The University of the Pacific is an elite private higher education institution located in Stockton near San Francisco, California, in the southern part of the United States. Its foundation date is considered to be 1851, when California Wesleyan College was established in Santa Clara. Later, in 1871, it was transferred to San Jose, and since 1923 the college is located in Stockton. For 50 years the institution was called the College of the Pacific, and only in 1961 received the status of a university. It is considered the first independent academic institution in California. It is home to the West Coast’s oldest bastion of medical education as well as the first conservatory of music. The university is an accredited institution by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). This prestigious place of education is permanently present in various ratings on quite high positions.