Skip to main content
General Catalog General Catalog
  1. HOME
  2. Undergraduate
  3. Colleges
  4. Revelle College

Revelle College

Revelle College, the first college on the UC San Diego campus, was named in honor of Roger Revelle, former University of California dean of research and director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Revelle is perhaps best known for his plenary research on greenhouse gases and his predictions of their effects as well as his efforts in applying science and technology to world hunger.

The initiation of Revelle College in 1964 provided the faculty with the opportunity to design a complete undergraduate curriculum for some of the country’s best-prepared students. The faculty asked the fundamental question: What should an educated person know? The Revelle College general education requirements offer a specific but broad introduction to the academic disciplines of the university. A student graduating from Revelle College at UC San Diego will have attained

  1. A basic knowledge of calculus; foreign language; the physical, biological, and social sciences; the fine arts; and the humanities.
  2. A high level of competence in an academic discipline.
  3. All university requirements (ELWR, AHI, DEI, CCER, 180 units, sixty upper-division units).

General Education

Students are encouraged to meet the general education requirements and the prerequisites to the major early in their university career.

First-year students with advanced placement or international baccalaureate credits can use many of these credits to meet general education requirements (see Advanced Placement chart or International Baccalaureate chart.) Transfer students may meet many general education requirements before entering by following articulation agreements with community colleges and taking, at any institution, courses that Revelle College judges approximately equivalent in content to those at UC San Diego.

The general education requirements for first-year students are

  1. Five courses in an interdisciplinary humanities sequence that includes two six-unit courses with intensive instruction in university-level writing and three four-unit courses with less intensive writing instruction.
  2. One course in the fine arts—music, theatre and dance, or visual arts.
  3. Two courses from the social sciences, chosen from an approved list.
  4. Three courses in mathematics, which shall include one course in calculus and two courses chosen from an approved list.
  5. Five courses in the physical and biological sciences to include one course in biology, one course in chemistry, one course in physics, and two courses chosen from biology, chemistry, physics, or environmental science, or from an approved list.
  6. The language requirement may be satisfied by 1) passing a foreign language proficiency exam, which consists of a satisfactory score on a standard reading examination and conversational proficiency in an oral interview; 2) completion of a fourth quarter (or higher level) college language course (completion of a third semester intermediate-level course if taken outside of UC San Diego; 3) appropriate AP or IB score; and/or 4) being a native speaker of a language other than English and having attended at least one year of high school taught in that language.

1. Humanities

The humanities requirement confronts students with significant humanistic issues in the context of a rigorous academic course. It is also an introduction to the disciplines of history, literature, and philosophy and provides training and practice in rhetorical skills and particularly persuasive written expression. Students may satisfy this requirement by completing the five-quarter interdisciplinary (history, literature, and philosophy) humanities sequence.

For course descriptions, see “Courses, Curricula, and Faculty: Humanities.”

2. Mathematics

Three quarters of mathematics are required, including one course in calculus and two additional courses chosen from an approved list. First-year student placement in mathematics courses depends upon the student’s mathematics preparation and choice of major. Students are urged to keep their mathematical skills at a high level by taking mathematics during their senior year in high school. (See “Courses, Curricula, and Faculty: Mathematics.”)

3. Natural Sciences

Natural sciences courses present current developments in the fundamental concepts of modern physics, chemistry, biology, and environmental sciences.

Students choose their five required natural science courses from the sequences depending upon their interests, prior preparation, and intended majors.

Students planning to major in a science must consult the appropriate departmental listing under “Courses, Curricula, and Faculty” to find the additional preparation needed for their major.

4. Social Sciences

Two courses from the social sciences chosen from an approved list.

5. Fine Arts

One course is required. It serves as an introduction to creativity in theatre and dance, music, or visual arts. (See “Courses, Curricula, and Faculty: Theatre and Dance, Music, and Visual Arts.”)

6. Foreign Language

Revelle College students are required to demonstrate basic conversational and reading proficiency in any modern foreign language, or advanced reading proficiency in a classical language, or complete the fourth quarter of foreign language instruction with a passing grade.

Foreign language programs are currently offered in American Sign Language, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. For heritage speakers, language courses are available in Armenian, Cantonese, Filipino, Hindi, Korean, Persian, and Vietnamese. Students who have preparation in other languages should contact the Revelle College academic advising office for information on the possibility of a proficiency examination.

Sample Program

See plans.ucsd.edu for general academic programs specific to your major.

Transfer Students

Transfer students may enter Revelle College through various transfer agreements including following the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC).

Revelle College does not accept UC Reciprocity to fulfill the general-education curriculum. Nor does Revelle College accept IGETC certification for students admitted as freshmen.

