Applications have doubled in the past 10 years at this seaside paradise. UC San Diego now rivals better-known Berkeley and UCLA as the Cal campus of choice for top students. Six undergraduate colleges break the university down to a more manageable size. Best known for science, engineering, and the famed Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Some say that looking good is better than feeling good, but at UC San Diego, they’re doing a lot of both. Set against the serene beauty of La Jolla’s beaches, students catch as much relaxation time as they do study time. But it’s not all fun and games around this campus. The research star of the UC system, San Diego’s faculty rates high nationally among public institutions in science productivity. And within each of the six undergraduate colleges, a system that offers undergraduates more intimate settings, students are honing their minds with the classics and the cutting edge in academics. Sure, San Diegans tend to be more mellow than the average Southern Californian, and the students here follow suit. But beneath the tanned foreheads and bright smiles, UC San Diego is bubbling with intellectual energy and the healthy desire to be at the top of the UC system.

San Diego’s tree-lined campus, established in 1960 near the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, sits high on a bluff overlooking the Pacific in the seaside resort of La Jolla. The predominant architectural theme is contemporary, with a few out-of-the-ordinary structures, including a library that looks like an inverted pyramid. Another tinge of the postmodern is the nation’s largest neon sculpture, which wraps around one of the high-rise academic buildings and consists of seven-foot-tall letters that spell out the seven virtues superimposed over the seven vices. Work is underway on a significant campus expansion that will add several new academic and residential facilities, including the 74,000-square-foot Design and Innovation Building, slated for completion in 2021.

UC San Diego’s six undergraduate colleges have their own sets of general education requirements, their own personalities, and differing ideals on which they are based. Revelle College, the oldest, is the most rigorous and mandates that students become equally acquainted with a certain level of coursework in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, as well as fulfill a language requirement. Muir allows more flexibility in the distribution of requirements. Thurgood Marshall College was founded to emphasize and encourage social awareness. Like Revelle, it places equal weight on sciences, social sciences, and humanities, but it also stresses a liberal arts education based on “an examination of the human condition in a multicultural society.” Warren has developed a highly organized internship program that gives its undergraduates more practical experience than the others do. Eleanor Roosevelt College devotes its curriculum to international and cross-cultural studies. Sixth College focuses on art, culture, and technology, with the aim of preparing students to work collaboratively and enjoy working in their communities. Prospective freshmen apply to the university but must indicate their preferred college.

UC San Diego’s programs in science, engineering, and computer science have global reputations and are “not for the faint of heart,” says one student. The engineering school, notable for offerings like structural engineering and nanoengineering, is particularly competitive, and a limit to the number of students who can declare these majors means acceptance usually requires an A average and top test scores in entry-level courses. The nearby Scripps Institution of Oceanography is also excellent. Biology (the most popular major) and chemistry are also strengths, but you really can’t go wrong in any of the hard sciences. Although the humanities and social sciences are not as solid in comparison, economics, psychology, and cognitive science are popular majors. New majors are available in education sciences, biological anthropology, and global health, and students may devise their own majors. Twenty-one percent of students study abroad; San Diego’s five-week, faculty-led Global Seminars in the summer are especially popular.

San Diego operates on the quarter system, which means students cram 3 or 4 courses into 10 weeks. Science students in particular find the workload intense. The quality of research done by the faculty, half a dozen of whom are Nobel laureates, is extremely high, and students have ample opportunities to assist with research, sometimes as early as freshman year. Students say the typical scenario of research over teaching seen at most large research universities is not as common at UC San Diego. Even so, given the large class sizes-27 percent of undergraduate courses enroll more than 50 students-“you end up teaching a lot of the material to yourself,” according to an anthropology major.

A theater major notes that the university’s academic intensity “does not mean that all the students here are nerdy. We enjoy athletics and extracurricular activities, but academic excellence is our priority.” A short walk to the beach, however, reveals the student body’s wild and crazy half-surfers and their fans, who celebrate the “kick back.” Students jumping curbs on skateboards are common on this campus. Yet these beach babies are no scholastic slouches. San Diego ranks highly among public colleges and universities in the percentage of graduates who go on to earn a Ph.D. and in the percentage of students accepted to medical school. Six percent of undergraduates are from states outside of California, and 18 percent are international. Minority representation is high, with 37 percent of the student body being Asian American, 19 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent African American. Diversity education includes a Cross-Cultural Center for students, faculty, and staff that provides activities, brown-bag luncheons, and programs on race relations. Thirty-six percent of freshmen are Pell Grant recipients. Merit scholarships averaging $11,200 are doled out to eligible undergraduates, and the university has begun to offer athletic scholarships in some sports as it transitions to Division I status.

Each of the university’s colleges has its own housing complex, with either dorms or apartments. Most freshmen live on campus and are guaranteed housing for their first two years. “The residence halls are very nice, with all the amenities,” says an animal physiology major. Dorm residents are required to buy a meal plan, and their Dining Dollars are good at any of the campus’s 13 eateries. Overall, 39 percent of undergraduates live on campus; by junior year, students usually decide to take up residence in La Jolla proper or nearby Del Mar, often in beachside apartments. But that can be costly. If you are willing to relinquish the luxury of a five-minute walk to the beach, a short commute will bring you relatively affordable housing.

“La Jolla is a rich, conservative, retired, white, snobbish community,” one sophomore says. “Not a college town!” Cars are, of course, an inescapable part of Southern California life, and owning one-many people do-makes off-campus living even more pleasant. “No car equals no fun,” one international studies major says. Unfortunately, trying to park on campus can be difficult. Mexico is a half-hour drive (even nearer than the desert, where many students go hiking), and the two-hour trip to Los Angeles makes for a nice weekend jaunt.

For those looking to stay closer to campus, the Pacific Beach and downtown San Diego, with its zoo, Sea World, and Balboa Park, are all only 12 miles away. Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is great for outdoor enthusiasts. “Most students hang out at the dance clubs, jazz bars, and great restaurants in the Gaslamp Quarter,” says a senior. The university offers nearly 600 student-run groups, and 14 percent of the men and 14 percent of the women join a fraternity or sorority. The campus is dry, but some students claim that lax RAs and good fake IDs make for easy underage drinking. Although campus life is relatively tame, everyone looks forward to university-sponsored festivals, including the Open House, UnOlympics, and the Reggae Festival. The biggest annual event pays tribute to a hideously loud and colorful statue of the Sun God, which is the unofficial mascot for this sun-streaked student body. The Sun God Festival draws such big-name performers as Drake and Wiz Khalifa.

Although San Diego will never be mistaken for a sports-crazed school (#224; la USC), the university is in the process of transitioning from Division II to the Division I Big West Conference. Triton volleyball, water polo, soccer, basketball, and tennis teams have traditionally been the strongest. The school’s club surfing team has won seven national championships. For weekend warriors, classes are available in windsurfing, sailing, scuba diving, and kayaking at the nearby Mission Bay Aquatic Center. Most students participate in one intramural league or another, and according to one, if you’re not on a team, “you’re not a true UC San Diego student.”

The students at UC San Diego are exceptionally serious and out for an excellent education. But the pace (study, party, relax, study more) and the props (sun, sand, Frisbees, and flip-flops) give the rigorous curriculum an inimitable flavor that undergraduates would not change. Indeed, many believe they have the best setup in higher education: “a beautiful beachfront environment that eases a life of academic rigor.”