History
When the University of California regents authorized the San Diego campus in 1956, it was slated to become a prestigious graduate school for science and engineering. The initiative received overwhelming support from San Diego residents, who voted the same year to transfer 59 acres of coastal mesa land to the university. The local General Dynamics Corporation also donated a large sum of money to be used for recruiting a distinguished founding faculty.
In 1957, Roger Revelle, director of nearby Scripps Institute, was named dean of the new school. At his urging, an undergraduate curriculum was included as part of the general science curriculum. The UCSD graduate division opened in 1960 with 20 faculty members who offered instruction in physics, biology, chemistry, and earth sciences. The first classes met in the Scripps Institute.
UCSD requested and was awarded additional land from the city of San Diego, receiving 450 more acres of undeveloped mesa land and 500 acres from nearby Camp Matthews, a US Marine Corps rifle range. Construction of the campus began in 1960, and Herbert H. York, who was named the school’s first chancellor, oversaw the planning and construction of the main campus.
The School of Science and Engineering facilities (later designated as Revelle College) were finished in 1963, and the campus accepted its first undergraduate class of 181 freshmen in 1964.
Since its founding, UCSD has distinguished itself as a leading research institute in the sciences, attracting a wide array of outstanding scholars. Currently, the faculty includes eight Nobel Laureates and 71 National Academy of Science members, the 6th-largest concentration in the country.
Location
Though the name says San Diego, UCSD is actually located in La Jolla, a wealthy seaside resort community in southern California. It is mostly a residential area with a population of 40,000. While the oceanside location provides plenty of outdoor recreational activities, the downtown La Jolla area is expensive and doesn’t offer many places for college students to hang out. The affluent community in La Jolla isn't always thrilled to encounter college students hosting fire-pit parties on their beaches, and there are frequent noise complaints made against UCSD students looking to have a little fun.
As reported by Jennifer Koai, ’08:
“UCSD is literally a five-minute drive from the beach. The part of the beach closest to UCSD, Blacks Beach, is a nude beach, and there are always some old people sitting out, definitely NOT wearing enough.
Aside from the beach, downtown La Jolla is beautiful. It’s a very nice place to go and walk around, even though many of the shops are quite expensive and not necessarily college-friendly. There are several other popular places around UCSD, including: Pacific Beach, which has tons of great shopping and an awesome nightlife (full of bars); downtown San Diego, which also has lots of shopping, bars and clubs (slightly higher-end though, you need to dress up); Del Mar, which is also gorgeous and fun to explore during the day; and Mission Beach, which is an awesome place to go and have barbeques with friends when the weather is nice (Pacific Beach and La Jolla have fire pits too, but they’re often extremely crowded and hard to get).”
As reported by Maureen Ravelo, ’09:
"Nearby San Diego is known for its outdoor malls, specifically UTC and Fashion Valley. Many college kids take advantage of the free transportation given to UCSD students with valid school ID – you can get almost everywhere you want to go and save some gas money. UTC is accessible by one of these buses, although Fashion Valley might require a car. On a good day, a trip to the mall can be rewarding even if you don’t buy anything – just to be out in the sun hanging out with a few friends can be enough to make your day.
College kids love their food in San Diego, especially cheap food. Pacific Beach (known here as 'PB') is an area dominated by bars, sex shops, and endless food choices. Although a stroll down PB’s streets would probably be more fun if you were 21, there are still some fun spots for youngsters. There is an assortment of restaurants guaranteed to satisfy your appetite, from sushi to Italian to one of the most famous San Diego breakfast places called the Broken Yolk. Open from early morning to 3 p.m., Broken Yolk serves some of the best breakfast specials you will ever taste.
Away from PB and closer to campus is the famous Mexican hole-in-the-wall fast food restaurant Roberto’s that is open 24 hours a day. If you have late-night munchies, I guarantee you’ll find a flock of students there with the same appetite at 2 o’clock in the morning. Lastly, if you’re in the mood for Asian food, take a trip to Convoy Road, a street composed entirely of Asian foods from Japanese to Korean to Chinese to Vietnamese.”
Campus
The UCSD campus is located on 1,200 acres of coastal woodland along the Pacific Ocean. Owing to the campus’s large size and spacious layout, the university is divided up into six colleges, and students commute between the schools via shuttle bus. The six colleges are: (Roger) Revelle, (John) Muir, (Thurgood) Marshall, (Eleanor) Roosevelt, (Earl) Warren, and Sixth (yet to be named). Each college has a different general theme, with general education requirements and core curricula based on those themes.
As reported by Maureen Ravelo, ’09:
“The most popular college (and what I dub 'the best college') is Thurgood Marshall. The dining hall, aptly named Oceanview Terrace, has a view of the ocean with indoor and patio seating. It’s also open the latest (until 2 a.m.) to satisfy anyone’s late-night munchies. Marshall’s residence halls are not the best, but they are decent enough for any college student. The location is ideal, because it’s within close walking distance from everything.