All transfer students accepted to Revelle College, including those with IGETC certification, must meet the same general-education requirements as students admitted as freshmen, except for the following mathematics, natural science, and humanities requirements:

  1. Effective fall 2024, all transfer students must complete one upper-division humanities course (HUM 100). Lower-division humanities courses not satisfied through transfer credit must also be completed.
  2. Effective fall 2024, transfer students must complete four natural science courses. Two courses must be from two different disciplines from an approved list of courses in biology, chemistry, and physics, and the remaining two must be from a larger list of approved courses.
  3. Transfer students must complete three courses in mathematics which must include one course in calculus, and two courses chosen from an approved list.

Courses taken prior to transfer that satisfy any or all of these requirements will be applied toward completion of these requirements.

See details on our website at https://revelle.ucsd.edu/academics/general-education/index.html.

Graduation Requirements

To graduate from Revelle College, a student must

  1. Satisfy the UC Entry Level Writing Requirement.
  2. Satisfy the American History and Institutions requirement.
  3. Satisfy the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion requirement. (See “University-wide Graduation Requirements”).
  4. Satisfy the Jane Teranes Climate Change requirement.
  5. Satisfy the general education requirements.
  6. Successfully complete a major according to all requirements of that department.
  7. Complete a minimum of sixty upper-division units.
  8. Pass at least 180 units for the BA/BS.
  9. Attain a C average (2.0) or better in all work attempted at the University of California (exclusive of UC San Diego Extension). Students are responsible for checking with the department of the major for all major-specific policies.
  10. Meet the senior residence requirement. (See “Senior Residence.”)

Pass/Not Pass Grading Option

  1. With the exception of units earned in independent study courses (numbered 199), no more than 25 percent of an undergraduate student’s total course units taken at UC San Diego may be graded on a Pass/Not Pass basis.
  2. Courses taken as electives may be taken on a Pass/Not Pass basis.
  3. The following general-education courses may be taken Pass/Not Pass: fine arts and language. Nonscience majors may take courses for the natural science requirement Pass/Not Pass.
  4. Most majors require students to take courses for a letter grade in order to apply the course toward the major’s requirement. Please check with the department or program regarding their policy on P/NP grades.

Majors

All undergraduate majors offered at UC San Diego are available to Revelle College students. An exceptional student who has some unusual but definite academic interest for which a suitable major is not offered at UC San Diego may, with the consent of the provost of the college and with the assistance of a faculty adviser, plan their own major. The Revelle College individual major must be submitted no later than three quarters before the student’s intended graduation and be approved by the executive committee of the college before it may be accepted in lieu of a departmental or interdepartmental major. The faculty adviser will supervise the student’s work, and the provost must certify that the student has completed the requirements of the individual major before the degree is granted.

For a list of majors requiring additional screening for acceptance into the major, visit TritonLink https://students.ucsd.edu/academics/advising/majors-minors/undergraduate-majors.html.

Minors

A minor is not required at Revelle College. However, if a student wishes to complete a department minor or a project minor and have it posted to the transcript, they may do so.

There are two types of minors available at Revelle College:

  1. Department Minor—All courses for the minor are taken in one department and they are chosen with the advice and approval of a minor adviser in that department.
  2. Project Minor—A project minor focuses on a topic or period chosen by the student. The project is often interdepartmental and interdisciplinary. The program must have the approval of a minor adviser.

The current university guidelines for the minor require seven courses (twenty-eight units), of which twenty units must be upper division. (See “Undergraduate Minors and Programs of Concentration.”)

Honors

Particularly well-prepared students coming to UC San Diego’s Revelle College from high schools (first-year students) are invited to join the Revelle College Honors Program, which includes weekly participation in a small faculty seminar (REV 20). In the fall quarter, eligible first-year students will be invited to enroll. Enrollment criteria include a high school GPA of 3.8 and above and high achievement in a combination AP or honors or college-level courses or IB HL.

In addition, first-year Regents Scholars, Jacobs Scholars, Chancellor’s Scholars, and Chancellor’s Associates Scholars are eligible for enrollment.

Invitation to the program’s winter and spring quarter seminar is offered to first-year students who achieve a 3.7 GPA in at least twelve graded units per quarter taken at UC San Diego during the previous quarter(s).

Quarterly provost honors, honors at graduation, departmental honors, and Phi Beta Kappa honors are awarded to students at all class levels. An honors recognition event is held in spring quarter for the top two hundred Revelle students from all class levels. For additional information, see “Revelle Honors Programs” and “Honors.”

Study Abroad

Students may participate in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) and Opportunities Abroad Program (OAP) while still making regular progress toward graduation. Information on EAP/OAP is detailed in the Education Abroad Program section of the UC San Diego General Catalog. Interested students should contact the UC San Diego Study Abroad office and visit the website at http://studyabroad.ucsd.edu. Financial aid recipients may apply aid to the program and special study abroad scholarships may be available.

Programs are now available for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. With careful planning students should be able to fulfill some general-education, major, and/or minor requirements while studying abroad.