Undergraduate Opportunities

The Crossroads Colloquium is an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to talk about past/current papers or run ideas by other students in an informal collaborative space. Meetings are usually three time per quarter, in the Philosophy Library (Room 0478 on the 4th Floor in RWAC), from 5-6:30pm. All students are welcomed to join in and attend meetings.  

Intuitions is our undergraduate philosophy journal. Selected works will be presented at the Intuitions Conference in May. All UCSD undergraduate and visiting students are invited to submit their original work. Editors will be selecting papers on the merit of how well a paper argues for its thesis and how significant of a contribution it makes to the understanding of a philosophical topic. Papers on all aspects of philosophy, including its history, will be considered. All submissions will be considered under blind review. The editors are not expecting completely original or revolutionary work at a professorial or even graduate student level; we’re looking to showcase undergraduate work that is:

• well-written
• well-organized
• well-argued
• goes beyond a simple summary of others’ ideas to include some original defense, criticism, or adjudication
• thorough defense, criticism, and adjudication are the most popular submissions, work that makes original philosophical propositions is also enthusiastically welcomed

Most of the submissions from previous years have been papers originally written for any number of classes, often, if necessary, expanded to some degree or improved to the students’ liking. Originally produced work is also, of course, warmly accepted. If you received a good grade on a paper and thought you had said something a little new, or had wanted to say more in, you should consider it for submission. Any paper which is philosophical in nature and fits the above criteria is a good candidate for submission.

Submission Guidelines:

• There is no page length for submissions. You should use as many pages as are required to fully explain your ideas, but submissions should not be unnecessarily long (we have accepted papers as short as 2 pages, and as long as 25 pages).
• Papers can be on any philosophical topic.
• Your name must appear on the cover page only. Your name must not appear on any other page of the paper. The cover page must include the following: Name, Title of Paper, Class Title and Number (if applicable), general topic (history, ethics, logic, etc.) and an email address.
• Submissions must include a Microsoft Word attachment sent via email to: neguerrero@ucsd.edu. Please include in the subject line, “Paper for Undergraduate Conference.”
• One paper submission per student.
• The Undergraduate Philosophy Conference will be held at the end of May and authors of selected papers should be available to present.

In the role as a Pedagogy and Learning Apprentice (PLA), a student earns 4 credit units to support the instruction of a philosophy course. Students enrolled in PHIL 195P are expected to attend all lectures for the course they are supporting, hold ~three hours per week of learning sessions open to students enrolled in the supported course, and meet with the instructor of the course regularly. Applications are sent out through email before each quarter. A few things to know:

The Philosophy Honors Program is for outstanding students in the major. Students are eligible to participate only if they meet the following criteria prior to enrolling in 191A:

• Philosophy Major
• Complete a minimum of 140 credit units
• Achieve a minimum 3.7 average GPA in philosophy courses, and a minimum 3.25 average GPA overall (to be maintained after being accepted to the honors program)
• Complete at least four upper-division philosophy courses
• Secure an agreement from a philosophy faculty member to serve as the honors thesis advisor
• Receive approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies and Department Chair

Once admitted to the honors program, students will enroll in PHIL 191A and PHIL 191B in consecutive quarters, and will be supervised and evaluated by their advisor. While honors students typically complete PHIL 191A and 191B consecutively in the Fall and Winter quarters of their final year, qualified students wishing to enroll in PHIL 191A or 191B on an alternate timetable can discuss this with their faculty advisor and the department undergraduate advisor. 

A departmental committee selected by the Director of Undergraduate Studies will read and assess the completed thesis and determine whether philosophy honors are to be awarded. The designation possibilities are: "with distinction," "with high distinction," or "with highest distinction." The earned designation will appear on the philosophy student's diploma.

You must complete this form to apply for the program: Philosophy Honors Application Form

Philosophy majors and minors are encouraged to study abroad. All courses taken through EAP are considered UC courses for which UC credit is earned and grades are directly recorded on the transcript and are factored into your UC San Diego overall GPA. After the admissions office's acceptance of EAP course units, the Department of Philosophy independently determines which course may be applied to the major by petition. Many courses have been accepted for major requirements, but all must be petitioned. 

Here at UCSD, you have 3 primary programs to go abroad:

• UC systemwide program; students from all UC campuses attend with you
• Programs are hosted by the UC system
• Academic credits earned are UC units and will factor in to your UC GPA  

• UC San Diego's own faculty-led Summer Session programs abroad
• Two UCSD courses taught (in English) by UCSD faculty
• Academic credits earned are UC units and will factor in to your UC GPA

• Study through UCSD affiliated program partners, another US institution's program abroad, or direct-enroll in a university abroad
• Academic credits earned will be posted to your Academic History as Transfer units

For more details, see Study Abroad. Contact the UCSD Study Abroad office for more information and advising. 

PHIL 199: Directed Independent Study

Philosophy Honors Program: Students work under a faculty advisor towards a thesis. See the Philosophy Honors Program dropdown above, on this page. 

The Ethics Bowl is a nation-wide competition that seeks to encourage students to develop their ethical skills and raise the profile of ethics more generally. The US is divided into regions, and the top 4 or 5 teams from each region are invited to compete at the nationals. 

The competition itself is like a debate, except that the goal is to come up with the right answer rather than outwit the opponent. Points are scored by defending a position well, and by (respectfully) pointing out unrecognized weaknesses in the opponent’s views, and ways a better solution might be reached.

Each round consists of two questions from a set of cases provided to the teams at the start of the season. The presenting team has 10 minutes to argue for an answer to the question. The opposing team will be given 5 minutes to present criticism of the answer, then the first team will be given 5 minutes to respond. Judges will ask questions based on the case (the specific questions are not provided ahead of time). The teams will then switch roles and a second question from a different case will be asked to the new presenting team.

Ethics Bowl is an official class that may be taken for credit in the fall quarter. The class will be limited to a max of 12, which will allow for two teams of 6. Tryouts usually happen around the beginning of each fall quarter and are required. 

Preferably, candidates will have some experience taking philosophy classes prior to joining the team. But this is not a prerequisite. Those with a passion for ethics are encouraged to interview even if they are new to the discipline.

For more information about Ethics Bowl, see the APPE Ethics Bowl website. 

To see a competition in action, see one of our previous competitions.