UC San Diego campus tour: Geisel Library, the colleges and La Jolla

The University of California San Diego is young by the standards of famous universities. It was founded in 1960, growing out of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which had been studying the Pacific from the shore below since 1903. The campus spreads across a mesa in La Jolla, in the north of the city of San Diego, among eucalyptus groves and within sight of the ocean. It is large, modern and spread out, so a little planning goes a long way. This guide picks out what to see and explains how the place works.

The shape of the campus

A busy interstate divides the university in two. Almost everything a prospective undergraduate will want to see is on the west side:

The centre: Geisel Library, Library Walk and the Price Center.
The colleges: clusters of residence halls, dining halls and classrooms arranged in a ring around the centre.
Engineering: just east of the library.
Scripps: down the hill to the south-west, on the shore.

The medical centre and several research parks are on the east side. Distances are bigger than they look on a map; the walk from the southern colleges to the northern ones takes twenty minutes or more.

Geisel Library

Geisel Library is the building everyone photographs. Designed by William Pereira and opened in 1970, it rises from a narrow concrete base into wide tiers of glass, like a pair of hands holding up a stack of books. In 1995 it was named for Audrey and Theodor Geisel. Theodor, better known as Dr. Seuss, lived in La Jolla for much of his life, and the library holds a large collection of his drawings and manuscripts.

The best views are from the lawn to the south and from the forum at its base.

Library Walk and the Price Center

From Geisel, a broad paved promenade called Library Walk runs south through the middle of campus. During term it is lined with tables where student groups recruit members. It leads to the Price Center, the main student centre, with a food court, the campus bookshop, a cinema, lounges and offices for student organisations. A bronze statue of Triton, the university's mascot, stands at its steps. The sports teams are the Tritons.

How the colleges work

UC San Diego borrowed an idea from Oxford and Cambridge: every undergraduate belongs to one of several colleges, whatever subject they study. Each college has its own residence halls, dining hall, advisers, traditions and, importantly, its own set of general education requirements, so the choice of college shapes the first two years.

Revelle, the oldest, opened in 1964 and is named after the oceanographer Roger Revelle, who led the university's founding. Muir, next to it, has some of the most striking concrete architecture of the 1960s. Newer colleges have been added one by one, the most recent with large modern residential buildings. Prospective students should read how each college's requirements differ.

The Stuart Collection

The campus doubles as an outdoor gallery. Since the early 1980s the Stuart Collection has commissioned artists to make works for particular spots, and finding them is a good way to explore. Among the best known:

Sun God: a brightly coloured bird on a concrete arch, the first work in the collection and the namesake of the annual student festival.
Snake Path: a tiled walkway in the shape of a serpent that winds uphill to the library, passing a small garden and a giant granite book.
Fallen Star: a small house perched at an angle on the corner of an engineering building's roof.
Bear: a huge teddy bear built from boulders, in a courtyard among the engineering buildings.

Scripps and the shore

A steep road leads down from the campus to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, one of the oldest and best-known centres for ocean and earth science in the world. Its buildings line the beach, and its long research pier reaches out over the surf. The pier itself is a working facility, but the beach beside it is public. Up the hill, the institution runs a public aquarium with a terrace overlooking the coast.

Cliffs, beaches and La Jolla

The western edge of campus ends in high sandstone cliffs. Paragliders and hang-gliders launch from a gliderport on the bluff, and far below is Black's Beach, reached by steep trails. A few minutes' drive south, La Jolla Shores is a long, gentle beach popular with families and beginner surfers, and the village of La Jolla has shops, restaurants and a small rocky cove where sea lions haul out. Just north of campus, a state reserve protects the rare Torrey pine and has easy cliff-top trails.

Arranging a visit

Like most universities, UC San Diego typically offers campus tours and admission presentations for prospective students, and the grounds are open to walk on your own. Schedules vary through the year, so check the university's official visitor page for what is currently available.

Getting there and around

By air: San Diego's airport is next to downtown, roughly twenty kilometres south of campus; allow half an hour by road, more at rush hour.
By trolley: the city's light rail runs from downtown and Old Town to stations on campus.
By car: the campus is just off the main coastal interstate. Visitor parking is limited and paid; check the current arrangements and allow time to find a space.
On campus: walking is fine for the centre, but shuttle buses are useful for longer hops.

Areas families usually choose

La Jolla: hotels in the village and at La Jolla Shores, close to campus and the sea.
University City: just east of campus, with business hotels, a large shopping centre and trolley stops.
Downtown San Diego and the bay: more to do in the evening, with the trolley to campus. Across the bay, our guide to the Hotel del Coronado covers the city's most famous resort.

Tips for a smoother day

Start at Geisel Library, walk Library Walk to the Price Center, follow the Snake Path, then drive or ride down to Scripps and the beach.
The coast is often overcast in late spring and early summer mornings; afternoons are usually clearer.
Touring more of California? See our UCLA campus tour and Caltech campus tour.
Check the university's visitor page again shortly before you travel, as arrangements change.

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Cover photo: Westxtk, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons