Choosing a College at UCSD

Graduation Requirements in the UCSD Colleges

One of the features that sets UC San Diego apart from most major universities in the United States is its family of undergraduate colleges: Revelle, John Muir, Thurgood Marshall, Earl Warren, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Sixth.

The division of the campus community into small colleges was patterned after the concept which has served Oxford and Cambridge so successfully for centuries. The planners of the UCSD campus were convinced that students learn more, and find greater fulfillment in their personal lives, when joined academically and socially with a relatively small group of students. At the same time, the advantages of size in a university, including a faculty of international renown, first-rate teaching and research facilities, laboratories, libraries, and other amenities, were to be an important part of the design.

The result was an arrangement which combined the academic advantages of a large research university with the finest features of a small liberal arts college—the UCSD college system. Each of these semi-autonomous undergraduate colleges has its own residence facilities, staff, traditions, general-education requirements, and distinctive educational philosophy. The system was inaugurated with the opening of Revelle College in 1964. In the intervening years, five more colleges—John Muir, Thurgood Marshall, Earl Warren, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Sixth—have been established. Although many American university campuses have a separate college structure, in most cases, these colleges are designed to serve specific disciplines, such as engineering or business administration. At UCSD, however, any undergraduate may select from the full range of majors available. The choice of a college is not based on your major, but on your preferences in terms of the various educational philosophies and environments offered by the colleges.

UCSD’s college system allows undergraduates to choose from among six distinct general- education curricula supplementing their major requirements. These curricula range from a very structured liberal arts program to a program with a broad range of electives. By contrast, most universities offer only one general- education curriculum.

Students must rank the colleges in order of preference when applying for admission. Brief summaries of the various college curricula and philosophies follow. Later in this section, these variations are spelled out in considerable detail, college by college.

Revelle College Programmatic Theme

Revelle College stresses the broad character of general education. A structured liberal arts curriculum establishes a strong educational foundation for any major. All students complete a highly respected core humanities sequence and courses in the arts and social sciences. Students either meet proficiency in a foreign language or complete the fourth quarter of college-level instruction. All students also complete sequences in calculus and science, with separate courses available for science and non-science majors. Throughout the final two years, students concentrate on developing professional competence in an academic discipline.

Revelle College is distinguished by its emphasis on specific general-education requirements and high academic standards. A high percentage of Revelle College students enroll in graduate or professional schools (law, medicine, management, etc.), graduate with double majors, design individualized interdisciplinary majors, work on a research project, and graduate with university honors.

John Muir College Programmatic Theme

John Muir College has established a set of general-education and graduation requirements that ensures breadth and depth of learning and encourages the students of the college to take an active role in their own intellectual development. Students complete four year-long sequences drawn from the social sciences; the natural sciences or mathematics; and two sequences out of the following three areas: the humanities, fine arts, or foreign languages. Many choices are available for each of these year-long sequences. Students complete two analytical writing courses in addition to the four year-long sequences. Muir has a one-course U.S. cultural diversity graduation requirement in addition to a minimum number of 18 upper-division four-unit courses (72 upper-division units) among the 180 units required to graduate.

Muir’s general-education and graduation requirements accommodate a wide range of interests and aptitudes. Muir’s academic advisors meet with students on a one-to-one basis to help students make informed decisions. The general structure and options of the general-education requirements make Muir College particularly attractive to exceptionally able and well-prepared students with well-defined or developing academic interests.

John Muir is distinguished by its atmosphere of friendliness, informality, and deep concern for the rights and welfare of others. Concern for one’s fellow students goes well with Muir’s educational philosophy, which stresses individual choice and development. The environment thus created fosters responsibility for informed academic decisions, consequences of academic choices, and, ultimately, well-rounded students.

Thurgood Marshall College Programmatic Theme

The dedicated focus of Thurgood Marshall College is the active development of the student as scholar and citizen. The college, a small liberal arts and sciences community, is characterized by an open, friendly environment in which students pursue any major in the natural and physical sciences, social sciences, engineering, humanities, and fine arts offered at the university.

The college’s educational philosophy is guided by the belief that, regardless of a student’s major, a broad liberal arts education must include an awareness and understanding of the diversity of cultures that comprise contemporary American society, and the richness that socio-cultural diversity brings to the lives of American people.

