Online Application for admission to the 2020-2021 academic year will be available in early September 2019.
Deep Springs welcomes applications from all qualified students, regardless of gender, race, citizenship, or nationality. (This includes present and potential Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals applicants.) Every admitted student receives a full scholarship for tuition, room, and board.
The educational experience at Deep Springs is unlike any other. Determining which students will be invited to enroll is one of the most important and difficult tasks the college undertakes each year. We receive over 300 applications each year, from which we select fourteen potential students who we think are most likely to thrive at Deep Springs. All students receive a full scholarship for tuition, room, and board.
Beyond grades or test scores, competitive applicants should be able to demonstrate curiosity, an ability to reflect upon themselves, a strong work ethic, and clear communication skills. All of these traits are necessary to succeed in the Three Pillars of our educational program: academics, labor, and self-governance. It is also important that an applicant be interested in pursuing a life of service to humanity after Deep Springs, and that they have a sense of how the college would help them achieve this goal.
There is no single type of student that we look for, nor any single criterion that we use in making decisions. Instead, we try to get as complete a view as possible of each applicant before deciding if they are a good “fit” for Deep Springs and if Deep Springs is a good “fit” for them. There is no single type of student that we look for, nor any single criterion that we use in making decisions. Instead, we try to get as complete a view as possible of each applicant before deciding if they are a good “fit” for Deep Springs and if Deep Springs is a good “fit” for them.
As a result, our application process spans several months and is more involved than that of many other schools. The deadline for the initial application is November 6, 2019. Applicants are then notified in December if they will be invited to visit and interview at the college during the winter. Interviews are conducted by the Applications Committee (ApCom), a group of students, staff, and faculty who are responsible for choosing the next incoming class. Decisions are announced in April, and new students arrive at the college in July. Go to “How to Apply” for more information. As a result, our application process spans several months and is more involved than that of many other schools.