MORECOWBELL!!

Well, more than likely. I am a Junior here at UC Merced (Class of 2009). And have switch my major three times (biology---->English---->Pychology) So that means that although useless to me, I know quite a bit about all majors out there, if your curious about any. Also theres quite alot Merced has to offer, but at the same time theres not. Trust me ill give you st8 forward answers about anything here, so ask away :-)

safisher

Quality of academic experience. Are profs accessible? Are courses engaging?
Ease of getting classes etc.
-Social experience. Feeling of community in dorms. Anything happening on weekends? Is campus so dead you need a car to escape?
-Student activities. College theater. Newspaper. Opportunities to play and hear music.

UCM could be a great experience, a small liberal arts college feel within the UC system, but does it fulfill that role?

MORECOWBELL!!

Ah yes, core questions about UC Merced.

Social experience and feeling of community in the dorms I think go hand and hand here. First off, the dorms are BRAND NEW...and well of course this should not be a major factor why one should go to a college trust me it is a major plus once your here for a couple of months and you can even get housing once your a 2nd/3rd year, although that may change in years to come.
Social experience gets a very bad rap see "uc merced is joke, nuff said" but it is these morons that have never spent a day in merced that make these judgements about it. There is a party EVERY day, and i mean full blown 50+ people drinking and puking their guts out. However, I strongly sugest one doesnt make it there soul reason for coming here. Good thing about a small college, is that eveyone knows everyone else, so its hella easy to become reallly good friends with a lot of people.

weekends-everyone and there moms go home, but parties still happen in town (2-5 miles away)

Newspaper/college theater are great here, and trust me if you want a position in either it is quite easy (if you are PROACTIVE)

Music--dead on campus for the most part

And yes UC Merced fullfills that classification to a T, it is a very unique place, where unlike other UC's you are NOT just a number here.

If you plan to go to anyform of grad school COME HERE AND SAY **** YOU TO UPPER TIER UC'S . No really, a 4.0 here is not only possible it is likely to anyone who has the drive. @ CAL or UCLA for example, you may compete hardcore for that 3.4, while here a 4.0 basically falls in your lap with the same effort you would put to get a 3.4 at Cal. And do grad schools really care about the presitge of what UC you went to. Not really. They would prefer a 4.0 @ UCM than a 3.5 at Cal. (I turned down Cal to come here btw)

Dlnitsud

As a psychology major, you probly dont know much about the engineering profs., but i was just wondering if the majority seem like they care about your personal life?
I hate a mindless drone who cares nothing but about his/her research.

One other question, do a lot of the students smoke weed??
I no that that question does not seem of importance but(not that i smoke), but that crowd has always intrigued me a little.

MORECOWBELL!!

In a matter of fact I do know quite a bit about the Engineering profs here, I have taken physics, calc, and some other eng. courses :-o!.

They are all awesome in every sense. Last week we had a midterm the next day, and I saw my prof walking down the sidewalk, and stoped him to ask a question about what the test was on and he stoped and talked about it with me right there. Try doing that at UCLA/CAL/UCI/UCSB/...yeah you get the point.

Regarding weed....a LOTTT of people smoke it. If I had to guess I would say 20% of the student body does. In matter of fact, the people who live above me on campus do. On the same note, every who does here seems to have no drive for life and have lost all passion to succeed...hummm kinda like most other students here LOL! But yeah, "i would not sugest you smoke weed, or make it a factor to come here...UCSC seems to have a much stronger pro-weed crowd.

h0ck3ydo0od

do you know what new majors they are going to have available next yr? o.o

CaptainK

"If you plan to go to anyform of grad school COME HERE AND SAY **** YOU TO UPPER TIER UC'S . No really, a 4.0 here is not only possible it is likely to anyone who has the drive. @ CAL or UCLA for example, you may compete hardcore for that 3.4, while here a 4.0 basically falls in your lap with the same effort you would put to get a 3.4 at Cal. And do grad schools really care about the presitge of what UC you went to. Not really. They would prefer a 4.0 @ UCM than a 3.5 at Cal. (I turned down Cal to come here btw)"


Yeah but I can imagine getting a 4.0 in UCM with not much effort is just going to screw you over in grad school if you dont know how to study in a competitive enviroment. Not to mention someone getting a 4.0 at Cal or UCLA is not only hell of alot more impressive but probably will do better in grad school.

