# Deep Springs College [Small college guides](/colleges/) Deep Springs is the smallest college on this list and possibly the strangest in America: about 26 students live on an isolated cattle ranch in the California desert, work the ranch 20 or more hours a week, and take seminar-style classes together. It is a two-year college; nearly everyone transfers to finish a bachelor's elsewhere. LocationDeep Springs Valley, California EnrollmentAbout 26 students Tuition modelFull scholarship: tuition, room, and board covered for every student SelectivityAbout 6 to 8 percent The distinctive thing26 students run a cattle ranch in the desert while taking seminar classes. ## Campus culture The College Confidential consensus is that Deep Springs is basically unique among junior colleges: Ivy-level selectivity, tiny size, total isolation, free attendance. Applicants in r/ApplyingToCollege AMAs describe being drawn to isolation in a small community doing labor and coming-of-age things. An Outside Magazine profile quotes a student who rejected cutthroat high school culture: isolation is great for self-reflection. The upsides people name: total responsibility with real consequences, deep peer bonds, and intellectual rigor, a desert island with a library. The downsides: no privacy, no escape, an isolation policy that bars leaving the valley during terms except for emergencies, spotty internet, and a ban on alcohol and drugs. The Harvard Crimson noted it takes a certain kind of eccentric, and transfer students often find real college disorienting afterward. ## Traditions - The isolation policy itself: a formal, student-run rule against leaving the valley during terms. - Weekly community speeches with peer feedback; public speaking has been required for the college's whole history. - Communal meals at fixed hours, with every student starting on the Boarding House crew washing dishes. - Students hire faculty and admit the next class through committees, a self-governance tradition going back to 1917. - Note: named celebratory traditions could not be verified from forums; the items above are the documented structural core. ## Dorms and food Everyone lives in college-owned cooperative housing. Meals are communal, prepared by the student body from ranch and farm products; a Williams Record interview describes 5:30 a.m. milking and 7:30 a.m. communal breakfast, and notes that if you oversleep, the community has no milk. ## Social scene There is no town, no leaving, and about 50 people total in the community. Social life is the community itself: committee meetings, a music room with old records, the 'Smo'po' smoking porch. This is the ultimate make-your-own-fun environment. ## Who thrives here Self-directed, physically tough intellectuals who want total responsibility and genuinely desire two years of desert solitude; people who find conventional college achievement culture hollow. ## Who should look elsewhere Anyone who needs personal space, hates physical labor, is uncomfortable with real consequences (your chores feed people), or wants a conventional social or party college experience. You also cannot apply if you are over 23 or already hold a four-year degree. ## Costs and financial aid A true full ride: tuition, room, and board are fully covered by the endowment L.L. Nunn left in 1917. You pay your own travel, books, and incidentals (roughly $2,800 a year). There is no work-study pay because the labor is curricular, not transactional. See how that compares with a typical four-year school in our [true cost of college calculator](/college-true-cost-calculator/). ## Admissions Essay-driven to an extreme: multiple long essays with philosophical prompts, an on-ranch interview (applicants have been up at dawn milking cows as part of evaluation), and two recommendations. No GPA cutoff. What they look for: curiosity, self-reflection, strong work ethic, communication skills, and a stated interest in a life of service. Students read applications and admit their successors. ## Notable facts - Alumni include Rhodes and Truman Scholars, two Pulitzer Prize recipients, three MacArthur Fellows, and members of Congress. - Most graduates finish degrees at Yale, Harvard, Brown, Stanford, UC Berkeley, or UChicago; over two-thirds earn graduate degrees and over half earn doctorates. - Founded in 1917 to combine academic rigor, manual labor, and self-governance to train service-oriented leaders. - Coeducational only since 2018, after a legal battle; it was previously all-male. ## More small college guides - [**Berea College**Free tuition for every student, funded by a work program and a huge endowment.](/colleges/berea-college/) - [**St. John's College**One shared Great Books curriculum, no majors, seminars instead of lectures.](/colleges/st-johns-college/) - [**Reed College**Intellectual intensity, narrative evaluations, and a legendary senior thesis.](/colleges/reed-college/) - [**Olin College of Engineering**Project-based engineering from day one, 400 students, big automatic scholarship.](/colleges/olin-college/) - [**Webb Institute**One major, naval architecture, free tuition, about 100 students.](/colleges/webb-institute/) - [**Curtis Institute of Music**Elite conservatory, full scholarship for all, learn by performing.](/colleges/curtis-institute/) - [**The Cooper Union**Art, architecture, engineering in NYC with half-tuition scholarships.](/colleges/cooper-union/) - [**Warren Wilson College**Work college with a farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains.](/colleges/warren-wilson-college/) - [**College of the Ozarks**'Hard Work U': no tuition, every student works 15 hours a week.](/colleges/college-of-the-ozarks/) - [**Antioch College**Co-op education and activist history, rebuilding in Yellow Springs.](/colleges/antioch-college/) - [**Hampshire College**No grades, no majors, design your own degree. Closing December 2026.](/colleges/hampshire-college/) Compare costs with the [true cost of college calculator](/college-true-cost-calculator/), find your fit with the [college culture fit quiz](/college-fit-quiz/), or browse the [full college hub](/colleges/). ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Deep Springs College really free? Yes. Tuition, room, and board are fully covered by scholarship for every student. You pay travel, books, and incidentals. ### Is Deep Springs only two years? Yes, it grants an associate degree. Almost all students transfer as juniors to four-year universities, routinely including Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and Brown. ### Is Deep Springs coed? Yes, since 2018. ### How hard is it to get into Deep Springs? One of the lowest acceptance rates in the country, roughly 6 to 8 percent, with only 13 to 15 seats per year. ### What is the labor program? A minimum of 20 hours a week of ranch and household work: milking, hay, irrigation, cooking, cleaning, butchery, and gardening. ### Can students leave campus? During terms, the isolation policy bars leaving the valley except for emergencies, religious observance, or college business. Alcohol is prohibited. ### Do graduates really get into top universities? Routinely. Recent classes most commonly finished at Yale, Brown, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and UChicago.