UC San Diego Fall 2026 Career Fair
UCSD's biggest fall fair packs an arena with employers, and alumni get the first half hour.
9860 Hopkins Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093
What this event is
UC San Diego's all-majors fall career fair at LionTree Arena, open to current students and alumni with a valid ID. Arrival is staggered, with alumni, postdocs and graduate students admitted exclusively at noon. Registration runs through Handshake.
Roles you will actually see
Who should go
UCSD students and alumni in CS, data science or engineering hunting new-grad or internship roles.
Alumni-only entry at noon is the real edge here, so if you graduated, show up at 11:45 and get to the software booths before the undergrad wave. This is an all-majors fair, so filter the Handshake employer list to the ones posting engineering roles and ignore the rest. Defense primes and the Navy labs recruit heavily at UCSD and most of those roles need citizenship, so ask about clearance before you spend ten minutes at a booth. Handshake registration is mandatory, so do it now.
Show up prepared
- 1Register in Handshake and export the employer list filtered by software and data roles.
- 2Bring your student or alumni ID; no ID means no entry.
- 3Prepare two versions of your pitch: one for product companies, one for research or hardware-adjacent teams.
Sponsorship reality
Sponsorship varies by employer. No organizer publishes sponsorship. Check each employer you plan to meet against H-1B disclosure data before you go, and ask in the first two minutes so neither side wastes the conversation.
Showing up is half of it.
The other half is being first to the roles these employers post, and having something real to show when you get there.
See roles the minute they go live, tailor one resume per employer, and reach the hiring manager directly. Walk into the event as a follow-up, not a stranger.
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