Frequently Asked Questions

UC Santa Cruz offers 74 undergraduate majors in the Arts, Humanities, Physical and Biological Sciences, Social Sciences, and the Jack Baskin School of Engineering. For a list of majors with more information about each one, go to Find Your Program. 

UCSC offers a B.A. and B.S. major in global and community health, which provide excellent preparation for applying to medical school, and a business management economics program. In addition, UCSC offers a minor in education and a major in Education, Democracy, and Justice, as well as a graduate teaching credential program. We offer a Literature & Education 4+1 pathway to help aspiring teachers get their undergraduate degree and teaching credential faster. For potential teachers in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), UCSC is home to the innovative Cal Teach program.

First-year students may apply with an undeclared major. However, if you’re interested in the Computer Science major, you must list Computer Science as your first choice major on the UC application and be offered admission as a proposed CS major in order to pursue this at UCSC. First-year students who list Computer Science as their alternate major will not be considered for the Computer Science program.

Students who enter UCSC as first-year students or sophomores must be formally declared in a major before enrolling in their third year (or equivalent).

Transfer students must select a major when they apply to the university and are required to be declared in a major by the deadline in their second term of enrollment.

For more information, please see Declaring Your Major.

First-Year Students - Alternate majors are primarily used for students seeking a Computer Science degree who may not be offered admission as Computer Science students because of limited capacity. Students who accept our offer of admission to their alternate major will not be able to switch to Computer Science. Whether you enter an alternate major or not on your UC Application, your major will be a proposed major when you are admitted. For all students except those majoring in Computer Science, after arriving at UC Santa Cruz, you will have time to prepare before formally declaring your major.

Transfer Students - An alternate major will be considered if you do not meet all of the screening requirements for your first choice major. At times, students may also receive an option to be admitted beyond their first choice and alternate, if they show strong preparation, yet do not meet the major screening requirements. If you are having trouble meeting the screening requirements for a certain major, you may want to select a non-screening major on your UC Application. Once enrolled at UC Santa Cruz, you will not be able to switch back to the major(s) you originally requested.

Students at UC Santa Cruz often double major in two different subjects. You must obtain approval from both departments to declare a double major. For additional information, please see Major and Minor Requirements in the UCSC General Catalog.

Class level and major affect the size of classes a student will encounter. Students are likely to experience an increasing proportion of small classes as they progress to senior level. 

Currently, 16% of our courses have more than 100 students enrolled, and 57% of our courses have fewer than 30 students enrolled. Our largest lecture hall, Kresge Lecture Hall, holds 600 students. 

The student/faculty ratio at UCSC is 23 to 1.

A complete list of the general education requirements is included in the UCSC General Catalog.

UC Santa Cruz offers three-year accelerated degree pathways in some of our most popular majors. Students have used these pathways to save time and money for themselves and their families.

All UCSC students have a number of advisers to help them navigate through the university, choose a major that is right for them, and graduate on time. Advisers include college advisers, college preceptors, and program, major, and department advisers. In addition, all first-year students are required to take a small, writing-intensive core course, which is offered by their residential college. The core courses are an excellent introduction to college-level reading and writing skills and are also a way to build a community within your college during your first quarter at UCSC.

UC Santa Cruz offers a variety of honors and enrichment programs, including honor societies and intensive programs.

The UC Santa Cruz General Catalog is only available as an online publication.

Undergraduates are graded on a traditional A-F (4.0) scale. Students may elect a pass/no pass option for no more than 25 percent of their coursework. Several majors further limit use of pass/no pass grading.

UCSC Extension Silicon Valley is an affiliated program that offers classes to professionals and members of the community. Many of these classes provide additional academic opportunities for UC Santa Cruz students.

To apply to UC Santa Cruz, fill out and submit the online application. The application is common to all University of California campuses, and you’ll be asked to choose which campuses you want to apply for. The application also serves as an application for scholarships.

The application fee is $80 for U.S. students. If you apply to more than one University of California campus at the same time, you’ll need to submit $80 for each UC campus you apply to. Fee waivers are available for students with qualifying family incomes for up to four campuses. The fee for international applicants is $95 per campus.

Our campus is open for new first-year students and transfer students each fall quarter, and we are open for transfer students in selected majors for winter quarter. Please check our Transfer Students page in summer 2025 for information on winter quarter 2026 admission, including which majors are open for consideration. The winter quarter application filing period is July 1-31.

For this information, please see our First-Year and Transfer Admission web pages.

The University of California campuses are test-free and will not consider SAT or ACT test scores when making admissions decisions or awarding scholarships. If you choose to submit test scores as part of your application, they may be used as an alternative method of fulfilling minimum requirements for eligibility or for course placement after you enroll. Like all UC campuses, we consider a broad range of factors when reviewing a student's application, from academics to extracurricular achievement and response to life challenges. No admission decision is based on a single factor. Exam scores may still be used to meet area b of the a-g subject requirements as well as the UC Entry Level Writing requirement.

For information of this kind, please see our UC Santa Cruz Statistics page.

In fall 2024, 64.9% of first-year applicants were accepted, and 65.4% of transfer applicants were accepted. Admissions rates vary from year to year depending on the strength of the applicant pool.

