Santa Monica College
Santa Monica College is a two-year public
community college located in
Santa Monica in
Los Angeles County,
California.
Santa Monica College was first opened in 1929 as
Santa Monica Junior College. Current enrollment is 32,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. The college also has one of the largest international student populations of any community college in the US, with approximately 3,000 from more than 100 countries.
Santa Monica College has a well-regarded academic reputation, and is a popular choice for students to complete lower-division college requirements for oft-times overcrowded universities: It is ranked number one among California's community colleges in transfers to the
University of California, and is one of the leaders for the
University of Southern California and other four-year campuses. Transfer courses are offered in such fields as
business administration,
journalism,
fine arts,
health sciences, and the
liberal arts.
The Santa Monica College Arts Mentor Program provides extremely gifted students in the fine and applied arts with graduate-level training by professionals in their specialized fields. The program was designed for select individuals whose talents exceed the scope of the traditional curriculum at the College.
Santa Monica College also offers a variety of occupational certificate programs, including Accounting, Fashion Design, Office Information Systems, and its Academy of Entertainment Technology (which offers certificates in Interactive Media and in Animation).
Santa Monica College is also the home of
KCRW (89.9 FM), a leading
public radio station in the US which broadcasts throughout Los Angeles and
Orange counties to an estimated 450,000 listeners. The station is the broadcast home of
Morning Becomes Eclectic and
Harry Shearer's
Le Show.
Santa Monica College is often called "Harvard by the Sea", UCSMC, or Pico Tech.The college was voted the best two-year college in California and in the top five of the best two-year colleges in the nation.
Santa Monica College is known to be a meeting place for students from diverse backgrounds and different areas in the country and in the world.
Santa Monica College fields
16 sports and competes in the
Western State Conference. The mascot for SMC is the
Corsair. SMC fields both men's and women's teams in
basketball,
cross country,
swimming,
track and field,
volleyball, and
water polo. SMC fields men's teams in
football team, and women's
softball,
soccer, and
tennis teams.
Corsair Field (4,850) built in 1948, is home to football and track & field.
Corsair Pavilion (1,600) is home to men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams.
The Santa Monica Swim Center is home to men's and women's swimming and water polo teams.
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Isaac Bruce, Professional
NFL (
football) player
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Walter Cunningham, Astronaut (
A.S. 1958) (
B.S. 1960 at the
University of California, Los Angeles)
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James Dean, Actor
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Dustin Hoffman, Actor
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Rickie Lee Jones, Musician
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Lenny Krayzelburg, Swimmer (
A.A. 1996) (
B.A. 1998 at the
University of Southern California)
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Monica Lewinsky, White House intern
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Nathan Myhrvold, former
Microsoft chief technology officer
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Nick Sagan, Novelist and screenwriter
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Kentaro Sato, Composer
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Arnold Schwarzenegger, 38th
Governor of California (
A.A. 1977) (
B.A. 1979 at the
University of Wisconsin-Superior). Schwarzenegger gave the commencement address in 2005.
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Steve Smith -
Carolina Panthers wide receiver
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Chad Johnson -
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver
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Gloria Stuart, Actress
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Hillary Swank, Actress
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Rivers Cuomo, Musician (
Weezer)
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Mike Muir, Musician (
Suicidal Tendencies)
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Alison Lohman, Actress
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Robby Krieger, Musician (
The Doors)
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Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District*
Official webpage.
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SMC Corsairs Athletic webpage*
KCRW radio*
Le Show
