Introduction

Undergraduate Departments
Departmental Undergraduate Majors

History

UC San Diego is one of the ten campuses which make up the University of California system. The other campuses are located in Berkeley, Davis, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Los Angeles, Irvine, and Merced. Each has its own distinct academic and social character, and each offers programs and facilities which set it off from the others.

As a member of the ten-campus family of the University of California, UCSD is a university in scale and scope. Graduate and undergraduate programs, offered in a wide range of disciplines, lead to the bachelor’s, master’s, M.B.A., Ed.D., M.D., Ph.D., and Pharm.D. degrees. UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography is internationally renowned, and UCSD’s School of Medicine has won national acclaim for excellence. UCSD’s Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies is the only school of international affairs in the UC system. The UCSD Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmecutical Sciences enrolled its charter class in 2002, and the Rady School of Management enrolled Executive MBA students in 2004 and full-time students in 2005. At both the undergraduate and graduate levels, UCSD’s curricula and programs have been highly ranked in recent surveys of American higher education.

UCSD enrolled its first undergraduates in 1964. Nevertheless, the campus can trace its origins in this area as far back as the late 1800s. At that time, zoologists on the Berkeley campus, seeking a suitable location for a marine field station, found La Jolla a very desirable site. The facility they established became a part of the University of California in 1912 and was eventually named the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In the late 1950s, when the Regents of the University of California decided to situate a general campus in the San Diego region, the Scripps Institution formed the nucleus of the new campus.

Today UCSD is recognized throughout the academic world for its faculty and for its graduate and undergraduate programs. The faculty now includes eight Nobel laureates (four of whom hold joint appointments with the nearby Salk Institute); three recipients of the National Medal of Science; one winner of the Pulitzer Prize; sixty-three members of the National Academy of Sciences; eighty-two Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; fourteen Fellows of the American Philosophical Society; eight fellows of the Econometric Society; fourteen members of the National Academy of Engineering; five members of the International Academy of Astronautics; twenty-five members of the Institute of Medicine; and three members of the National Academy of Education.

UCSD houses a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the best-known honor society for the liberal arts and sciences in America. The campus is one of 265 four-year institutions selected for this distinction since the society was founded in 1776, and more than 200 current faculty and staff are members.

UCSD is a member of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and is fully accredited by the Senior College Commission of WASC. WASC is located at 985 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 100, Alameda, CA 94501, and may be reached at (510) 748-9001 or by fax at (510) 748-9797.

University and Community

There are certain facts about UCSD to consider in making your choice. Among them are:

Major Fields of Study

UCSD offers a wide variety of nationally recognized majors in a broad array of fields, see Departmental Undergraduate Majors. (For a listing of graduate programs, refer to the section of this catalog titled “Graduate Studies.”)

For academic departments of UCSD see Undergraduate Departments. Details and requirements of the various individual courses are found in the “Courses, Curricula, and Programs of Instruction” section.

UCSD has limited the number of its academic departments. For example, there is only one Department of Literature. This system has proved especially valuable to undergraduates who choose to avoid overspecialization early in their studies.

A number of special, individually oriented programs use the combined resources of two or more departments. Among these are Chinese Studies, Classical Studies, Computing and the Arts, Critical Gender Studies, Environmental Systems, Human Development, German Studies, International Studies, Italian Studies, Japanese Studies, Judaic Studies, Latin American Studies, Study of Religion, Russian and Soviet Studies, the Education Studies Program, Third World Studies, and Urban Studies and Planning.

Engineering students may choose from a number of majors in the Department of Bioengineering (BE), the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), the Department of NanoEngineering, or the Department of Structural Engineering (SE). All six departments seek to educate the engineer of tomorrow.

Undergraduates interested in premedicine and prelaw majors should note that a variety of departments can serve their needs. For premed students, the common choices are biology, chemistry, psychology, and bioengineering. Some students are electing double majors or are combining nontraditional majors with science majors. For prelaw students, nearly any undergraduate major will qualify a student for admission to a law school.

Should you need help in deciding on a major, many UCSD professionals are available to aid you. Among them are the deans of academic advising in the provosts’ offices of the six colleges, faculty members, and departmental advisors. Additional specialists in Career Services Center and in Psychological and Counseling Services are available to help you appraise your personal aptitudes.

Summer Session

UCSD offers Summer Session, consisting of courses selected from the regular undergraduate curriculum and taught by UCSD faculty. UCSD is in transition toward state-supported year-round instruction.

The Summer Session Program offers open enrollment to UCSD students, students of other colleges and universities, qualified high school juniors and seniors, and the general public.

Summer Session courses are shorter and more intensive. Students may be able to progress more rapidly toward their degree, make up course deficiencies, or explore new areas of study.

Summer Session enrollment and registration policy and procedures are available at
http://summersession.ucsd.edu. UC students pay a per-unit fee equivalent to the fee paid for fall,
winter, or spring.

Contact summer@ucsd.edu or call 858.534.5258.

What UCSD Does NOT Offer

Although the range and variety of programs offered at UCSD are very wide, there are certain disciplines which are not available on this campus. In some instances, the absence of a particular program reflects the academic philosophy of the UCSD campus and its faculty. In others, the absence of a curriculum is temporary, awaiting the availability of funds, personnel, or facilities before a program can be offered. In still others, programs have not been included which would, in the university’s judgment, unnecessarily duplicate comparable offerings on other UC campuses or at other institutions.

Among undergraduate majors currently not available at UCSD are:

  1. Business.
  2. Oceanography. UCSD offers strong training in oceanography through the undergraduate minor in marine science offered through the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The marine science minor is designed to complement the strong disciplinary training of UCSD basic science majors (i.e., chemistry, physics, biology, earth science) and, as such, provides students a strong foundation for careers or graduate work in oceanography.
  3. Nursing.
  4. Industrial Arts.
  5. Journalism. Although no major in journalism is offered, the Department of Literature offers a major in writing that can emphasize journalistic writing, and the development of writing skills is stressed in many disciplines. Many courses offered in the humanities and social sciences will provide the kind of broad-based preparation needed by practicing journalists. Several student newspapers are published on campus, providing ample “laboratory” opportunities for students to practice journalism.
  6. Geography.
  7. Physical Education. Note: There is no intercollegiate football team at UCSD.

The Colleges of UCSD

UCSD undergraduates enjoy the benefits of a great university without the disadvantages of bigness found in many of today’s mega-universities. The master plan conceived by UCSD’s planners borrowed from the Oxford and Cambridge concept to provide a family of colleges, each with its own special academic and social flavor. UCSD’s students gain a sense of belonging through affiliation with one of the campus’s semiautonomous colleges.

There are six colleges: Revelle, John Muir, Thurgood Marshall, Earl Warren, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Sixth College. Each is independent, yet all are interrelated: all university academic and support facilities are available to all students, regardless of their college affiliation.

Each college has its own educational philosophies and traditions, its own set of general-education requirements, and its own administrative and advising staff. The objective is to give students and faculty the advantages of a small, liberal arts college combined with the best features of a major university.

Students applying to UCSD should select a college in order of their preference.

Details regarding the individual colleges are given in the “Choosing a College at UCSD” section of the catalog.

Recreation at UCSD

UCSD’s undergraduate colleges are situated on a parklike site at La Jolla. La Jolla has some of the finest beaches and coves, art galleries, and other attractions in the nation.

Much of UCSD’s recreational and social life centers on the waterfront, with surfing, SCUBA diving, and beach activities among the favorite diversions of UCSD students. Throughout the area, students find a variety of amusements, ranging from the small-town atmosphere of waterfront Del Mar to the primitive wilderness of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.

The city of San Diego, some twelve miles south of the campus, offers a wide range of recreational opportunities, including Old Town (California’s birthplace), Sea World on Mission Bay, and the world-famous San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. A year-round calendar of major league sporting events is offered in the city’s Sports Arena, PETCO Park, and in San Diego Qualcomm Stadium.

There are numerous theaters in San Diego. A year-round program of contemporary and classical professional theater may be enjoyed in the Old Globe and the adjacent Cassius Carter Centre Stage, and special summer theater fare is featured on the park’s outdoor Festival Stage.

On-campus entertainment includes a year-round series of movies and cultural programs, dances, chamber music, and rock-band concerts sponsored by the University Events Office. The Department of Theatre and Dance presents plays in both the 500-seat Mandell Weiss Theatre and the 500-seat Forum Theatre. The Department of Visual Arts offers a continuing series of art shows in the Mandeville Art Gallery and displays of student art in other campus galleries.

Informal meeting places on campus are hubs of student activity throughout the day and evening, among them the Muir Rathskeller, Marshall College Mountain View Lounge, and the Price Center.

Mountains, Deserts, and Beaches

Many Southern Californians enjoy the out-of-doors. The San Diego metropolitan area enjoys the most comfortable year-round climate in the United States.

Fishing opportunities are plentiful offshore in kelp beds west of La Jolla and surrounding the Coronado Islands in Mexican waters. Fresh water fishing is available in nearby lakes. An hour’s drive to the east, the Laguna Mountains provide pleasure during all seasons for campers and hikers. Beyond the Lagunas lies the vast Anza-Borrego Desert with its breathtaking display of wildflowers every spring.

The peninsula of Baja California, one of the world’s last great wilderness areas, stretches for 900 miles southward from the international gateway at Tijuana. It is the site every year of the grueling Baja cross-country auto race.

Sports at UCSD

Through its intercollegiate athletic and intramural programs, UCSD provides its students with one of the more extensive and competitive sports programs in the United States. UCSD fields a wide variety intercollegiate athletic teams along with several club sports teams, while the intramural program provides for student competition in a wide variety of sports in three categories of play: men, women, and coed.

Need More Information?
Check the Following:

How do I apply for admission? See page Undergraduate Admissions, Policies & Procedures. (See also "Note," below.)

How much does a UCSD education cost? See "Fees and Expenses," under Undergraduate Admissions, Policies & Procedures.

What's the grading system at UCSD? See "Grading Policy under Academic Regulations

How should I decide which college to choose at UCSD? See page Choosing a College at UCSD.

What services and facilities are available to students at UCSD? See Campus Services and Facilities.

Where do I write for more information? See Correspondence Directory.

Note: An admissions packet for students interested in applying to UCSD can be obtained from any California high school or community college counselor’s office, by writing to the Office of Admissions on any University of California campus, or online at http://www.ucop.edu/pathways/appctr.html.