Please contact us by email for advice, information, and appointments. 

Visiting Summer Students must refer to the Visiting Summer Student information. 

Note Regarding Appointments:
Due to the unique schedules and work locations of our Undergraduate Affairs staff, we are unable to accommodate walk-in or last-minute meetings. To ensure availability, please contact us by email at least 1–2 weeks prior to your planned visit to UC San Diego to schedule an appointment.

Both incoming physics majors and non-majors can find comprehensive advising information in ​​the Physics Department Handbook. Popular topics at this time might be:

• Incoming Transfer Orientation Info.
• Incoming Freshman Orientation Info. 
• How to Plan Your Schedule
• Having a Qtr-by-Qtr Plan Reviewed
• Double Majors

The Incoming Student Orientation for Physics Majors wuill be held in person on Monday, September 21, from 9am-11am in Center Hall Room 113 (see campus map). The event will not be recorded, however the slides from the event will be shared with everyone in case anyone is unable to attend (attendance will not be checked).

Incoming students should immediately take the following actions:

🔎 Check to see if your incoming courses and exams already have approved UCSD equivalency:

• ALL SUBJECTS - courses from CA community colleges
• ALL SUBJECTS - AP and IB score equivalencies
• MATH courses from other UCs and popular non-UC schools
• PHYSICS courses from other UCs
• PHYSICS A-Levels

✍️ If your course or exam does NOT already have an approved equivalency, please note that each department may have a unique procedure to have coursework reviewed. Use the appropriate link below and note that departments cannot guess the likelihood of approval of any request:

MATH Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Math Transfer Equivalency Petition.

PHYSICS Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Physics Course Equivalency Request.

Note: If you took a combo of courses from schools with different names, you must petition, even if the schools are in some way affiliated.

CSE Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a CSE Course Equivalency Request. 

CHEMISTRY Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Chemistry Course Substitution Request. 

BIOLOGY Course or Exam

• 🔹 Submit a Biology Course Equivalency Request

Using the "Ask a Question" feature in the Virtual Advising Center (vac.ucsd.edu) is the exclusive way to message the Physics Department advising staff with questions/concerns. Response times are typically 3-5 business days (the length of reply-time is based on the volume of TEA requests increasing by the thousands). 

During campus closures, academic departments are closed, including department VAC portals. Please submit your message once the VAC re-opens. 

Drop-in advising will resume beginning in Week 1 of Fall Quarter. Drop-in advising occurs through Zoom, only, and is accessible through the "Meet w/ Advisor" tab on VAC only during periods drop-in advising is open.

Appointments will resume in Week 3 of Fall Quarter, and the link to book an appointment will be posted here once advising appointments re-open.

Physics Advising closes in correlation with campus closures, and there are sometimes closures not related to campus closures. When the VAC closes, advising is unavailable (there are no drop-ins or appointments, and VAC messaging is also unavailable). Please take note of upcoming VAC closures: