CCFanatic

gimme that 90% acceptance rate and that 10% enrollment rate!!!!!! aight beasts

fusionall

Gimme that low student to teacher ratio!!!! Aight beasts.

<3

Cali Trumpet

Lol CCFanatic, go back to the UPenn forums, the Merced folks do not need a troll.

fusionall

It's alright Cali Trumpet. People can always try to seem intelligent over the internet to strangers if they want to. What's so great about cyberspace is the anonymity of it. Hiding behind a screen adds a lot to one's ego...Wizard of Oz anyone? -__-''

coolweather

Accreditation is the most misleading thing. When you apply for a job, no employer will ask you whether your school is accredited or not. It totally depends on you. My UC degree was not accredited at all but I have never been out of work since my graduation. Furthermore, a new high school in my town has not been accredited yet but it sends a lot of kids to colleges (more than some accredited and old schools).

TerpDad

U.C. Merced is currently undergoing it's accreditation and expect completion soon. Yes students are currently double majoring here! If you can handle the course load !!!

fusionall

Awesome! Thanks TerpDad.

Premed4life

I agree accreditation doesnt mean anything, people got accepted to UCSF, Stanford etc. last here from UC Merced

Leviathan08

Accreditation kool. But as Premed4life said, "accreditation doesn't mean anything, people got accepted to UCSF, Stanford etc. last here from UC Merced"
Either way you'll still receive a good education and still will be able to transfer.
To TerpDad:
Thanks for letting us all know! =D
Where and how did you find this information?

Detox

Well, well...I just did a Google search on UC Merced accreditation and this thread came up. I couldn't keep quiet, I registered just to give my opinion on this matter. Take my word for it, you don't know what I had to go through during the last 2 years because of this ****.

To the OP, if you are a pre-med student -- do NOT even consider UC Merced. You have no idea what you're in for. Long story short, no med school out of state will take you because of the accreditation issue and you're drastically reducing your choices of med schools to only SOME CA med schools. But I'm assuming you will be a freshman in Fall 2008 and the accreditation decision is due June 2011 so you may get lucky and apply to med school at the perfect time. Still though, it would be a newly accredited school and still looked down upon.

Do NOT let anyone fool you about accreditation not mattering. Maybe if you're not a pre-med student, it doesn't matter as MUCH but it still matters. And again, if you are pre-med, forget about UCM.

That's my rant for now, if you have any specific questions go ahead and PM me. I can answer any questions you may have on this issue cuz trust me, I did some extensive research. Let's just say that the results of my research are making me transfer to a much better, more recognized UC this upcoming Fall. I don't wanna go into specifics online because I caused quite a ****storm in the Natural Sciences department with my comments and the staff are NOT happy with me to say the least.

CWalker

In the wake of the previous poster's comments mine are pretty inconsequential, but I wanted to say that every graduate from a UC gets essentially the same diploma. Obviously major, date, etc. are all different, but the most noticeable part is "University of California" at the top...and the campus at which it was awarded is rather small. I suppose what I'm trying to say is the same thing that others before me have: a UC is a UC and the whole system is fantastic. The worst UC is still ranked in the top 100 and I wouldn't be surprised if Merced surpassed Riverside by 2020.

fusionall

To Detox: Dude, you gotta pm me what you said to get Natural Sciences angry. I went to their "booth" at Bobcat Day and the attendant there (an adviser as well) seemed bored out of his mind, totally void of any school or even subject spirit whatsoever. The questions I asked him received monotonous responses that might as well been spit out of a robot. He probably got tired of every other wide-eyed kid coming up to him asking about the pre-med program there...

Just a thought, even if one were applying to medical school from UCM, wouldn't the medical school realize that by association with other UCs, UCM, even though unaccredited at the moment, is a fine school that has worthy students for admission? As stated before, the UC Regents wouldn't build a school in the middle of a corn field without expecting it to yield a fine crop of students. (Excuse the pun. I couldn't help myself.)

Additionally, if prerequisite courses are satisfied and an acceptable GPA is attained, wouldn't the school view the student as simply that, an individual student, and not take into account the collective caliber of the school in general? Of course, I'm talking in relative terms with realistic outlooks (ie Internet colleges). An example of this is the instance in which a friend of mine who went to Richmond High, a school that is constantly on academic probation by the accreditation board in my area (WASC), was able to be admitted into UCLA and UCB among many others for her individual efforts as a student.

P.S. I didn't send you this as a PM since I realized other's might have the same questions and I didn't want your inbox flooded. :]

Detox

Hey fusionall, I'll try to PM you later (maybe tomorrow) because I have a physics assignment and a stats project due and it's a REALLY long story. You're not gonna like it at all lol.

First, let me start by addressing what you said about UCM being affiliated with the UC system and theoretically being counted as a UC regardless of accreditation. This is EXACTLY what the staff at UCM wants you to think. That's actually the response I got at first when asked if I would have problems getting into med school out of UCM. However, after having Harvard and USC tell me that they will not even consider my application coming out of UCM, I realize that this is complete ********. I've been in contact with many med schools around the country and the bottom line is, a degree from any other UC at this point will be more respected and given precedent over UCM. I've spoken with Directors of Admissions who have had a hard time answering my questions in a straightforward manner regarding my chances of getting into med school out of UCM. Some med schools didn't even know what UCM is.

Second, I will be transferring this upcoming Fall and guess what happens to my bio classes? I HAVE TO START OVER FROM 0 AT MY NEW COLLEGE!!!!! I'll be a junior taking introductory bio as well as my upper division bio. Obviously, I'm furious over this. Now take a second and think about it...if my new college won't accept my bio classes what do you think medical schools will do?

Now look, I'm positive that UCM will grow to be an excellent university in the next 10 years. I have no doubt about it. And like someone else said, it's not a question of IF UCM will get accredited but when. And unfortunately, the timing is off for me as well as a lot of other students. And to add more fuel to the fire, one of my PROFESSORS told me that I will not get into med school out of UCM for the first few years because it's so new and she strongly advised that I either transferred or pursued a Masters degree at another university after I graduated from UCM. I'll let you draw your own conclusions from that.

fusionall

Thanks Detox. I'll be looking forward to your PM.

Your posts have really opened my eyes and I see now that the course of action to transfer to another UC is the one to follow.

Thanks again for your input. The information you've provided is invaluable to incoming freshmen whether we know it or not.

Leviathan08

WOW! Detox, thanks for going on Google and searching "UCM accreditation". I will also be looking forward to your PM(if you want, you can just copy and paste the message you will send to fusionall and send it to me as well).

If you have read through most of the threads in the UCM forum, then you know that I'm the main one who speaks highly of the school. But, since I've read your post, I have stepped back to really to view UCM as a whole rather than just the opportunities and the student to teacher ratio(which are still impressive).

I'm a Political Science major and I was wondering if what has happened to you has happened to any other student who's not pre-med. I'm sure all UCM Freshmen fall 08 -11 will benefit from this information.