Revelle College

Why Choose Revelle College

Academic Heritage

Revelle College, the first college at UCSD, was founded in the early 1960's when nationally the Great Books Programs, piloted by The University of Chicago and Columbia University, influenced Humanities curricula; and a post-Sputnik resurgence of Science and Mathematics shaped Universities' technical programs. The original Revelle College faculty believed that the educated American should be acquainted with the specific and fundamental disciplines: all graduates should know some of the literature, art, science and social issues that define our culture.

As the first College, Revelle College has a dedicated cadre of senior faculty loyal to the Colleges classical education. For example, the College's core course, the Humanities sequence, has the highest percentage of senior faculty instructors of all the University's core courses, and the Revelle faculty has included Nobel Prize winners such as Harold Urey and Francis Crick.

Academics Disciplines and Courses at Revelle College

The standards of the faculty are reflected in the College's high quality, specific and exacting Revelle College General Education Requirements. The required curriculum comprises a serious introduction to Mathematics, Science, writing, Humanities and a foreign language. Truly students with interests in all academic disciplines do well at Revelle, but all students should be prepared to take a year of Calculus (there are two tracks: the Math 20-series for those who will use Mathematics professionally in their careers, and the Math 10-series that provides an overview of Calculus), the five-quarter Humanities sequence with an integrated intensive writing program, and the equivalent of a fourth-quarter of a foreign language.

Transfer students are not automatically excused from all Revelle College General Education Requirements. Transfer students who have completed TAG or ICETC will need to satisfy the Science (five quarters), language (four quarters) and Calculus (three quarters) requirements.

Academic Profile of Revelle Students

Usually 65-70% of Revelle students graduate with a science or engineering major; 20-30%, with Social Science majors, and 10%, with Arts and Humanities majors. A high percentage of Revelle College students enroll in graduate or professional schools (Law, Medical, Management etc.), graduate with double majors, design individualized interdisciplinary majors, work on a research project and graduate with University honors.

Revelle College Student Life

The ample residence hall rooms (the most of any college at UCSD) are located between the meeting area of the Revelle Plaza, the grass field of the La Jolla Project (AKA Stonehenge), and Galbarith Hall. We are a two minute walk to the professional theater district (that includes the LaJolla Playhouse Theater), 10 minutes to the Scripps Aquarium, 15 minutes to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and 20 minutes to the Pacific Ocean. We hold the oldest traditions on the campus (Revelle's Birthday party, and the watermelon drop), and for the last year Revelle students have won the annual Spirit Night. The College Student Affairs Unit administers student government, a one-on-one student mentoring program, a writing tutoring program, the free loaner "yellow bike" program, and a year long leadership development program.