John Muir is possibly the chillest of the colleges, earning itself the 'tree-hugger' or 'hippie' label (their motto even states 'celebrating the independent spirit'). The dining hall, Sierra Summit, has the best variety of food (and undoubtedly the best stir-fry you will ever taste – ask Steve to make it for you) and a downstairs cafe. A drawback UCSD won’t tell you, however, is that Muir has a small campus, with only two dorms and two buildings for apartments, which, to top it off, are probably the ugliest buildings you’ll ever see.
Earl Warren is 'the computer science geek' college. The housing is pretty decent, with huge balconies and cozy rooms. Their dining hall, Canyon Vista, has some quality offerings. My roommate and I would trek all the way across campus for their pizza during our freshmen year. The dining hall even has a fireplace, which is a pretty cool touch. The best part is the coffee stop/mini-market, Earl’s Place, which is open until 2 a.m. So if you’re carless and forgot to buy shampoo or deodorant, you can still smell good tomorrow. The worst thing is its location – everything is uphill from Warren, so bring your walking shoes.
From there, we cruise into what I like to call the 'liberal artsy' schools. Eleanor Roosevelt College is the 'international studies' college. All of the international courses are offered here, and the International House (or I-House) is located on its campus. ERC is known for having the best housing. Everything from the outside to the inside looks new in these buildings – they have modern designs and light colors. Almost the entire campus is so white that you have to wear sunglasses just to look down at the pavement.
Sixth college is the youngest of the colleges. Since it’s located in possibly the farthest corner of UCSD, it remains a mystery to most students. It’s still in the process of being named and doesn’t even have a campus of its own yet, but it uses rundown hand-me-down buildings in the meantime. The dorms look like you just walked into a summer camp (or the set of Disney’s show Bug Juice--if any of you have seen it). They got the log cabins down; all they need is the gross lake and the tire swing. Also, their dining hall 'FoodWorx' has limited food choices.
Roger Revelle, or the 'ghetto' college, is the bane of everyone’s existence. It was the first college built at UCSD back in the 1960s. The buildings are kind of shabby, although some have been remodeled. The housing is probably the least college-friendly on campus – current Marshall student Kevin Thai said, 'I walked into one of their bathrooms and it felt like I walked into a Chinatown bathroom. The only upside to it are their chicken strips and pizza.' It also only offers housing to first-year students, while second-year students are moved over to the extra buildings at Sixth.
Each college also has their own lounges for group meetings or casual social gatherings. Clubs and fraternities may gather to discuss their upcoming events or even hold socials in these rooms. Students can also sit in for casual conversations, play an assortment of games from pool to ping-pong, and even practice the piano. They provide an environment away from the lonely enclosures of a dorm room.
Located at the center of campus, Price Center is a popular hangout, especially for the third- and fourth-years forced to live off campus. Price Center is the heart of campus. The school bookstore is downstairs, right next to a mini-food court that serves food from Panda Express to Subway. The circular building encloses a center quad full of chairs and tables for eating or enjoying a musical performance. The on-campus theater is across the way and shows blockbusters for 3 bucks. Upstairs is the Sun God Lounge, the lounge for off-campus students waiting for their next class. Student organization offices are located next to ballrooms used for a variety of events. Lastly, there is a student store full of UCSD merchandise on the second floor, surrounded outside by lawn areas where students can lounge around in the sun.”
Issues
As with many large universities, popular complaints at UCSD revolve around the lack of student parking and difficulty with class registration. With a campus as large as UCSD's (20,000 undergraduates spread out over 1,200 acres) getting into a class you want or need isn’t always easy. This is especially true for freshmen, who typically have later registration times. Similarly, having a car should be feasible on a campus as large as UCSD’s (though the shuttle bus service provides a fairly convenient alternative), but the shortage of student parking spots means that students who drive are often late to class.
As reported by Ashley Lee, ’11:
“Most of the parking spots are reserved for faculty, staff and graduate students, and the entire student body is left to fight for whatever spots are left. The administration says it’s too expensive to build more parking, but they need to find a solution soon. The school plans to admit more students in the coming years, which means more cars on campus--and more kids late for class because they spent an hour trying to find an ‘S’ spot."
Another frequent complaint is about the lack of a social scene at UCSD. It's often referred to as the “socially dead” UC school. The rigorous course load typically make studying a priority, and the spread-out, disjointed nature of the campus and its six colleges makes cross-socializing difficult for students not involved in student organizations. Even when social events are planned, however, the town of La Jolla and its wealthy, powerful residents don’t make it easy for the students to throw a party.
As reported by Jennifer Koai, ’08:
“UCSD often gets noise complaints that shut down entire events. For example, Eleanor Roosevelt College hosts a concert every year called, 'Rock ’n’ Roosevelt' and this year, they had the hyphy group 'The Federation' perform. Their set was supposed to last an hour and forty-five minutes, going from 9:15 pm until 11 pm, but the neighbors complained at about 10:30, forcing the concert to end early. As it is, UCSD is not that crazy, so for some popular events to end so early makes it really difficult for students to feel like there’s a lot going on on-campus. La Jolla residents also don’t like that students live in their neighborhoods. More often than not, parties that happen in La Jolla get rolled pretty quickly (around midnight, if not earlier), adding to that 'socially dead' stereotype.”
