PICTURE YOUR FUTURE AT UC SANTA CRUZ
Get ready for the adventure of a lifetime… to become part of a leading academic institution between the sea and the trees, where social and environmental justice are taught and lived. All you need to do is picture it!
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR ADMISSION!
When you become a Banana Slug, you become part of a community ranked first in the nation for racial and gender diversity in leadership, and that is recognized nationally both for making an impact on the world and for environmental stewardship. Banana Slugs are bold, innovative, collaborative, and caring. Join us – commit and become a Banana Slug!
QUESTIONS ABOUT BECOMING A BANANA SLUG? WE HAVE ANSWERS.
IMAGINE YOURSELF AT UCSC
UC Santa Cruz appeals to people who want to create real change. On our extraordinary campus, academic rigor and experimentation combine to offer a superior education that prepares our students to graduate and pursue meaningful, rewarding careers.
At UC Santa Cruz, we encourage critical and original thinking. Norms are challenged. New ideas emerge from our open invitation to explore. Students at UC Santa Cruz:
Principles Of Community
The University of California, Santa Cruz is committed to promoting and protecting an environment that values and supports every person in an atmosphere of civility, honesty, cooperation, professionalism and fairness. UC Santa Cruz expects that every campus member will practice these Principles of Community.
STUDENT STORIES
UC Santa Cruz iGEM Team
Addressing Toxic Algal Blooms and Bringing Home the Gold
The 2023 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) student team from UC Santa Cruz traveled to Paris, France for the iGEM Grand Jamboree to present their project, the Toxic Algal Bloom Interface (TABI), and won a gold medal, as well as a nomination for the best software tool. At its heart, TABI addresses the need for communities to have access to clean water. Focusing on addressing harmful algal blooms in nearby Watsonville’s Pinto Lake, the iGEM team developed a solution that can be applied globally to similar environmental problems.
Using Robotics to Make Farming Easier
In a bold interdisciplinary project, a team of students and professors recently created an autonomous weeder and won the Small Farm prize at the first-ever Farm Robotics Challenge. Led by an engineering professor and the director of UCSC’s Center for Agroecology, the team included students in computer engineering, robotics engineering, and agroecology.
Electrified Slugs Team
THE ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
UC Santa Cruz is a top-tier public university with access to world-class faculty and research opportunities. Our students become leading pioneers in their fields. It’s in our DNA. Astronomy, ocean sciences, and cancer research are just a few areas in which we shine, as well as newer interdisciplinary fields. Check out our new Creative Technologies major!
UC Santa Cruz is named the No. 2 public university in the U.S. for ‘making an impact.’
In 2023 for the second year in a row, UCSC was named second in the nation in Princeton Review’s rankings for students “making an impact” on the world. The ranking recognizes our achievements in pushing for positive change in our instruction and research and was based on student surveys covering community service opportunities, student government, sustainability efforts, and on-campus student engagement. Our impact is felt around the globe – a recent list of the most highly cited researchers in the world includes 18 UCSC scientists and engineers!
UC Santa Cruz collaborates on first human ‘pangenome’
In 2022, UC Santa Cruz researchers made a breakthrough in genomics when they released the first complete, gapless sequence of the human genome. Last year, in an effort to make genomics both more precise and more equitable, UCSC researchers – along with an international consortium – released a draft of the first human pangenome, a reference that combines the genetic information of 47 individuals from different ancestral backgrounds. The information from this reference will one day be used to help fight a wide range of human diseases and is being made freely available to the world via the UCSC Human Genome Browser.
Ranked by the Carnegie Classification ranks us as “R1: Doctoral Universities – Highest research activity.”
Passion and dedication to promote a more just and sustainable society.
An Inspiring Place
Our campus is distinguished by its natural beauty and unique location between the Pacific Ocean and Silicon Valley. Learning in this environment creates an academic experience like no other.
A CAMPUS DEDICATED TO STUDENT SUCCESS
One of the top ten U.S. public universities for undergraduate teaching.
— U.S. News & World Report, 2022-2023
Some of the top employers of UC Santa Cruz alumni
Three-Year Pathways
To save you time and money, accelerated three-year pathways are available in some of our most popular majors, such as art, business management economics, literature, mathematics, and psychology.
Leading The Fight Against COVID-19
It was April 2020, a strange and scary time for our nation and the world. As most of our student body went home to take their classes remotely, UC Santa Cruz researchers got to work. From developing rapid diagnostic testing, to researching infection patterns, to sequencing the genome of the novel virus, UC Santa Cruz faculty and research technicians were at the forefront of the fight against COVID. And have been ever since.
PICTURE YOUR FUTURE AS A UC SANTA CRUZ ALUM!
What will you do with a UC Santa Cruz degree? Our alumni are a diverse, dynamic group of individuals who have found many different paths to meaningful careers and many different ways to make their mark on the world.
Maya Rudolph Art, ‘95
Actress who won two Emmy Awards in 2020 for her portrayal of now-Vice President Kamala Harris on SNL and for the voice of Connie the Hormone Monster on the animated Netflix series Big Mouth.
Dr. Kathryn Sullivan Earth Sciences, ‘73
Scientist, astronaut, and former administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, first American woman to walk in space and now the first woman to descend to the deepest point in the world’s oceans.
Colin Beighley Electrical Engineering, ‘10
Co-founder of Swift Navigation, a company that creates ultra-accurate GPS tracking technology, recently named a Forbes ‘30 Under 30’.
Peter Bratt Politics, ‘86
Critically acclaimed filmmaker, Follow Me Home (1996), and Dolores, (2017), who was honored for his artistic genius with a 2000 Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship.
Nomsa Khalfani Sociology, ‘91
Co-executive officer of Essential Access Health, an organization that advances health equity and promotes quality sexual and reproductive health care for all.
Reyna Grande Creative Writing, Film and Video, ‘99
Novelist and first-generation transfer student: American Book Award, El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, International Latino Book Award-winner (Across a Hundred Mountains, A Dream Called Home).
Ashley Nicole Black Theater Arts, ‘07
Emmy Award-winning writer and comedian, writer/contributor for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, the number-one late night show for millennials.
Andrew Kramer History, ‘94
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, war correspondent, and Ukraine bureau chief for the New York Times.
Dr. Roshawnna Novellus Business Management Economics, Engineering , ‘01
Entrepreneur and nationally-recognized financial inclusion advocate known as the “Wealthy Yogi”, Founder & CEO of the EnrichHer funding portal.
Nick Fountain Politics, ‘11
Newest cohost of NPR’s Planet Money, started as a producer on the show in 2015, and before that, worked as a producer and director of NPR’s flagship show Morning Edition. Fountain cut his teeth at KUSP, the UCSC campus radio station.
Wisdom Cole Chemistry, ‘15
National Director for NAACP Youth and College Division, has been featured on NPR, VICE, NBC Washington News, Brooking Institute, and The Economist as an advocate for Black youth voter turnout through issue-based campaign organizing. In 2020, was named one of Complex Life’s 32 young activists who are changing the world.
Julie Snyder Politics, ‘95
Co-creator of Serial podcast, the most listened-to podcast in the history of the form; and previously the senior producer of the public radio show This American Life.
Niketa Calame-Harris Theater Arts, ‘02
Longtime film, TV, and theater actor who has been featured as the voice of “Young Nala” in Disney’s Lion King, as well as having her work shown on HBO, NBC, CBS, and Lifetime. Is also a professor and entrepreneur with two companies to help other actors, In Motion and NiketaCH Photography.
Sina Grace Literature, ‘08
Acclaimed independent comics creator well known for giving life to LGBTQIA heroes and diversifying comic book characters.