College Scholars Program
Program Overview
The UC Santa Cruz College Scholars Program (CSP) offers a congenial and stimulating academic home for a select group of well-prepared first-year students at UC Santa Cruz. Through this honors program, students can expect to challenge themselves academically, find other students who are similarly motivated, and explore undergraduate research. This enriched program of study includes special courses, seminars, colloquia, and other events during each quarter of the student's first academic year and fall of the student's second academic year.
CSP provides an opportunity for outstanding students to engage deeply with the best of UCSC. Early in their career, students are able to explore the full potential of the university setting, beyond the coursework that might be required in their respective disciplines.
CSP has close ties to the college system. In 2018-2019, Fall Start scholars (see below for information about Spring Start scholars) will live at Cowell, Crown, Merrill or Porter College. Each college will have a cohort of about 20-25 College Scholars Program students, and students in each cohort will be housed together. Students receive priority enrollment during their time in the program.
College Scholars Program Curriculum
The CSP academic program is designed to both challenge participants and give them the opportunity to develop a strong foundation in our research university.
Year 1
Fall Quarter 1—Supplement to College "Core Course": Students will take part in a series of gatherings led by the Faculty Director and the Provosts at the four Fall Start colleges. These meetings are meant to supplement their college “core course” and to build relationships with other CSP students.
Winter Quarter 1—Service Learning Course: All students will take a two-credit service-learning course offered through Cowell College (COWL 168). This course includes three main components: classroom meetings, journal reflections and papers, and placement in a local organization. Guest speakers are a part of the class and in the past have included local alumni and elected public officials, all working to promote positive social change locally, nationally, or internationally. Over the course of the term, students contribute 40 hours of work to an organization in the community. Organizations that have welcomed students in the past include: the Homeless Service Center, Rising International, Santa Cruz Boys and Girls Club, and the Museum of Art and History.
Spring Quarter 1—Faculty Research Colloquium: Students will take a two-credit course (COWL 89) where weekly faculty lectures are followed by dinner at one of the Provosts' houses. Each student is invited to attend one dinner during the term.
Faculty guests will be drawn from a variety of fields within the university, and students will be encouraged to listen to and appreciate scholars and scholarship beyond their own comfortable niche in engineering, biology, linguistics, music, or whatever their area of interest may be. The invited scholars will be speaking not only about the substance of their work, but also about the types of questions that are particular to their fields of study. By the end of the course, students should have a good sense of the modes of inquiry that animate intellectual life in a research university.
Year 2
Fall Quarter 2—Seminar: Students choose from one of several five-unit research seminars. Each of the seminars focuses on developing significant hands-on skills: whether it is a chance to “do real science” through guided research in the field and in a lab, or address important primary sources directly and debate them together in a text-centered seminar room, students will get training in the real intellectual work that scholars do.
College Scholars Programs: Fall Start and Spring Start
Fall Start—Invitation Only: Admission to the Fall Start cohort of College Scholars Program is by invitation only. A select group of UCSC applicants who are offered admission to the university will be invited to join the program, based on their record of academic achievement. Those students who accept the invitation will be housed together at either Cowell, Crown, Merrill, or Porter College.
Spring Start: Students can apply to the College Scholars Program after the Fall quarter of their first year. In this case, students accepted into CSP will join the program in Spring quarter and will participate in the spring research colloquium. Spring Start students will be selected based on applications reviewed through their college. Students may apply to Spring Start from any of UCSC’s colleges.