Similarities and Differences
The colleges are small-scale residential communities, each providing an academically and socially supportive environment and offering special programs designed to help students transition to campus life, build a strong connection with the campus, and get the most out of their UCSC experience.
Each college provides academic advising as well as academic and general campus orientations to help you plan your academic program. College academic preceptors and advisers provide advice on general academic matters outside a student’s major, including general education, choosing a major, and strategies for academic success. Psychological and personal counseling is also available in each college. The faculty, or fellows, of each college come from a variety of academic disciplines; many faculty have their offices in the colleges.
Each college offers a distinctive academic College 1 course for entering frosh. The required course provides a significant bridge between academic and residential life, since all frosh, regardless of major, will be in the course, and most will be in residence as well. The colleges also offer selected courses in their area of interdisciplinary emphasis and host events and speakers that enhance this focus.
Architecturally distinct, each college was planned by a different architect who was encouraged to convey the distinct personality of that college through the design of its buildings and their placement in the natural environment. The particular style of housing varies among the colleges, ranging from residence halls, with a mix of shared and private rooms, to apartment-style housing, where students live together in small groups and may do some of their own cooking. Each college’s residential program is a team effort. Live-in student and professional staff members provide orientation and support services, organize activities and events, provide referral information about academic or personal concerns, and assist with roommate problems.