Academics
Learning among leaders
Leading at the intersection of innovation, social justice, and sustainability, our campus community
members use their voices, knowledge, and talents to create real change. Blaze your own learning trail.
What do you want to study?
With 74 majors, world-class teachers, and modern facilities, a wealth of knowledge is at your doorstep—or your fingertips.
Postgraduate students learn in 66 graduate programs, in a prime location just 40 minutes from Silicon Valley and perched on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean.
Explore the disciplines
The UCSC student experience fuses high-level academics with passionate engagement in the world. Here, you learn by doing, and we are routinely ranked among top universities for research excellence and impact.
Plan your academic year
Course catalog
Explore undergraduate and graduate degree course descriptions, faculty listings, information and expenses, the academic calendar, and more.
Winter quarter at a glance
January 3, 2025
January 20, February 17, 2025
March 17–21, 2025
March 21, 2025
Winter quarter begins
Holidays
Final exams
Quarter ends
Live and learn
All undergraduate students choose one of our 10 colleges as their living/learning community. Each college is like its own “neighborhood,” complete with traditions and history, academic support, activities, and events.
Cowell College is the founding college of UC Santa Cruz. Its motto, The Pursuit of Truth in the Company of Friends, represents its twin commitments to academic endeavor and supportive community.
Crown College’s theme, Science, Technology, and Society, explores the relationship of science and technology with the world around us, including both the positive and negative impacts of technology on our environment and social institutions.
John R. Lewis College‘s theme, Social Justice and Community, focuses on the inequalities that exist in society, such as discrimination and poverty, and the role of community involvement in addressing social injustices.
Kresge College‘s theme, Power and Representation, explores the many ways we constitute ourselves as individuals in relation to communities, focusing on representations of class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and race.
Merrill College’s theme, Cultural Identities and Global Consciousness, helps students to understand the nature of cultural identity by examining the relationships between societies of the world and their struggles to preserve their cultures.
College Nine’s theme, International and Global Perspectives, recognizes the importance of cultural competency and focuses on issues such as economic globalization, environmental degradation, human rights, and international and ethnic conflicts.
Oakes College’s theme, Communicating Diversity for a Just Society, prepares students to become active citizens and future leaders capable of communicating across differences to bring about a more egalitarian and just society.
Porter College’s theme, Ars Longa, Vita Brevis: Life is Short, Art Endures, manifests the belief that creativity is integral to all fields of study from art to physics to linguistics, and promotes an environment in which original thought, creative imagination, and personal and cultural differences are appreciated.
Rachel Carson College’s theme, Environment and Society, embodies the college’s concern for environmental issues within a social, political, scientific, and humanistic context.
Stevenson College’s theme, Self and Society, emphasizes the goals of both self-understanding and active participation in the community to give students a greater understanding of themselves and their cultures, and to help them think globally.
Extend yourself with professional courses
Located in the global center of high tech and innovation, UCSC Silicon Valley Extension offers accredited, convenient professional courses for every stage of your career.
Make summer sizzle
Summer Session provides the opportunity to fill in a needed class, make faster progress toward your degree, or try something different during a quieter time on campus.
Additional information