, UOP even though they will be rejoining the WCC after this year</p>
<p>Thats all Ive got for now, unless you can get more specific.</p>