Integral to the Marshall experience is the unique, three-quarter core sequence, “Dimensions of Culture—Diversity, Justice, and Imagination.” This interdisciplinary, issues-oriented curricular experience explores both the diversity of American experiences across race, religion, class, and gender, and also the shared resources all Americans draw on when their different identities and interests conflict. Students also choose courses in mathematics or logic, natural/physical sciences, writing, humanities, and fine arts to fulfill general-education requirements.

In addition to the strong academic program, Thurgood Marshall College is proud of its emphasis on the student as citizen. Students are encouraged to integrate educational alternatives and public service opportunities, such as Partners at Learning (PAL), for which they earn academic credit, into their curriculum. Through PAL and other options, such as study abroad, internships, public service and leadership activities, students develop skills learned in the classroom and apply them to real-world experiences. Toward that end, the Student Leadership Program is especially designed to encourage active participation in the governance of the college and in community service.

Thurgood Marshall College’s hallmark is community, where students are encouraged to be active participants in their university education and take advantage of the abundance of opportunities to learn and develop as exemplary scholars and citizensin a multicultural twenty-first century.

Earl Warren College Programmatic Theme

Earl Warren College was founded in 1974 and named in honor of the former governor of California and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Consistent with Earl Warren’s principles, the college is committed to preparing students for life intellectually, socially, and professionally as responsible citizen-scholars. Warren’s guiding philosophy, “Toward a Life in Balance,” helps students define their individual educational and career paths. The college strives to provide all students with an experience that underscores the harmony necessary between academic and cocurricular endeavours.

Earl Warren’s focus on the individual’s relationship with society is reflected in the required course Ethics and Society. This class examines ethical principles and their social and political applications to contemporary issues. All students enroll in the two-quarter Warren College Writing Program, which stresses written argumentation based on primary and secondary sources. The college sponsors two interdisciplinary minors, open to all UCSD undergraduates. The law and society minor emphasizes the interrelationship of legal, social, and ethical issues in their historical context. The health care-social issues minor analyzes complex social and ethical implications of healthcare policies and delivery systems. Additionally, Warren College is home to the Academic Internship Program, which offers qualified UCSD juniors and seniors the chance to acquire valuable work experience related to academic and career interests.

Warren College’s general-education requirements and academic philosophy guarantee that students will acquire both the breadth and depth nececssary to successfully compete in graduate school, professional school, or the workplace. The college’s requirements include a major and two additional programs of study that encompass academic areas outside of a student’s major. Additional courses in formal skills and cultural diversity provide an essential educational complement. Warren students are encouraged to pursue academic internships as well as study abroad; both opportunities create well-rounded students with heightened cultural and intellectual curiosity. Earl Warren College offers students flexibility in fulfilling their general-education requirements, and provides a vibrant and welcoming home for the pursuit of rigorous academic study and personal growth.

Eleanor Roosevelt College Programmatic Theme

Eleanor Roosevelt College (ERC) emphasizes a comprehensive general education designed to prepare students to compete successfully in the global and multicultural economy of the twenty-first century. Successful professional people will need to understand their own cultural heritage as well as those of people from other societies with whom they will be interacting in their workplaces and communities.

The perspectives gained at ERC prepare students well for the future, whatever their goals and their major field of study, and whether they plan to go on to graduate school, professional school, or the worlds of science and technology, business, or the arts.

At the core of the curriculum are six courses comprising The Making of the Modern World (MMW). This interdisciplinary sequence was developed by faculty from anthropology, history, literature, political science, and sociology. It teaches students to think historically and analytically, as well as across disciplines, about both Western and non-Western societies, and the ways humans have organized their experience in different places and times.

ERC students receive exposure to natural science, quantitative methods, foreign language, and fine arts, and each selects a geographic region for in-depth study. Interested students are encouraged and assisted in finding ways to study, work, or travel in other countries to expand their horizons.

A friendly and supportive campus community, ERC is also distinguished by its emphasis on helping each individual reach his or her full potential intellectually, and in those skills, contributing to effective participation and leadership.

As Eleanor Roosevelt wrote, “Whether or not they have made the world they live in, the young must learn to be at home in it, to be familiar with it. They must understand its history, its peoples, their customs and ideas and problems and aspirations.” ERC students and graduates find themselves as much “at home” in the world as any of their generation, and more than most!

