There’s also the option of just applying next fall as a freshman. However, just make sure if you go to community college, you ONLY do it the summer right after you graduate high school. Once you take any college course anywhere, starting in fall, you’re deemed a transfer student and must apply as a junior.
@SDGoldenBear, where does it say you can only be a transfer to apply to Merced in the spring? I’m not seeing it on the Merced link I posted.