Fall 2025 orientation activities (tentative schedule, subject to change):
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| July - Sep, 2025 | Campus-wide new graduate student orientation July-Sep: Online course for all new graduate students campus-wide Sep: In-person social events |
| June - Sep | Campus-wide new international graduate student orientation June-Sep: Additional online course for all new int'l students campus-wide Sep: Additional orientation sessions and social events (online and in-person) for int'l students |
| August | BISB Bootcamp Summer Seminar Series Talks by faculty for incoming students on several dates on Zoom |
| Sep - Oct | Triton Weeks of Welcome Campus-wide events for new students at all levels |
| Sep. 15-19 | BISB Boot Camp (in-person) |
| Sep. 16 | Bootcamp Challenge Ropes Course at Eucalyptus Grove |
| Sep. 19 | BISB New Cohort Welcome Event Location TBA, 2-4pm, RSVP req'd |
| Sep. TBA | Campus tour for grad students from all departments 2025 info TBA |
| Sep. TBA | Picnic for graduate students and faculty from all departments 2025 info TBA |
| Sep. TBA | Campus-wide new IA Teaching Symposium 2025 info TBA |
| Winter 2026 | BISB Exchange (BEx) Some years, this is during bootcamp; this year, it will be in Winter 2026 |
The week-long boot camp for incoming first-year students of the Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Graduate Program aims to:
- Introduce the doctoral program, the University of California, San Diego, and the greater San Diego area.
- Foster community and collaboration among students of the incoming cohort and with senior students.
- Convey expectations for the core curriculum and elective courses, while reviewing basic concepts to remedy deficiencies.
- Showcase student and faculty research, while guiding students in preparing for their research rotations.
- Review strategies for choosing a thesis advisor, navigating a PhD, and preparing for a scientific career.
In addition to boot camp, new graduate students should also attend various campus-wide orientations:
- New Graduate Student Orientation (mandatory for all new graduate students)
- International Student Orientation (mandatory for all new international students). Follow the link for information on registering and what to bring.
- TA orientation and training (mandatory for all new TAs; usually 2nd-3rd year for BISB students):
- In September, there are campus-wide teaching assistant orientations by ASE and The Commons, usually announced by email rather than a website link. Sometimes these are repeated other quarters. These are for students doing their first TAship that school year; other programs have TAships in the first year, but BISB students typically do their first TAship their 2nd-3rd year.
- Throughout the school year, The Commons has many workshops and other programs available for graduate student TAs.