[6] The San Diego Toreros compete in NCAA Division I (FCS) as a member of the West Coast Conference.

The Most Reverend Charles F. Buddy, D.D., then bishop of the Diocese of San Diego and Reverend Mother Rosalie Hill, RSCJ, a Superior Vicaress of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, chartered the institution from resources drawn from their respective organizations on a stretch of land known as "Alcalá Park," named for Didacus of Alcalá.

Immaculate Heart closed at the end of 1968, when its building was renamed De Sales Hall; St. Francis remained open until 1970, when it was transferred to another location on campus, leaving all of the newly named Bishop Leo T. Maher Hall to the newly merged co-educational University of San Diego in 1972.

That same year, the student body approved plans for a renovation and expansion of the Hahn University Center which began at the end of 2007.

The Hahn University Center is now home to administrative offices, meeting and event spaces, and a restaurant and wine bar, La Gran Terazza.

[14] Alcalá Park sits atop the edge of a mesa overlooking Mission Bay and provides stunning panoramic views of San Diego.

The philosophy of USD's founder and her fellow religious relied on the belief that studying in beautiful surroundings could improve the educational experience of students.

Thus, the university's buildings are designed in a 16th-century Plateresque architecture, a style of the Spanish Renaissance, paying homage to both San Diego's Catholic heritage[clarification needed] and the Universidad de Alcalá in Spain.

Also, the Pacific Ocean, San Diego Bay, the Coronado Islands and La Jolla are visible from the campus.

Carnegie gives this ranking to “institutions that awarded at least 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees and had at least $5 million in total research expenditures (as reported through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Higher Education Research & Development Survey (HERD)).” The School of business was recently renamed to Knauss School of Business after Don Knauss announced to increase the philanthropic giving to the university to $50 million as an investment in educating ethical and compassionate business leaders[17] USD was ranked 47th in the WSJ/College Pulse 2025 Best Colleges in the U.S.,[25] an annual ranking that rates the top 500 universities in the country.

USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States.

[15] In 2021, The Princeton Review ranked the University of San Diego 6th in Most Beautiful Campus, 8th in Best Quality of life, 14th in Most Popular Study Abroad Program, and 18th in Green Colleges.