International Student Timeline

Announcement

5 minutes reading

Please use this two-year plan to help you plan your transfer to UC Santa Cruz and meet your deadlines and milestones!

International students will be considered for the Undergraduate Dean's Scholarships and Awards, which range from $12,000 to $40,000, split over four years for entering freshmen, or $6,000 to $20,000, split over two years for transfer students.
To recognize outstanding achievement, UC Santa Cruz also offers the Regents Scholarship, which carries our highest honor awarded to entering undergraduates. Award amounts for new freshmen are $20,000 split over four years, and transfer students receive $10,000 paid over two years. In addition to a monetary award, Regents Scholars receive priority enrollment and a campus housing guarantee.
In addition, we maintain a list of external scholarships open to international students.
All students must submit their application through the UC Application. UC Santa Cruz does not offer athletic scholarships.
The Undergraduate Admissions office will not accept any supporting documents directly from applicants during the application process.
Exact conversion of a 3.4 GPA: 89%, or a B+ average.
When filling out the UC Application, include your 12th grade course grades as “IP – In Progress” and “PL – Planned”. If you have already graduated and have senior year grades, manually enter each grade. Some schools will give students 12th grade predicted scores. If this is the case for you, please enter these predicted scores in your Application.

After submitting your application, please:

1. Print a copy of your application. You'll want to keep a record of your application ID and a summary of your application for reference.
2. Update your application, if necessary. You can log in to your application to review and, if necessary, change your telephone number, email, mailing address, or exam scores. You can also apply to additional campuses if they're still open.
3. Await the decision. Each UC campus will notify you of its admission decision, generally by March 31 for freshmen, or April 30 for transfer students.
4. Submit transcripts and exam scores (AP, IB and A-Level), after you accept an offer of admission
Send your updated English test score to Undergraduate Admissions before January.
No additional interviews or documents are required if you are applying as a freshman. However, transfer students should be aware of our screening major requirements.

You can find your admissions decision by logging in to my.ucsc.edu.
You can be on more than one waitlist, if the option is offered to you by multiple campuses. If you subsequently receive offers of admission, you may accept only one. If you accept an admission offer from a campus after you have accepted admission to another, you must cancel your acceptance to the first campus. The SIR deposit paid to the first campus will not be refunded or transferred to the second campus.
We are advising waitlisted students to take an offer of admission if they receive it. Being on the waitlist at UCSC -- or any of the UCs -- does not guarantee admission.
If you are on the waitlist, please do not send letters or other supporting documents to Undergraduate Admissions to convince the university to accept you. Undergraduate Admissions will not consider or retain such documents.

Our Summer Edge program includes taking accelerated five-week Summer Session courses for full academic credit, optional on-campus living, Peer Mentor support, and fun!
Summer Edge grants 7 credits (a 5-credit class of your choice, plus the 2-credit Navigating the Research University)
Summer Edge offers Summer-Fall Transitional Housing, providing continuous housing to students living in Summer Edge Housing who also have a fall housing assignment. Students apply for Transitional Housing as part of the Summer Edge housing application process (studenthousing.ucsc.edu). Students in Transitional Housing are eligible to move to their fall housing assignment at the conclusion of the summer housing contract as part of the early arrival program. Interested students must sign up for an early arrival via the Housing Portal. An Early Arrival fee will be billed to the student's university account.

If you wish to attain University housing, during the admissions offer acceptance process, you must check the box that indicates you are interested in University housing. Then in late May for fall quarter admits, and late October for winter quarter admits, the Campus Housing Office will send a message to your UCSC email account with information about how to apply for housing.

To accept your offer of admission at UC Santa Cruz, log in to your portal at my.ucsc.edu and complete the multi-step acceptance process. A guide to accepting the offer of admission can be found on our website.

Slug Orientation is mandatory for all students. Students can get one credit after they finish.
Both Slug Orientation and International Student Orientation are mandatory for all international students. Slug Orientation should be completed online before September. International Student Orientation is a welcome week for international students to move in and explore the campus before class begins.

If UCSC has not received your high school transcripts, even if you had them sent, please retain the proof that you sent your transcripts, and ask to have your transcripts resent.

Best wishes on your Banana Slug journey, and contact your UC Santa Cruz representative if you have any questions along the way!

Begin Your Journey