All first-year students, regardless of home geographic location, are reviewed and assessed using faculty-approved criteria, which can be found on our web page. UCSC seeks to admit and enroll students who will succeed at the university, including students from California and those from outside California.

The University of California grants credit for all College Board Advanced Placement Tests on which a student scores 3 or higher. For more information, please see our AP and IBH table and UC Office of the President information on AP and IBH.

Residency requirements are on the Office of the Registrar website. You will be notified if you are classified as a non-resident. Please email the Registrar’s Office at reg-residency@ucsc.edu if you have further questions about residency.

For fall quarter acceptance, most notices are sent late February through March 20 for first-year students and April 1-30 for transfer students. For winter quarter acceptance, notices are sent out on approximately September 15 of the previous year.

Yes, both new first-year students and new transfer students are eligible for a one-year guarantee of university-sponsored housing. In order for the guarantee to be in effect, you must request university housing when you accept your offer of admission, and you must meet all housing deadlines.

UC Santa Cruz has a distinctive college system, providing a vibrant living/learning environment for the students. For more information, please see the Housing website.

When you have been admitted to UC Santa Cruz, you will specify in order of preference which colleges you would like to be affiliated with. Assignment to a college is based on available space, taking student preferences into account whenever possible.

It is also possible to transfer to another college. In order for the transfer to be approved, the change must be approved by both the current college and the prospective college.

The Transfer Community houses incoming transfer students who request university housing (regardless of college affiliation).

No, it doesn’t. You may take classes that meet in any of the colleges or classroom buildings throughout the campus.

For this information, please go to the Community Rentals Web Pages.

To make it easier for students to find off-campus housing, the Community Rentals Office offers an online program of available local rentals and advice on the process of renting a room in shared housing, an apartment, or house in the Santa Cruz area, as well as Renters’ Workshops on issues such as finding a place to live, how to work with landlords and housemates, and how to take care of paperwork. Check out the Community Rentals Web Pages for more information and a link to Places4Students.com.

Family Student Housing (FSH) is a year-round housing community for UCSC students with families. Families enjoy two-bedroom apartments located on the west side of campus, adjacent to a nature reserve and overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Information on eligibility, costs, and how to apply can be obtained from the Family Student Housing website. If you have further questions, please contact the FSH office at fsh@ucsc.edu.

UC Santa Cruz has over 150 registered student clubs and organizations. For a complete list, please go to the SOMeCA website.

Two art galleries, the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery and the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, show works by students, faculty, and outside artists.

The Music Center includes a 396-seat Recital Hall with recording facilities, specially equipped classrooms, individual practice and teaching studios, rehearsal space for ensembles, a gamelan studio, and studios for electronic and computer music.

The Theater Arts Center includes theaters and acting and directing studios.

For fine arts students, the Elena Baskin Visual Arts Center provides well-lit, spacious studios.

In addition, UC Santa Cruz sponsors many student instrumental and vocal ensembles, including its own student orchestra.

For further information, please see the following links:

• Calendar of Upcoming Events
• Mary Porter Sesnon Gallery
• Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery

There is always something happening in Santa Cruz in the arts, from street fairs, to world music festivals, to avant-garde theater. For a complete list of events and activities, search the Santa Cruz County website.

For information on health and safety issues, please go to our Health and Safety page.

For this information, please go to our UC Santa Cruz Statistics Page.

For this type of information, please see the website for the Student Health Center.

For this type of information, please see our Transfer Student Timeline (for junior-level applicants).

 For a full description of the academic criteria for transfer admission, please see our Transfer Students page.

Yes, many majors require specific transfer screening criteria. To look up your major’s screening criteria, please see our Transfer Students page.

UC Santa Cruz accepts courses for transfer credit whose content (as described in the school's course catalog) is similar to courses offered in any regular session at any University of California campus. Final decisions about the transferability of courses are only made after an applicant has been admitted and submitted official transcripts.

Transfer course agreements and articulation between the University of California and California community colleges can be accessed on the ASSIST website.

The University will award graduation credit for up to 70 semester (105 quarter) units of coursework transferred from community colleges. Courses in excess of 70 semester units will receive subject credit and may be used to satisfy University subject requirements.

For information about the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC), please see the UCSC General Catalog.

 If you don't satisfy general education requirements before transferring, you'll need to satisfy them while you're a student at UC Santa Cruz.

For information about UCSC's Transfer Admission Guarantee (TAG) program, please see the UCSC TAG page.

UC Transfer Admission Planner (UC TAP) is an online tool to help prospective transfer students track and plan their coursework. If you are planning to transfer to UC Santa Cruz, we highly encourage you to sign up for UC TAP. Enrolling in UC TAP is also your first step to completing a UCSC Transfer Admission Guarantee (UCSC TAG).

For fall quarter acceptance, notices are sent April 1-30 for enrollment that fall. For winter quarter acceptance, notices are sent September 15 for enrollment the following winter.

Undergraduate students enrolled at UCSC may enroll, without formal admission and without payment of additional university fees, in courses at another UC campus on a space-available basis at the discretion of the appropriate campus authorities on both campuses. Cross-Campus Enrollment refers to courses taken through UC Online, and Simultaneous Enrollment is for courses taken in person.