Destination UC Santa Cruz
You’ve worked hard during your high school or community college years. Now take the next step on your road to success! At UC Santa Cruz, you will get to study in this place of extraordinary beauty between the sea and the trees, a world-class research institution that is also committed to social and environmental justice, and where you will have the chance to start your new life adventure with inspiration and excitement.
A University Like No Other
As a student at UC Santa Cruz, you will have the opportunities offered by a large research university, plus the close-knit living and learning community of a liberal arts college, thanks to our well known residential colleges. From cutting-edge AI research to exploring the depths of our oceans, students and faculty are working together to improve our planet and the lives of all its inhabitants.
Living on Campus
Both first-years and transfer students are invited to apply for university housing, where 98% of first-year students live. Transfer students are housed with fellow transfers in the supportive, on-campus Transfer Community. UCSC is continually building more student housing, and we recently expanded our housing guarantee to two years!
Dream Your Future… and Then Make It Happen!
Do you want to preserve and protect our natural environment? Write fiction or non-fiction stories that uplift and engage your audience? Listen to people and help them heal from trauma? Make new computer programs to help better our lives? Create art, music, drama, computer games? UC Santa Cruz can help you make your dreams come true!
Student-Led Organizations
UCSC offers over 200 student organizations, from panhellenic to professional, and everything in between! Find your people, explore a new interest, or test drive a potential new career!
Student Stories
The Santa Cruz Area
We’re Coming to a City Near You!
UC Santa Cruz Admissions representatives are traveling all over California, the U.S., and some international locations this fall! Hopefully, you’ll be able to see us at a college fair or transfer day near you. Bring your family and get your questions answered! See our searchable Events page for our full schedule of events taking place from late August through November. If you can make it to campus, free, student-led campus tours are also available, and highly recommended!
Here are your next steps!