MORECOWBELL!!

"Yeah but I can imagine getting a 4.0 in UCM with not much effort is just going to screw you over in grad school if you dont know how to study in a competitive enviroment. Not to mention someone getting a 4.0 at Cal or UCLA is not only hell of alot more impressive but probably will do better in grad school."

Alright, I usually aviod personal attacks so I will just call your comment ignorant. First off, its quite evident that a 4.0 at Cal is more impressive than a 4.0 at UC Merced....duh, i mean honestly do you think this is news? Second of all, I would bet a sizable amount of money agianst any given person getting a 4.0 or even close to it at Cal. If you think you can, by all means have it....most people who I KNOW at Cal shot for a 4.0 and ended up with a 3.2-3.5...and thats with no social life whatsoever.

Point of the story? Your lack luster GPA at cal will equate to bottem Grad school choice...and grad school is what really matters not undergrad. I myself plan to apply to UCLA/Stanford/Cal for grad school, and have a much better shot because I chose UCM and was able to achieve top marks here, something no matter how driven a someone is is nearly impossible at Cal.

Also, UCM is a University of California, not some community college....beleive or not you will have a quility education that will be a excellent foundation for grad school


Hockey: Sry I didnt respond in a reasonable amont of time, all i know is there opening up an Anth. major next year, check out there website for deeper info.

Beatchick

I have to say here that I think people who dismiss UCM just because it's a new UC are really off base. I know some people on this board don't appreciate anything without a proven track record, but just remember the Little Engine That Could. Merced is a beautiful campus and has excellent professors, that are all keen in making this one of California's best educational opportunities. They don't just give out 4.0's. You have to earn it. I met a lot of students from Merced, visited the campus, and it was one of my top choices. I seriously felt that I had a better opportunity for grad school if I had gone to Merced. I liked the fact that it was on the semester system, like Berkeley. And great energy.

There were only two things that made me choose differently, and they had nothing to do with prestige or newness. Merced was an area that would take me longer to get back home from, and second, my left-wing, liberal background vs what appeared to me as more of a moderate political feel to the Merced student body. Not that I don't like diversity of political views, but I think I felt more at home in the Berkeley political atmosphere.

MORECOWBELL!!

wow, I by no means wanted to infer that merced gives out 4.0s LOL!

I was trying to say, that a person that who has a work ethic to do well at berkeley (a few people to begin with...) will be able to excel in Merced, and will reap significant benifits from there time here at UCM.

Although I know, most HS kids eyes get O_O if they get accepted to berkleey and little else matters. haha :-P

jennifer376

HIIIII =] I was just admitted to Biological Sciences Major and I am going to be a Freshman. I dislike how everybody always ignores Merced simply because it's new and I am highly considering Merced. I declared my major as Biology and got in, so should I be proud of myself? Also, how was it being a Bio major? Also, is there a huge Korean population? Thank you so much any advice would help at this point.

deutsch

really? were you informed by mail or online myUCM?? I'm still waiting to hear from them..

MORECOWBELL!!

Huge Korean populating? Jen your going to a UC of course there is! rofl :-P no but really, this is a very significant Korean, chinease, and japanease presence here on campus.

how was being a bio major? short lived. I can tell you though, pre-med competition here is basically non-exsistent. Unlike other UC's your not competing agianst the other 200 students in your class, its a race with urself essentially.If you actually study you will get that legendary "A" Med-schools l@@k for. (its important to note that 55% of my chem class failed last semester ) <---- I attribute that to the fact that people would not even buy the textbook for the class.....quite a usefull object in general Chem.

Should you be proud? Sure you should be proud, you've just been accepted to a University of California- one of if not the most presteg. schools in acedemia (not a hyperbole, fact.)

makin it rain

Do you ever regret going to Merced instead of Berkeley? Has anyone ever looked down on you?

I read above that the music program is pretty dead at Merced, which is disappointing to me since I'm an avid musician (but my grades suck haha). Can you go into detail about that?

Aznxkaiser

MORECOWBELL are you alive?