Campuses and Clusters

Statewide, we offer a variety of academic clusters at six University of California campuses. Each cluster consists of two science and/or math courses and a science communication course. Courses are taught by active UC faculty and researchers. Students participate in hands-on labs, field activities, lectures, and discussions. Students also work on a related research project. Cluster sizes vary but typically range from 20 to 25 students, and the student-to-faculty ratio is commonly 5:1.

CAMPUSES

UC Davis is located in Northern California, about 15 minutes west of the State Capitol, Sacramento. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine is the largest veterinary school in the United States.

UC Irvine is located in Southern California, approximately minutes from Newport Beach in Orange County. Forty miles south of Los Angeles. UC Irvine set up the first Earth System Science Department in the United States.

UC Los Angeles is in Southern California, near prominent entertainment venues such as the Getty Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and the Santa Monica Pier.

UC Merced is the newest campus within the UC system. The primary campus is located around five miles north of Merced and sits adjacent to Lake Yosemite. The main campus is around 1,026 acres (415 hectares) in size. Large swaths of protected natural grasslands surround the university.

UC San Diego is located in Southern California along the Southern California Coast. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, UC San Diego is the southernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California.

UC Santa Cruz is located in Northern California, in the Santa Cruz mountains, just minutes from the Pacific Ocean and approximately an hour south of San Francisco.

2026 CLUSTERS

COSMOS students participate in a selected “cluster,” with each cluster addressing advanced topics in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, ranging from a variety of engineering disciplines, biomedical sciences, computer science, ecology, marine science, materials science, mathematics, physics and astronomy, robotics, game theory, & more.