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Experience University of California- Santa Cruz

Virtually explore University of California- Santa Cruz in a fully immersive 360-degree experience.

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More than just a pretty place.

Celebrated for its extraordinary beauty, our oceanside campus is a center of learning, research, and the free exchange of ideas. We are near the Pacific Ocean, Silicon Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area -- an ideal location for internships and future employment.

Please note that from April 1 through 19, admitted students and their families will be prioritized for tours. If you are unable to make a reservation during that time, please consider a virtual tour or a self-guided tour . Parking is likely to be highly impacted during the spring season. For a smoother arrival, plan to arrive early, and download the ParkMobile app in advance.

Maps to Guide You

Interactive maps showing classrooms, residential colleges, dining, parking, and more.

We offer a number of events – both in-person and virtual –  in the fall for prospective students, and in the spring for admitted students. Our events are family-friendly and always free!

The Santa Cruz Area

A popular seaside tourist destination, Santa Cruz is known for its warm Mediterranean climate, its scenic beaches and redwood forests, and its lively cultural scene. We are also within a short drive to Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Join our Community

We have an exciting array of opportunities for you! Get involved in one of our 150+ student organizations, our Resource Centers, or the residential colleges!

Health & Safety

Your safety and well being are our highest priority. From the Community Safety Officers in the residence halls, to our Student Health Center and our Counseling & Psychological Services Office -- we work together to help you thrive physically and emotionally as you study here.

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Slug Families

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Home / Family Online Orientation / Tour the Campus (virtually)

• Tour the Campus (virtually)

Become acquainted with UC Santa Cruz with virtual tours .

Tour the Campus Virtually

**In order to use the tour on this link, click the camera icons to look at that specific part of the campus. Each of the images that appear upon clicking the camera icon is a 360-degree picture. In order to view the whole picture, you will have to either scroll or click the image and drag your mouse to either side.

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Last modified: February 14, 2024 128.114.113.82

Our voices will define the century

for making an impact on the world

by Princeton Review

for racial and gender diversity in leadership

by Women’s Power Gap Initiative

for excellence in sustainability

by Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education

Leading at the intersection of innovation and social justice.

A global research university with an uncommon emphasis on undergraduate research and education, UC Santa Cruz is part of the world’s most celebrated system of public higher education, and stands among the most renowned institutions of higher learning.

Measuring our expanding universe

We now have the largest 3-D map of our cosmos ever created, thanks to DESI—a powerful instrument mounted atop a telescope in Arizona with a robotic array of 5,000 fiber-optic “eyes” that look into the night sky.

Worldwide webs

UCSC’s Global Classrooms initiative connects students and faculty with the world, allowing them to engage in virtual exchange collaborations with partnering institutions in countries including Kenya, Brazil, Cameroon, Spain, Chile, France, Mexico, and Colombia—all without leaving their home classrooms.

The long and short of it

Telomeres, crucial for cell division, show surprising chromosome-specific length patterns. A new study using nanopore sequencing—invented at UC Santa Cruz—unveils potential targets for disease prevention and innovative drug screening.

Voices of the Century: Ashley Marshall, storytelling to create change

Ashley Marshall (Stevenson ’24, feminist studies) showcases how feminist analysis in literature can make tangible change.

To lead means …

Creating real change

Students at UC Santa Cruz learn from incredible faculty, develop new skills through hands-on research opportunities, and have a track record of making an impact. What kind of a pathbreaker, innovator, or changemaker will you become?

Serving our society

World-class researchers at UC Santa Cruz unlock mysteries and help to transform our world, addressing some of our most pressing needs—from decoding cancer to protecting our natural environment to creating art that challenges assumptions. What will you contribute?

Shaping our future

A global community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, we are committed to climate and economic resiliency for our local and coastal environments through multidisciplinary research, and sustainable and equitable practices.

Become a Banana Slug, and lead the change.

Get ready for your future.

UC Santa Cruz graduates are sought after for their knowledge, skills, and passion. Whether you plan to start working right away, or pursue graduate school or professional school, your UC Santa Cruz degree will help you on your way.

Explore our majors and start your future.

See for yourself

One of the most extraordinary campuses in the world, UC Santa Cruz pairs high-impact research with 10 residential colleges—offering students the experience of a small liberal arts college with the depth and rigor of a major research university. 

Take a tour virtually or in person.

Here to help

A UC degree is worth it—and we can help you pay for it. Our financial aid program is one of the best out there. It supports students in all kinds of ways, whatever their background—with grants, scholarships, low-interest loans, and more.

Get the details on different kinds of financial aid .

Your journey awaits.

When you become a Banana Slug, you join a community of artists, innovators, creators, and justice seekers united in using their voices to change the world.

