WHY UCR?

One of the fastest-growing universities in the University of California (UC) system and in the United States, UCR offers a dynamic environment for graduate study and research. The campus's total enrollment of 16,000 will increase to 21,000 students by 2010. The graduate population comprises some 12% of students, and smaller graduate classes foster a personalized learning environment characterized by frequent and high-powered faculty-student contact. The campus boasts a highly diverse student body and a curriculum and research profile built on diverse intellectual approaches to disciplinary and interdisciplinary themes.

Founded as a research institution in 1907, Riverside is the oldest of the UC southern campuses. Growth of graduate and professional programs is one of the campus's highest priorities, and nearly all graduate students receive fellowships and/or teaching assistantships during their graduate careers. Graduate support packages are substantial and highly competitive with those offered by other institutions. Graduate students at UCR are an essential part of the University's distinguished research undertakings and full partners in the undergraduate teaching mission of the faculty. State-of-the-art centralized facilities--including libraries, museums, computing laboratories, and specialized media--support faculty and graduate student research and creative activity. Interdisciplinary faculty-student workshops bring faculty and students together to explore shared research and pedagogical interests. A strong system of support services is offered by the Graduate Division, Departmental Graduate Advisors, the Graduate Students Association, Housing, and International Services.

The College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is the fastest-growing College on the campus and the home of sixteen graduate programs with many sub-disciplinary tracks. Among the College's outstanding facilities are a new Arts complex and the Humanities and Social Science building. In the planning and design stages are buildings that will house interdisciplinary departments and centers and psychology instructional and research spaces. The Barbara and Art Culver Center for the Arts, to be located in a restored historic downtown Riverside building adjacent to the UCR/California Museum of Photography, will expand the campus's reach into the Riverside community with performance, exhibition, and creative spaces.

The campus and the City of Riverside enjoy a strong partnership that brings dining, entertainment, retail, transportation, and professional services to UCR students. The region's economy is thriving, but housing and other costs of living are lower than in most California cities. Within an hour's drive of the campus are premier theme parks, ocean and mountain resorts, deserts and lakes, and all the cultural riches of the greater Los Angeles area.

We welcome your interest in graduate study at the University of California, Riverside. For more information about the campus and the Riverside community, please click here.