UC San Diego Campus Profile

The University

Innovation is central to who we are and what we do at the University of California, San Diego. Here, students learn that knowledge isn’t just acquired in the classroom—life is their laboratory.

UC San Diego is an academic powerhouse and economic engine, recognized as one of the top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report and ranked number one in the nation for public service by the Washington Monthly. Our location is unparalleled, our impact unmistakable. UC San Diego shapes minds, changes lives, launches industries and builds the future...one student, one discovery and one achievement at a time. Visit www.ucsd.edu for more information.

Students

Total campus enrollment is 29,324 students (as of Fall 2011).
UC San Diego received 53,455 freshman applications for Fall 2011 admission (the second highest application rate in the UC system). The admitted freshman's average high school GPA was 4.09.

Budget

UC San Diego’s FY 2010 revenues were $2.9 billion; 31.7 percent of this total is revenue from contracts and grants, most of which is from the federal government for research.
Less than 8 percent of the university's operating budget comes from State of California funds for education. Yet that small investment in UC San Diego results in significant impact to the region in terms of the economy, healthcare, skilled workforce, businesses, jobs and so much more.
Total research funding for the fiscal year ending June 30 is more than $1,043,000,000.That number includes $160 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus) funding the university was awarded over the same period.

Economic Impact

In 2011, the campus conferred 7,535 degrees; approximately one-third of our nearly 140,000 alumni live in San Diego County, contributing income, payroll, property and sales taxes to the region.
UC San Diego faculty, staff and alumni have started 646 companies, including many of our local biotech and technology firms.
Number of active local UC San Diego-related companies: 156
Total estimated annual sales of active companies: $15,298,000,000
Direct jobs attributable to active companies: 18,140
Total economic impact in San Diego County of active UC San Diego-related companies: $20,021,000,000
The university is the 4th largest employer in San Diego County.

Specialized Resources

Alumni

Where They Live

Nearly 140,000 UC San Diego alumni live across the globe.
66% live in California, with the highest percentage living in San Diego (38%)
18% live in the U.S. (non-CA)
1% live abroad
15% address data unavailable

Gender

52% men
48% women

Degrees Awarded

51% received a B.A.
27% received a B.S.
19% received a graduate degree
4% degree data unavailable

Private Support

The UC San Diego Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation (Tax ID #95-2872494), was established in 1972 in response to the university's recognition that private support is essential to maintaining and enhancing the margin of excellence on campus.
The Foundation helps UC San Diego obtain private gifts (in support of research, teaching, and public service) and manages the gift assets. Distinguished community members, university administrators, and faculty and alumni representatives make up the 44-member Board of Trustees that governs the Foundation.
In FY 2011, UC San Diego raised $120.7 million in private support, with $11.0 million committed to the Invent the Future: The UC San Diego Student Support Campaign to fund scholarships and fellowships. Major gifts included a $2.4 million grant by the Hellman Fellows Fund to support junior faculty members on the tenure track; a $10 million pledge by Steve Altman (president of Qualcomm) and his wife Lisa to the Clinical and Translational Research Institute which will focus on new treatments for diabetes and other devastating illnesses; and a generous $2 million donation from Audrey Geisel to jumpstart the renovation of University House, the currently uninhabitable private residence for the UC San Diego Chancellor.

National and Global Rankings

The U.S. News & World Report 2012 Best Colleges guidebook ranks UC San Diego as the 8th best public university in the nation and 37th among the nation's top 280 universities.

The UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering's undergraduate program is ranked 20th in the category for engineering schools that award doctorates. The Jacobs School garnered a 5th place spot in the Biomedical/Biomedical Engineering category.

Graduate programs at UC San Diego continue to rank highly as noted in the America’s Best Graduate Schools guidebook, 2012 Edition, released by U.S. News Media Group, publishers of U.S. News & World Report.

The university’s School of Medicine is ranked 15th in research-intensive programs among 126 medical schools; its AIDS program in the primary care category is ranked 8th. UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering is ranked 14th out of 198 engineering schools; the biomedical/bioengineering program within the engineering school is ranked 2nd in the nation; computer engineering is 15th; electrical engineering is 17th; and civil engineering is 18th.
Although not newly ranked this year, UC San Diego’s other graduate programs ranked in the top 20 in the 2012 edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools include:

The Sciences: physics specialties/plasma (5), discrete mathematics and combinations (6), neuroscience/neurobiology (7), biochemistry (10), physics (14), computer science (14), biological sciences (15), earth sciences (17), mathematics (20), chemistry (21)
Social Sciences and Humanities: political science (7), behavioral neuroscience (3), cognitive psychology (3), econometrics (6), American politics (6), comparative politics (6), international politics (6), sociology of culture (6), experimental psychology (7), political methodology (8), economics (14), psychology (17)
Arts and Sciences: master of fine arts in art and design (15)

The UC San Diego Health System is recognized as #1 among San Diego’s adult hospitals by the 2011-2012 U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals rankings, and named among the best in the nation in six specialty areas (cancer, diabetes, nephrology, orthopedics, psychiatry and pulmonology).

