Soka University of America

Soka University of America occupies a hilltop campus in Aliso Viejo, California, located between Los Angeles and San Diego in Orange County. The private liberal arts institution, founded in 2001, emerged from Japanese-Buddhist principles of peace and human potential, though it operates as a secular university. The 103-acre Mediterranean-style campus features environmentally conscious architecture and overlooks the Pacific Ocean, with all undergraduate students required to live in on-campus residence halls throughout their four years. The university maintains a selective admission process and offers a single Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree with concentrations in Environmental Studies, Humanities, International Studies, Life Sciences, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. A defining feature of Soka's curriculum is its mandatory study abroad program, requiring all students to spend one semester in their junior year studying in a country where their chosen foreign language is spoken.