The six-college system is UCSD’s pride and joy. The Admissions Office describes it as “the heart of the UCSD campus,” and the description elicits pride in almost every introductory text about the university. It is truly an amazing program that has the potential to give students a sense of intimacy that is usually lacking in big research-oriented schools such as UCSD. But the problems of the college system start from the very beginning.
As it stands now, students sometimes end up in a college at random, and sometimes in one that is unsuited to their temperaments or interests. The 2005 report on undergraduate student experience and satisfaction reports, “Due to the stress of the application process, they [student applicants] did not place the requisite importance on researching UCSD’s six colleges.” In the midst of the horrible experience of applying to college, who wants to read into each of the separate colleges before one even knows if he or she will be accepted? Alex Lan, a John Muir College junior, agrees that he chose Muir College at random and “got lucky.”
“The descriptions were very vague,” he remembers. “They should have just listed the requirements.”
A better solution would be to have students choose which college they would like to attend at a later date. This should occur after students commit to attending UCSD so that the choice of college is more pertinent to them. They would also then have the option to attend Admit Day and visit each of the colleges. Brochures of each community’s facilities and writing programs, as well as its general education requirements, could also be distributed in the acceptance packets students receive.
The fact is, the college system is really only effective for the first two years of schooling. Once students no longer live on campus, the sense of college community fades. David Lindquist, a Revelle College senior and a transfer student, says he likes the idea of the six-college system but feels that it is only useful for students who live on campus.
The student satisfaction report suggests that, since “UCSD values the college system,” college-specific housing should be in place for all four years of a student’s career, with the option of having students of “other colleges live within another college’s residential system.” This only encourages college community building and by allowing students to live with friends from other colleges, it gives them an incentive to remain on campus. Without the vast off-campus migration that usually occurs between sophomore and junior years, students would retain closer ties to their university and feel a stronger sense of community.
“I think it’s a whole lot better than nothing,” he said. “But if you’re off campus and interested in your studies, you probably won’t do anything with your college.”
This trait of the college system won’t change anytime soon, and the flaws of the system as a whole don’t end there. The college system often seems to undermine community building as much as helping it. Students constantly complain that UCSD has a lackluster sense of community and pride, and that the school only comes together on big events like Sun God.
While it is true that the colleges do organize a plethora of events meant to draw students together, according to the student satisfaction report, “There is a persistent misconception among students that events organized by colleges are only open to students from those colleges,” and this is only enhanced by the fact that big college events tend to occur on the same day. This type of scheduling discourages intercollege friendships and mingling, as well as an identification with UCSD as a whole. It would help if colleges were required to draw the entire university community to their events and if advertising forums (such as the electronic marquees on the shuttles) were utilized for this purpose. Smaller college events could also link with campuswide events, such as a pre-Fall Fest college talent show that would encourage everyone to walk to the concert together afterward. Almost every college has a “Day at the Bay” or a Martin Luther King Day march; why couldn’t these events be combined into multicollege events?
One interesting suggestion that the report makes is that, in order to increase school spirit and a sense of community, UCSD should create rivalries to unite the students. The report suggests that these rivalries be made with other schools in the area, such as San Diego State or University of San Diego, but perhaps intercollege rivalries could increase school spirit as well. The Unolympics, the crowning event of Welcome Week, unites incoming freshmen with other students from their college and encourages them to work together as a team to win the coveted Golden Shoe. It’s a hilarious and wonderful event that those who participate remember long afterward and the core of it is a healthy intercollege rivalry. The same feeling is present at another such event, Spirit Week. If healthy rivalries were encouraged with other such events, then perhaps students would feel more involved with their college. Plus, if the college they belong to became a source of pride, then students would be more likely to remain involved with their college even after the first two years of housing are up.
Imagine a UCSD where applicants knew exactly which college they wanted to go to, and ranked them accordingly. Wouldn’t they have more pride in their college of choice, and wouldn’t they want to play a bigger part in it? Now imagine that the colleges worked to make them a part of the university community throughout their entire career and acted as the support system that the admission brochures imply they do. Then the college system would truly be something for UCSD to be proud of.