Join a Baskin Engineering Tour

Request a Tour

Frequently Asked Questions

Meet the Ambassadors

The Baskin Engineering Student Ambassadors (BESA) are offering in-person tours, virtual tours, and office hours throughout the quarter. 

Tour times and office hours are listed on the booking page below and subject to change based on BESA availability.

Meeting Location

Jack Baskin Engineering Courtyard (Between Baskin Engineering and E2). Directions to Baskin Engineering

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Younger Lagoon Reserve

• Amah Mutsun Tribal Brand
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Home / Visit / Virtual Tours

• Virtual Tours

Younger Lagoon Reserve is now offering a virtual tour in both English and Spanish. This virtual tour follows the same stops as our behind-the-scenes hiking tour, and is led by a UCSC student! Click on the links below to access either of the tours.

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Last modified: November 4, 2021 128.114.113.82

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Arboretum & Botanic Garden

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Home / Visit / Exploring Our Gardens

Tour of Aroma, Succulent & Cacti Gardens

FIRST SATURDAY GUIDED TOUR

FIRST SATURDAY Tours are a wonderful way to introduce yourself to the Arboretum or to deepen your understanding of the Arboretum's plant collections. Each tour is a little different depending on the time of year, the interests of the tour guide and the people who join in. You might learn more about the birds and mammals that make this land their home or about the amazing physical adaptations that plants have evolved to better deal with extreme weather and climate conditions. 

FIRST SATURDAY Tours

Tours given on the 1st Saturday of each month - at 11am Admission: $10/person Members: FREE Admission

Meet your tour guide(s) at the entrance to the Visitor Parking lot. Walks will be about one hour.

*Tours cancelled if the weather is unsuitable.* 

SELF GUIDED TOURS

The Arboretum offers many wonderful opportunities for exploration and learning for all ages, backgrounds, and capabilities.  We have beautiful, information-packed interpretive signs near the entrances to every garden, to help make your visit an educationally enriching experience.

  Preview some of our interpretive signs here: 

Bring a picnic lunch to the Arboretum! There are picnic benches in several parts of the gardens (see map below) and several open, grassy areas, where school groups can sit ​on the ground for lunch or for ​instruction. 

Check out these additional resources and tips for a great visit:

Learn more about the arboretum's plant collections:.

* Please notify the Arboretum if your group consists of 6+ cars or a bus, as parking can be limited​. Email us at [email protected]

For Hours and Admission information:

General Admission

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Last modified: April 5, 2024 128.114.113.82

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Home / Housing Virtual Tours / The Village

The Village Housing Virtual Tours

Virtual tour.

Click a thumbnail image to view a virtual tour.

Please Note: Room size, layout, and furniture configuration may vary.

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Last modified: September 7, 2023 128.114.113.82

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Home / 2024 / April / Campus update: Celebrating Earth Day, thank you Spring Give supporters, Potential Slugs in their element

Campus update: Celebrating Earth Day, thank you Spring Give supporters, Potential Slugs in their element

To:   UCSC Community

From:   Chancellor Cynthia Larive

April 19, 2024

The UC Santa Cruz community will join millions of people worldwide next week to commemorate Earth Day, established more than a half-century ago to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It’s a day tailor made for UC Santa Cruz. Sustainability is a focus of our research, a tenet in our operational practices, a core pillar of our recently completed campuswide strategic plan, and an increasingly important element of every campus capital project we pursue. Our students have been powerful partners in our efforts to advance sustainability, and we’ve built an especially strong Sustainability Office that helps to keep us at the forefront of climate-action and sustainability trends.

Rachel Carson College – named in honor of the scientist and author who helped to launch the environmental movement – is holding a weeklong series of events dubbed RCC Earth Week 2024 . Events kick off on Earth Day itself, Monday, April 22. The college’s newly opened dining hall is a testament to our commitment to live by our values. We dual-plumbed the building and will soon harvest rainwater for non-potable demands such as irrigation and toilet flushing. The building is all electric, which enables us to power it with clean, renewable energy sources. We utilized super-insulated building skins, which reduces the need for cooling systems, and the primary structure material is CLT, or Cross-Laminated Timber, which is a state-of-the-art renewable wood product. The Rachel Carson project and our Kresge College renewal were among the first projects in the UC system to utilize this sustainable material.

Something new we’re trying to help our community members live more sustainably is a recycling app. At its core is the acknowledgement that, well, recycling and composting properly can be confusing! Tossing items into incorrect waste streams can lead to landfilling recyclables or compostables. We hope the Recycle Coach helps to stop that. The app tells users exactly how to dispose of any item on campus. Since UCSC’s waste rules are built into the app, you can discard your items knowing you’ve selected the right bin. Visit the newly updated UCSC Waste Management website for more details.

