Located in a geological depression, its campus is situated within a cattle ranch with the aim of providing a secluded environment away from urban life so undergraduates may focus on their studies and leadership ability.

The college's alumni include Rhodes and Truman Scholars, two Pulitzer Prize recipients, three MacArthur Fellows, and winners of an Emmy and Lawrence Award, among multiple academics and congressmen.

Deep Springs was founded in 1917 by L. L. Nunn, a business magnate who made a fortune building alternating current power plants in the Western United States.

Nunn's first projects—a hydroelectric plant in Telluride, Colorado, and the Olmsted Power Station in Provo, Utah—served as the foundation for his inspiration to create a new type of educational institution.

[7] His philosophy governing Deep Springs focused strictly around the pursuit of "academics, labor, and self-governance", something he dubbed the "three pillars" which supported the "whole man".

[18] With the Supreme Court of California declining to hear an appeal,[19] the board of trustees voted once again to admit women, with the first female students arriving in July 2018.

[20][21] Deep Springs involves students working on tasks in the on-campus ranch, farm, and boarding house, including "cooking, cleaning, gardening, milking cows, saddling horses, herding cattle, moving hay, butchering chickens, wiring cables, sorting library books, and fixing vehicles" with the academic curriculum dedicated wholly to the liberal arts such as Ancient Greek, philosophy, political science, and literature.

[1] Classes are taught by a long-term faculty—the president, dean, and chairs of the natural science and humanities department—and a division of visiting professors and scholars which make up the short-term faculty, neither of which may hold tenure at the College proper.

[24] Though the majority of learning is cooperatively determined between professors and students, taking the form of both in-class seminars and outside of the classroom reading groups and discussions, there are two required courses: freshman composition and public speaking.

[32] A small seismic station exists behind the main campus, installed by the former Soviet Union as part of a bi-national underground nuclear test monitoring agreement.