The UC Santa Cruz College Scholars Program (CSP) provides a stimulating home for highly motivated students to have community with like-minded peers during their first and second years as they explore research at a research university. Each year, we recruit and support a diverse cohort of College Scholars—across all five academic divisions and all ten colleges—who show potential to cultivate academic and non-academic strengths in a learning community. Between 20 and 25 students are housed in close proximity in each college and together participate in an enriched program of study designed to prepare them to take advantage of opportunities for undergraduate research in the upper division.
Across four quarters, students have access to supplementary activities, special courses, small seminars, and a faculty research colloquium to explore what questions drive researchers and what forms research can take. To facilitate participation in these program requirements, CSP students receive priority enrollment during their time in the program.
Researchers work in many sectors, including academia, education and educational policy, foundations, government and public policy, housing and urban development, journalism, law, marketing and sales, medicine, public health, tech, and more!