In 2011, the UC San Diego Health System is recognized for having 83 Top Doctors in more than 30 specialties according to U.S. News & World Report.
The UC San Diego Health System is among the nation’s top 15 major teaching hospitals, as noted in the Thomson Reuters’ 2010 100 Top Hospitals list.

UC San Diego is the 33rd best university in the world according to Times Higher Education in its 2011-12 "World Universities Rankings." Times Higher Education—a London-Based higher education magazine—recognized the campus for its learning environment, ground-breaking research and economic impact.
UC San Diego is ranked 1st in the nation by the Washington Monthly’s 2011 College Guide, based on the positive impact the university has had on the country.
The Princeton Review's annual college guide ranks UC San Diego among the nation’s top 50 “Best Value” public universities for 2011. Kiplinger's Personal Finance ranks UC San Diego the best value public university in California. UC San Diego graduates rank 5th nationally in salary earnings among public universities, according to Payscale.com.
The Rady School of Management at UC San Diego has earned initial accreditation from the prestigious AACSB International - Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Founded in 2003, the Rady School is the only new business school created at a U.S. News & World Report top 10 ranked public research university during the past 30 years, and is one of the youngest in the nation ever to achieve this AACSB recognition.

UC San Diego is one of only 10 campuses in the United States and Canada to earn a “gold” sustainability-performance rating in the prestigious Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS) 2011 survey. UC San Diego received the 1st Annual Climate Leadership Award in 2010 by the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment.
Sierra magazine named the University of California, San Diego the nation’s 3rd “coolest” school in 2011 for going green. UC San Diego is included in The Princeton Review’s 2011 Guide To 311 Green Colleges.
In 2011, The Preuss School UCSD, a charter middle and high school located on the campus of UC San Diego, is ranked the top transformative high school in the nation and best high school in San Diego in by Newsweek magazine. In 2010, Business Week magazine named Preuss the top low-income school in the state.
Mary Beebe won the 2011 Americans for the Arts’ Public Art Network Award for her work as director of the Stuart Collection, a unique program of site-specific works by leading artists on the campus of UC San Diego.
The 2011 National Collegiate Scouting Association’s Power Rankings places UC San Diego 1st amongst Division II colleges and 6th place overall, based on student-athlete graduation rates, academic strength and athletic prowess. The global Web site Surfline ranks UC San Diego as the #1 campus in the nation for surfing based on our proximity to the world-renowned Black’s Beach, nationally ranked surf team, lively student life, affordable educational costs and extensive offering of surf classes.
In 2010, UC San Diego was ranked the 19th best research university in the country, by the Center for Measuring University Performance.
UC San Diego was named to the 2010 President’s Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction for the second consecutive year.
The 2010 Academic Rankings of World Universities conducted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China ranks UC San Diego the 3rd best public university in the U.S.
Results of the 2010 National Research Council (NRC) Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs, conducted every ten years, indicate that three doctoral programs offered at UC San Diego—Biological Sciences, Bioengineering and Scripps Institution of Oceanography—are ranked first in the country, two more are among the top four in their disciplines, and 60 percent of UC San Diego’s programs that were rated are among the top 20 programs in their fields nationwide. UC San Diego’s Ph.D. programs were ranked highly in every academic division.

Current Faculty Honors

Nobel Prize: Renato Dulbecco, physiology/medicine (1975); Harry Markowitz, economics (1990); Paul Crutzen, 1995, chemistry; Mario J. Molina, chemistry (1995); Robert F. Engle, economics (2003); Roger Tsien, chemistry (2008). The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former vice president Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose roster of researchers lists nearly two dozen Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientists including Mario Molina, Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Richard Somerville and Lynne Talley.
Fields Medal: Michael Freedman, mathematics (1986); Efim Zelmanov, mathematics (1994).
Balzan Prize: J. Freeman Gilbert, geophysics (1990); Wolfgang Berger, marine sciences (1993).
National Medal of Science: Margaret Burbidge, astrophysics (1983); Walter Munk, geophysics (1983); Michael Freedman, mathematics (1987); Yuan-Chen Fung, bioengineering (2000); Andrew Viterbi, electrical and computer engineering (2008); Craig Venter, Pharmacology (2009); Marye Anne Fox, chemistry (2010); Shu Chien, bioengineering (2011).
Pulitzer Prize: Roger Reynolds, music (1989); Rae Armantrout, poetry (2010).
Kyoto Prize: Walter Munk, geophysics (1999).
MacArthur Fellows: Guillermo Algaze, anthropology; Nancy D. Cartwright, philosophy; Patricia Churchland, philosophy; Michael Freedman, mathematics; Edwin Hutchins, cognitive science; Michael Schudson, communication; and Carol Padden, communication.
Tony Award: Judith Dolan, theatre and dance (1997).
Academy Award: Henrik Wann Jensen, computer science and engineering (2004).