Additional campus Earth Week happenings can be found on the Sustainability Office events page , including a Campus Clean-up planned for May 4 to close out Earth Month.

The Highlights

Dealing with the impacts of a campus power outage, broad support for spring give.

• Awards program honors impactful innovation
• Celebrating our golden alumni
• Potential Slugs in their element

The campus power outages of the past week have been difficult for our community, and I want to assure everyone that we have been doing all we can to ease the burdens that the outages create. Our utility team was in close contact with PG&E during both power failures, as the outages were the result of problems the utility company was experiencing off campus. Thank you all for your patience. I understand that these outages can be stressful. I am especially grateful to the hundreds of staff and faculty members who pivoted from their usual duties, devising creative instructional methods, providing dining options for on-campus residents, refueling emergency generators, and generally making sure our community members were cared for. That is no small task for a campus of our size. We do have a back-up cogeneration power system on campus, but it only has the capacity to meet a fraction of our power demands. For that, we depend on PG&E, and as evidenced by the outages, the wider public-power system is not without issues.

The generosity of the UC Santa Cruz community never ceases to amaze me. This year’s Spring Give , our annual crowdfunding effort that wrapped up Friday, raised a remarkable $150,478, with more than 2,260 donors taking part. Both figures are big jumps from last year. The total raised increased by about 40 percent and the number of those giving jumped by roughly 200 percent! That is amazing. The Spring Give is unique in that it allows donors to pinpoint exactly where their money is going, with dozens of campus organizations drumming up support from their backers. Thank you to all involved – University Advancement organized the event and a whopping 86 student groups took part – and especially to all who gave!

Innovation awards recognize work across campus, in community

Congrats to the recipients of the 2023 Chancellor’s Innovation Impact Awards , which were announced Thursday evening. The awards recognize the outstanding research and creativity taking place across the university and wider Santa Cruz community. This year’s awardees were three faculty members – Holger Schmidt and Susana Ruiz (and her team) each received an Innovator of the Year Award, while David Haussler  was honored for Lifetime Achievement in Innovation – and Santa Cruz’s Homeless Garden Project , which was presented with the Community Changemaker Award.

Now in its second year, the awards program celebrates innovation with positive real-world impacts. That’s what is so special about these awards. We’re recognizing members of our community who are committed to addressing the world’s most vexing issues and solving longstanding scientific and technical puzzles that have the potential to greatly improve people’s lives. Others who are honored are literally getting their hands dirty to help give their neighbors a better future. It is inspiring to come together to celebrate all of this work!

Alumni Reunion Weekend draws a crowd

The campus was filled with golden Banana Slugs this past weekend as Alumni Reunion Weekend celebrated graduates from the classes of 1965 through 1974. The annual weekend honors those who have reached the 50-year milestone and serves as our recognition that UC Santa Cruz’s standing as a premier research and educational institution results from the contributions made by those earliest alumni. More than 200 people attended events Friday through Sunday. Highlights included the dedication of a new path to Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery in the name of late Cowell Provost John Lynch, and numerous events that brought together alumni with current students – interactions that are special for both groups.

This summer, we’ll host another alumni event, as Return to the Redwoods happens Aug. 16–18. It is a one-of-a-kind campus experience during which alumni can stay overnight in the residence halls, letting them show their kids, grandkids or friends what is so magical about this place. Last year’s event saw 400 alumni register for events, with 300-plus choosing to spend the weekend living in campus dorms and apartments at Cowell and Stevenson colleges. Based on early registrations, this year’s attendance could double the 2023 number. It is shaping up to be a fantastic new UC Santa Cruz tradition. Visit the event website for more details.

Ooze coming? Potential Banana Slugs check out campus

They say Banana Slugs come out in the rain. Well that’s apparently the case with potential Banana Slugs, too, as we had a packed house at Banana Slug Day on Saturday despite stormy weather. An estimated 4,000 admitted students and their families visited campus for the special preview day. It was a chance to celebrate their admission, tour our beautiful campus, and connect with our extraordinary community. Highlights included a housing display featuring a dorm room mock-up, interactive Baskin Engineering and Coastal Campus tours, tables on student resources and organizations, and lots of opportunities to chat with faculty. A standout event was the Black Excellence Breakfast, featuring performances and a panel discussion. Additionally, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions is hosting admitted-student receptions in more than 15 locations across the United States and nine international cities, with Transfer Banana Slug Day slated for May 11. Opportunity and access to an excellent educational experience are two of our core values, and it’s exciting to show prospective students the possibilities that lie ahead!

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Last modified: April 19, 2024 128.114.113.82