Boot Camp

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.