Sixth College Programmatic Theme

Sixth College opened in 2002. As the newest college at UCSD, Sixth is characterized by a spirit of creativity and collaboration. The college theme, Culture, Art, and Technology, embraces the rich opportunities available in new interdisciplinary approaches to learning and practice. In doing so, it bridges the divisions traditionally separating social and natural science, humanities, technology, and the arts. By piloting educational initiatives and building partnerships with such groups as the Center for Telecommunication and Information Technology (Calit2), the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts, the Jacobs School of Engineering, and the University Events Office, we are developing opportunities for our students to participate in meaningful creative learning experiences across the entire campus, as well as the larger community. A supportive yet challenging integrated learning environment, both in and out of the classroom, helps our students develop the cultural competence and understanding necessary to become fully engaged, effective global citizens in the twenty-first century.

Sixth College’s theme is woven into an educational philosophy and curriculum intended to prepare students for a future that demands ethical integrity, creativity, self-understanding, critical reasoning, appreciation of the powers and implications of science and technology, and flexibility. Students will learn interactive skills and approaches needed for success in an increasingly global society: teamwork, cross-cultural understanding, strong writing and multimedia communication skills, and information technology fluency.

All students must complete the three-quarter core sequence in Culture, Art, and Technology (CAT). The sequence, with its imbedded writing program, develops our students’ abilities to achieve a reflexive understanding of themselves and their society by approaching issues and problems from interdisciplinary perspectives. It examines the foundations, historical interactions, and future possibilities of culture, art, and technology in relation to the problems and potentials afforded by human nature and the larger environment on which we depend. The Sixth College breadth requirements build on the core approach by including courses in art making and information technology fluency, as well as social science, humanities, natural science, mathematics and logic, and statistical methods. The curriculum culminates in a capstone experience that offers our students the opportunity to engage with the real world in a meaningful way through a self-directed, community- or team-based practicum project followed by an upper-division writing course in which they will reflect on the significance of their practicum project for their entire educational experience at UCSD.

College Administration

The provost is a faculty member who acts as the college's chief administrative officer and academic dean. In addition to the provost, each college has a dean of academic advising and a dean of student life.

The academic departments and the college academic advising offices are designated campus units responsible for providing official academic advice and direction to undergraduate students. The college academic advising staff have primary responsibility for providing academic advice and services that assist new and continuing students in developing educational plans and course schedules which are compatible with their interests, academic preparation, and career goals.

The college academic advising offices conduct academic orientation/enrollment programs for all new students and advise continuing students about college general-education and graduation requirements. The advising staff of each college provide general academic and curricular information, clarify academic rules and regulations, review all aspects of academic probation, monitor academic progress, assist students with decision-making strategies, and give information about prerequisites and screening criteria for majors. In conjunction with the academic departments and the Office of the Registrar, the advising offices certify students for graduation and facilitate their academic adjustment to the university.

Moreover, college academic advisors are available to counsel students about educational alter- natives; selection of courses and majors; program changes; new academic opportunities; and special programs such as exchange programs, honors programs, outreach programs, etc.

With a central concern for student development, dean’s staff members provide a variety of nonacademic services such as coordinating educational and social programs; overseeing residential programs; assisting students with decisions and procedures regarding withdrawal from school; coordinating disciplinary procedures, both academic and social; and making referrals to other student services on campus. (See also “Student Services and Programs.“)

Whatever the question or concern, the provost and his or her staff stand ready at all times to assist undergraduates.

Phi Beta Kappa

The UCSD chapter of Phi Beta Kappa elects student members on the basis of high scholastic achievement in academic programs emphasizing the liberal arts and sciences. Phi Beta Kappa was founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary in Virginia and is the oldest, most prestigious, academic honor society in America. See also “Honors” in the index.

Honors

Each college awards honors to outstanding students on the basis of criteria approved by the Academic Senate. These honors are posted on students’ transcripts and noted on their diplomas. For further details, see “Honors” in the index.

Transfer Students

Students transferring to UCSD must complete the requirements of the chosen undergraduate college. Students are strongly advised to complete all lower-division preparation for the major prior to enrollment at UCSD. The college academic advising staff will review the transfer course work for applicability to general-education and college graduation requirements. Students are encouraged to choose carefully the UCSD undergraduate college which best fits their general-education program or course work. Academic departments will review courses applicable to students’ majors. See Undergraduate Admissions, Policies and Procedures, “University of California Transfer Agreement.”