Prospective Students

• You can view information in the General Catalog describing eligibility, deadlines, and application as either a first-year student or as a transfer student.
• You can also find information about admission at the UC San Diego Office of Admissions web site. 
• You can find the online application for the University of California system at https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/ 

Ranking the Colleges

• When you apply to UCSD, you will need to rank the 8 colleges in order of preference. Your choice of college will affect your general education requirements, and housing, but all 8 colleges have similar resources and support. 
• So far as we can tell, most students seem to rank colleges based on whim, a friend or relative at UCSD, or asking Someone on Reddit. We recommend you consider your options carefully, instead.
• You can find information on the colleges in the General Catalog and at the Office of Admissions website and use the information to think about how the different colleges fit your educational goals!
  

AP, IB, and Transfer Credit

• UCSD will accept AP, IB higher level exams, and A-level exams to fulfill college credit. You can view the AP chart here and  the IB chart here. A-level exams are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by departments.
• Many courses taken at community colleges or universities are considered transferable to UC San Diego. However, only courses taken at a University of California will count toward your official UCSD GPA.  
• For California Community College courses, you can view course equivalents and and UC transferability at http://www.assist.org

Application as a Transfer Student

•  As a transfer student remember that you must complete the 7-course pattern as your minimum requirement for admission. This does not clear UCSD general education or major requirements. 
• In addition, you must complete the transfer major preparation requirements for your planned major. 
• Finally, you should complete a transfer agreement such as IGETC (or CalGETC for Fall 2025 or later), or get a letter of reciprocity from your previous 4-year college or university showing you completed General Education requirements before transfer to Muir or you will be held to completing Muir General Education Requirments. Completion of transfer agreement is not required for admission, but it will make it easier for you to graduate in 2 years as a transfer student! See the "Completing General Education Courses Before UCSD" section below for more information.
• For more information on application as a transfer student, see the information from Admissions.

• If you completed the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) or Partial IGETC or the California General Education Transfer Curriculum (CALGETC) and are admitted as a transfer student from a California Community College, we will waive the standard general education requirements of the college, but will require an upper-division transfer writing course, MCWP 125.
• If you are a transfer student from a different UC campus, you can get a Letter of Reciprocity from your previous university to clear your GE themes, though we will evaluate your writing based on whether or not you completed similar courses before transfer. 
• If you are a transfer student from another four-year college or university who can document that you  completed your general education requirements before transfer, we will treat you the same as a UC to UC transfer. 
• All other transfer students and first year students with transfer credits will be evaluated based on how much of their previous coursework matches our General Education curriculum. 
• UCSD will accept AP, IB higher level exams, and A-level exams to earn college credit. Whether they apply to major or general education requirements will vary a lot. 
  • You can view the AP chart to see what course credit and general education credit your exam scores will give you.
  • You can view the IB chart to see what course credit and general education credit your exam scores will give you.
  • A-level exams are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by departments and by which specific exam you took. It's complicated.
  • UC San Diego does not accept any national exams other than A-levels. 
• Many courses taken at community colleges or universities are considered transferable to UC San Diego.However, a course being "UC -transferable" means that we will recognize the course as applying to your credits at UC San Diego. It does not mean the course is considered equivalent to a specific UCSD course.
  • For California Community College courses, you can view course equivalents and and UC transferability at http://www.assist.org
  • Note that only courses taken at a University of California will count toward your UC San Diego GPA. If you are transferring from outside of the UC System, your previous GPA will not count toward your UC San Diego GPA. 

• You can review the estimated cost of attendance for Undergraduates at UC San Diego.
• As an undergraduate, your tuition and fees "cohort based", which means that your tuition and some fees will be based on when you start at UCSD (and stay the same for 6 years) based on the UC Tuition Stability Plan.
• Find some information on applying for financial aid as a prospective UC San Diego student.

• Sample graduation plans for first year and transfer students for all majors and all colleges can be found at http://plans.ucsd.edu so you can see what it would take for you to graduate on time.
• UCSD will accept AP, IB higher level exams, and A-level exams to fulfill college credit. You can view the AP chart here and  the IB chart here. A-level exams are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by departments.
• Many courses taken at community colleges or universities are considered transferable to UC San Diego. However, only courses taken at a University of California will count toward your official UCSD GPA. 
• For California Community College courses, you can view course equivalents and and UC transferability at http://www.assist.org

We are not staffed to meet with prospective students and serve our existing student population! In addition, until your official records are posted and we know your course placement, any advice we give you will be subject to change once we have official records! We also don't know until after you are admitted whether you will be placed into Muir or another one of UC San Diego's eight undergraduate colleges.

Once we have gone through the cycle of application, acceptance, and you have submitted your Accept Your Offer/Statement of Intent to Register, we will begin reaching out to students to explain the timeline for when your AP, IB, and transfer credits should be posted, when we will have placement information for you in classes, and when we will be available for online advising for all of our incoming first year and transfer students before Fall Quarter enrollment in August.

• If you are not admitted into a selective major that you want to pursue and still come to UCSD, you need to be prepared to do so with a plan to finish a different, non-selective major! Some selective majors admit few or no students each year, or may not allow transfer students who were not admitted into that major to change to that major after admission. 
• UC San Diego is built on the idea that you will be a full-time student. You are charged a flat full-time tuitiion, regardless of how many units you enroll in, and would need to apply for part-time status for reduced units and fees. Timely graduation assumes that you will need to enroll in 16 units or more a quarter.
• UC San Diego offers limited online or remote coursework. You should attend UCSD assuming that most of your classes will either be fully or partially in person. Attending UCSD will require you to plan on living in the region or commuting daily to campus. 
• UC San Diego tends to offer most lecture and lab courses in the day, with discussion sections from the morning through the evening. This will make it much more challenging to work full time and attend UC San Diego as an undergraduate (you can't count on doing all night classes!) Not to mention the challenge of balancing the work load of being a full-time student with working full time!
• When choosing a university, consider whether:
  • The major you want is even available on the campus' list of majors.For example, we do not offer Accounting, Architecture, Business Management, or Nursing majors. We can still help you prepare for most of those areas, but you would still have to go into those fields through non-traditional paths!
  • The cost of attendance makes sense for your budget and ability to manage debt.
  • The kinds of opportunities that are special to that campus (for us, that includes opportunities to do undergraduate research and to meet top faculty in their academic fields) actually matter to you and your goals. 
  • Whether the campus the right tools on campus to support your individual needs, including supporting you as a disabled student, accessibility and travel, having enough opportunities for career and leadership development, how close (or far) from family is comfortable for you, and whether it feels like you can build a supportive community for yourself on campus.