University of San Francisco (USF) supplemental essays
Yes, for some applicants. Every University of San Francisco (USF) supplement in 2026-27 depends on the college or program you apply to. Common App. Personal statement required (250-650 words).
Early Action closes November 1, 2026 and Regular Decision closes January 15, 2027. Every University of San Francisco (USF) prompt is printed on this page in full, with its word limit and who has to answer it, checked against the college’s own admissions page.
Deadlines
| Round | Date |
|---|---|
| Early Action | November 1, 2026 |
| Regular Decision | January 15, 2027 |
Checked against www.usfca.edu/admission/undergraduate/first-year. Confirm on the college’s own page before you submit.
The essays, 2026-27
Required for nursing (BSN) applicants only; not required for any other major · no more than 200 words (limit is stated by CollegeVine as 50-200 words and by Scholarships360 as 200 words; USF's own page states no limit)
What will be your responsibility to others as a Jesuit-educated, BSN professional registered nurse?
USF calls this a 'Short Answer Question (Nursing Only)' delivered 'In the USF supplement to the Common App'. CollegeVine's lead-in for it reads: 'We are interested in learning more about your desire to pursue a Nursing (BSN) degree. Please respond to the prompt below with a response of no more than 200 words.'
Short answer. Paste it on the homepage and we will read it.
Your University of San Francisco checklist
No supplement every applicant writes: which ones you write depends on your college or program. The first deadline, Early Action, is November 1, 2026.
- Common App personal statementRequired250-650 words
- One program-specific promptOnly if you apply to the college or program it names. All printed in full above.
It saves these rows to your essay manager, where each one carries a status you set yourself and the prompt stays attached to it. Add your other schools and they land on the same page, in deadline order. Nothing written yet? The topic quiz is free as well.
Free: this page, the checklist, the essay manager and the topic quiz. Paid: a written review of a finished draft, $49 an essay.
Paste your essay for a free read
Have it in a document? or drop one here (Word, PDF, or Text).
Not sure what a review is? What an AI college essay review can and cannot do, and what a college essay grader leaves out. What the read checks against University of San Francisco (USF)’s own prompts is on the University of San Francisco (USF) essay review page.
Getting into University of San Francisco (USF)
University of San Francisco (USF) admits 61.7% of applicants. The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 1190-1390 on the SAT and 25-30 on the ACT.
About 6 in 10 applicants are admitted, at a college of 5,287 undergraduates.
| Enrolled students | 25th | Median | 75th |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAT total | 1190 | 1290 | 1390 |
| SAT reading and writing | 610 | 650 | 700 |
| SAT math | 580 | 640 | 690 |
| ACT composite | 25 | 28 | 30 |
What SAT score do you need for University of San Francisco (USF)?
A 1390 puts you in the top quarter of the students who enrolled, a 1290 at their midpoint, and a 1190 at the bottom quarter, meaning one in four enrolled students scored below it. The same three points on the ACT are 25, 28 and 30. A quarter of an enrolled class scoring under the 25th percentile is not a rounding error, so a score below the range is a reason to strengthen the rest of the application rather than a reason not to apply.
US Department of Education, College Scorecard (2026-09-17). Percentiles describe students who enrolled, not everyone admitted. SAT totals are the reading and math bands added together, which is how every source in this market reports them and is an approximation of about 10 to 20 points, because the two sections are correlated.
- What SAT score do you need for University of San Francisco (USF)?
- University of San Francisco (USF) sets no minimum. Among students who enrolled, the middle 50% scored 1190-1390 on the SAT: a 1190 sits at the 25th percentile, 1290 at the median and 1390 at the 75th. A score at or above 1390 is a clear strength in the application; below 1190 it is the part of the file the rest has to make up for. These are the figures University of San Francisco (USF) reports to the US Department of Education, released in the College Scorecard of 2026-09-17.
- What ACT score do you need for University of San Francisco (USF)?
- The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 25-30 on the ACT, with a composite of 28 at the median. There is no cutoff: a quarter of the enrolled class scored below 25. Reported by University of San Francisco (USF) to the US Department of Education, College Scorecard release of 2026-09-17.
- What GPA do you need for University of San Francisco (USF)?
- The honest answer is that the federal data behind this page does not contain one. Colleges report their admit rate and their enrolled students' test scores to the Department of Education; they do not report a GPA distribution, so any site quoting an exact average GPA for University of San Francisco (USF) is either reading that college's own Common Data Set or estimating. What the reported data does say is that University of San Francisco (USF) admits 61.7% of applicants, and the more selective a college is, the closer to the top of the class its admitted students sit and the more the strength of your course load counts alongside the number itself.
- How hard is it to get into University of San Francisco (USF)?
- University of San Francisco (USF) admits 61.7% of the people who apply, which is about 6 in 10 applicants. Numbers inside the reported range put you in a real position here, and the application itself decides the rest.
What University of San Francisco (USF) costs after grant aid, by family income, from the same federal data.
Sort your whole college list into reaches, targets and likelies, or find colleges that fit your GPA and test scores. Both are free and neither needs an account.
University of San Francisco (USF) essay questions, answered
- Does University of San Francisco (USF) have supplemental essays?
- Yes, for some applicants. Every University of San Francisco (USF) supplement in 2026-27 depends on the college or program you apply to. Every prompt is printed in full on this page.
- How many essays do you write for University of San Francisco (USF) in 2026-27?
- It depends on the college or program you apply to. University of San Francisco (USF) sets no supplement every applicant writes in 2026-27; the prompts on this page name who each one is for.
Schools with similar admit rates
University of San Francisco (USF) admits 61.7% of applicants. The colleges either side of it in our set by admit rate, most selective first, each with its own prompts and deadlines: University of New Hampshire (UNH) (60.4%), Penn State University (60.6%), Ohio State University (60.6%), Sarah Lawrence College (61.7%), The College of New Jersey (62.3%), Pepperdine University (62.9%).