FAQ

The colleges at UCSD are set up to give you a personalized educational experience. Each has its own campus, which is your "home base." You are one of about 3,800 students instead of one of 15,000 students. Each college has its own residences as well as provost's, academic advising, and dean's offices. You take classes all over campus with students from all the other colleges, except for DOC, which is for TMC students only.

Your education is in your hands! Choose a college based on the way you see yourself being educated. The six colleges have six different "academic plans" or general education requirements. Each college has about the same number of general education requirements, but they are uniquely flavored by the college's educational philosophy and mission. So, when you choose a college look at the general education requirements, mission and educational philosophy. Explore how these play out in the college. Think about how they fit into your overall plans for yourself and the type of educational experience you want.

TMC is a place where a sense of inclusiveness and community flourishes. The hallmark of the college philosophy is the development of students as both scholars and citizens. Being socially responsible is as important as being a serious student. Therefore, you are encouraged to participate in classes, such as, Partners at Learning (PAL) in which you mentor and tutor elementary and junior high school students (and earn college credit!). Also, the Marshall students have an active part in the governance of the College and in leadership and civic activities.

Basically, you have choices within a framework. Students take two math/statistics/logic courses. There are choices from a list of courses for math and "non-math" people. The same is true of the science courses, in which, you take one biology, one chemistry, and one physics. Students also take two Humanities courses, one course in Fine Arts, and four courses that are outside of the discipline of your major. At Marshall, students have many courses to choose from to meet their requirements. Also, you can double count courses in your general education with the courses in your major. For example, biology and psychology majors can count the math, chemistry and physics they need for the major with the courses they need in their GE.

Anything you want to! The colleges are not set up by major or discipline. Any student at any college can major in whatever he or she wishes. A math major at Marshall does the same course work as a math major at Revelle.

My first year at UCSD, I went to visit one of my friends at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. My friend was excited because it was a small university. He was able to meet everyone fairly quickly and get that sense of community that large schools often lack. A year later, I went back up again. This time, he was less thrilled because since he already knew everyone, he couldn't meet anyone new. Not to mention that once he moved into upper division classes he found that they didn't offer the same diversity of classes larger universities are able to provide. It remained that way for three more years. This paradox is one of the central dilemmas facing prospective students.

UCSD's college system offers a solution by giving students the best of both worlds Your first year, one gets the sense of community that comes with a small college - living in the same part of campus, taking some of the same classes, events organized particularly for your college. During the second year and beyond, students begin taking classes in their major and moving off campus. While they still retain their college identity, they are able to integrate themselves into the campus as a whole.  The UCSD college system is modeled after English colleges such as Oxford and Cambridge. It ensures that students won't be lost in a large university setting while at the same time providing them with the benefits that larger schools provide.

I recommend you look into the college philosophies, especially the GE requirements. TMC is generally considered to have some of the most flexible. While I recognize the college's responsibility to produce well-rounded students, I found that Marshall provided students as much freedom as possible. I preferred to use the extra time to take classes that interest me personally.   

I chose TMC because it had the best housing, dining facilities, campus location, and proximity to the ocean. Although the other colleges have made changes to try and close this gap (Revelle and Muir have re-done their dining facilities and Warren has added dorms). Marshall is next to the massive RIMAC Sports Center, has great ocean sunsets at Oceanview dining. Now I realize that these may not be the criteria the university wants you to base your choice on, but admittedly that was what I went by.

A student's happiness and comfort are major influences on how well they do in school. In retrospect, I realize that going to a university is a complete package, and no angle or element should be neglected. If you plan to spend four years at a university, make sure to invest the time and energy looking into it ahead of time because it will pay off exponentially.

The things that are college-specific are on-campus housing, GE requirements, and the functions of the Dean's Office, the Provost's Office, and Academic Advising. Everything else is university-specific - your major, sports (including intramurals), internships, study-abroad programs, the Sun God Festival, etc, etc. Most colleges have smaller versions of these elements, but they are generally bonuses rather than restrictions. Except for the college-specific elements mentioned above, everything else would be like any other UC school.  

I attended UC San Diego for a number of years and can assure you that it is a huge bonus having these college specific elements. Aside from the obvious sense of community created by college housing the biggest plus is the system of Academic Advising. How in a normal university of over 10,000 students you can create a rapport with your advisers I am still not sure. At UCSD, the advisers only work with the students in their college. At TMC, they may advise only 2,500 students. My advisers got to know me on a first name basis. They genuinely recognize you when you walk in. The same is true for the other offices. When you need help it's nice to know your advisers.  While UCSD is made up of six colleges, it is nevertheless all the UCSD campus. You take classes and use the facilities of the entire University. There is a lot of variety in the facilities. My friend at LMU went nuts eating at the same place every day.

Nope. Quite the contrary. Anyone can go anywhere and diversity is encouraged. My first year I was a history major. My roommates were Biology, Bio-Chemistry, and Economics majors. An interesting mix, but I wouldn't have traded it for the world. In fact, I chose to live with the same guys the next year. That any one of us had a different field of study simply broadened the horizons of the rest of us. Plus, I met more than enough history majors when I took classes in my major.

A lot of universities have colleges such as the college of letters and arts and the college of science. Those versions are more abstract and based upon field of study. They are more for the benefit of the bureaucracy attempting to classify you, and are of no real value to the students. As I mentioned before, Cambridge, which is scattered throughout a city, uses the college system to build a sense of immediate community. The same holds true at UCSD.

Marshall College- The Student as Scholar and Citizen.  While the college emphasizes cultural diversity and critical thinking (DOC), it goes quite beyond that. Diversity is another word for global opportunity. My comments about the academic diversity of my roommates are an example. The same is true for the size of the school - more students, more diversity, more opportunity. TMC works to ensure that diversity by giving students more freedom in selecting classes and fields of study. Dimensions of Culture (DOC) and the GE requirements are TMC's way ensuring that all of the students have the tools to pursue that diversity, not to mention possess some of that diversity within themselves.

When I started at TMC no one presented diversity in this light, so I admittedly thought that I was being forced into the notion. Now I realize that you have to broaden the scope in which you look at the idea. For example, the DOC sequence analyzes culture, societal class structure, and justice in America. The emphasis on diversity allows students to build upon knowledge beyond the confines of the classroom. Small sections outside of lecture provide a forum for students to discuss the elements of American culture and interaction. The Dean's and Provost's Offices ensure that students have the resources they need to apply that knowledge in real world settings. Take my word for it, diversity is one of the most important themes you'll learn about in college (or anywhere for that matter).