I am currently someone interested in attending UCSD, but need clarification on the six college system.
The College system determines your living location (dorms) and the GE’s required to complete your degree. The College system is not based on your major although some colleges may be preferable to others depending upon your major.
Here is a link that may help: http://admissions.ucsd.edu/sixcolleges.html
@QuelDrame! There is a pretty good description of the colleges in this thread:
UCSD has around 30,000 undergrads. Breaking them up into 6 colleges makes it much more manageable. Each of the six colleges has its’ own administration- advisors, counselors, etc.- as well as dorms and food services. Each college has different GE requirements so engineering students might be more comfortable in a college with a bigger emphasis on STEM GE requirements- each college has an emphasis on a different area of education. However, there is no rule that any major has to be within any particular college and you will find a good mix of majors within each college. A lot of your GE classes may be held within your college however you will have classes in other colleges too, especially as you progress into more of your major classes. Your degree will be from UCSD and not from yourr college.
Each college is located in a different area of campus, but there are no physical barriers between colleges. You will still be part of the entire campus and will mix with other colleges a lot-at the bookstore, the library, the rec center, food courts, etc. Being part of a college just makes it so it is not so overwhelming to meet people and to get help when you need it.
In addition, your programmed social activities and opportunities to get involved in student organizations UCSD will be focused a lot around the colleges. The idea behind this is to give you a “small liberal arts” college experience while still being at a large research university. Of course most people attend events at colleges other than the one they are admitted to and/or live in. But the college system lets you also have a small community. The colleges are also where you will get resources like academic advising, help with finding campus resources if you need that, etc. throughout the time you are at UCSD. This helps to make it less daunting to do things like figure out whether you’re on track to graduate than if there was one place for all 25,000+ undergraduates to do those kinds of things.