Advising Information for New First-Year Students 

If you decide to complete summer courses prior to starting at UC San Diego, it is your responsibility to avoid enrolling in courses for which you will receive credit through Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) exams and/or community college coursework. 

If you anticipate receiving AP/IB credit and/or transfering in college-level coursework, you do not want to take another course towards a requirement you might have already fulfilled. Best to take something you know for sure, you won't be duplicating efforts!

We have provided tips in the sections below to help you choose summer coursework wisely.

The Entry Level Writing Requirement (ELWR) is required for all undergraduates at UC San Diego. While some students will complete this requirement before arriving at UCSD, others will complete this requirement after they begin their studies here. 

If you have not met the ELWR, there are a few ways you can clear this requirement before the beggining of Fall Quarter.

• You can complete a UC transferable English Composition course (with a "C" or better) at a community college prior to the start of Fall:
  • Visit assist.org and go to the “Search below for transferable courses box” on the right side of the screen
  • Select “Academic Year” 
  • For “Community College” select the community college you plan to attend
  • Select “UC Transfer Admission Eligibility Courses” and click “View Transferability Lists”
  • For “View Transferable Course by:” select “UC Transfer Eligibility Area”
  • Select “UC-E - English Composition” to see a list of the courses that will clear your ELWR
• Or, you can also clear the ELWR via the Writing Placement Process at UC San Diego.

To select courses that will fulfill Eighth College General Education requirements:

• Review the Eighth College Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) charts on the degree requirements page so you know if any of your scores satisfy Eighth College general education requirements.
• Review list of UC San Diego courses approved to fulfill Eighth College's general education breadth requirements. You can see the Degree Requirements for First-Year Students to get a feel for Eighth's curriculum structure. 

Use assist.org to find equivalent courses if you plan to attend a community college the summer before you attend UC San Diego.

• Visit assist.org and go to the “Search below for articulation agreements” box
• Select “Academic Year”
• For “Institution” select “University of California, San Diego”
• For “Agreements with Other Institutions” select the community college you plan to attend and click “View Agreements”
• For “View Agreement by:” select “Department”
• Select department of interest and click the “View Agreement” box at the right of the screen to see UC transferable courses and what course (if any) they are equivalent to at UC San Diego
• If you plan to do this, we recommend you take a course that is exactly equivalent to a UC San Diego course on our Breadth Requirement Course list to ensure it meets an Eighth College requirement

After completion of summer coursework, send an official transcript to Admissions. There are a few ways to send transcripts to UC San Diego and you can find the instructions here under ‘How and when do I send my official transcripts?’.

Please allow 10-12 weeks for Admissions to evaluate your transcripts and post credits to your Academic History on MyTritonLink.