UCLA College of Letters and Science

UCLA College Of Letters And Science

The College of Letters and Science is the arts and sciences college of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It encompasses the Life and Physical Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, Honors Program and other programs for both undergraduate and graduate students.

The bulk of UCLA's student body belongs to the College, which includes 34 academic departments, 21,000 undergraduate students, 2,700 graduate students and 900 faculty members. Virtually all of the academic programs in the College are ranked very highly and 11 were ranked in the top ten nationally by the National Research Council.

The College originated on May 23, 1919, the day when the Governor of California (William D. Stephens) signed a bill into law which officially established the Southern Branch of the University of California. At that time, a College of Letters and Science was established as the university's general undergraduate program and it began to hold classes the following September with only 250 students in the college. In 1925, the College awarded its first Bachelor degrees. A milestone occurred in 1927 when the southern branch was officially renamed the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), thereby establishing it as a fully autonomous university.