The University of California, San Diego

The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) is a student-centered, research-focused, service-oriented public institution that provides opportunity for all. This young university has made its mark regionally, nationally and internationally. Named in the top 15 research universities worldwide, UC San Diego fosters a culture of collaboration that sparks discoveries, advances society and drives economic impact.

The campus offers a wide range of education and research opportunities—from engineering, medicine and oceanography to the arts and humanities, and physical and social sciences—lending itself naturally to interdisciplinary learning. Our students, who learn from Nobel laureates, MacArthur Fellows and National Academy members, are as committed to public service as they are to their studies. Regularly listed among the top 10 public universities in the nation, for the fifth consecutive year UC San Diego has also been ranked first based on research, civic engagement and social mobility.

We are unique among other University of California campuses—UC San Diego offers undergraduates the “small college” concept patterned after those at Cambridge and Oxford universities. Each of the six undergraduate colleges has its own residence halls, student services, traditions and even graduation ceremonies. While the undergraduate remains part of one university, they also develop a sense of identity within the smaller family of their chosen college.

UC San Diego is one campus with multiple pillars of excellence, a leading public university that is transforming lives, shaping new disciplines and advancing the frontiers of knowledge.