UC Merced Enrollment for Fall 2025

[lovelyCactus]

Hi, I am applying for the Fall 2025 term and I’m concerned if UCM is a good choice. I’ve started my application, and I’ve noticed that UCM has been promoting its emails way more often than the other UCs. I did my research and I have been hearing that enrollment has been stagnating for Fall 2024. So that is likely why I’ve been getting emails every 3 days. Likely it will be much easier to get accepted at UCM for a while.

I suspect that students don’t want to apply here because “it is in the middle of nowhere” and a lack of nearby amenities. I’m applying for a Data Science major, UCM added this degree last year. However, since it’s newly established that the quality of education might be as comparable to the other UCs. And likely there will be a lack of internship opportunities from nearby employers/FANG/or any Tech companies.

This is my current view on UCM, I’m happy to read any response to change my mind. If anyone can provide information on their experience there, the quality of education or what internship opportunities they offer, would be great too.

[SJ2727]

Have you read this thread, or at least the first post? I thought it was quite enlightening.

A very honest opinion on UC Merced from a UC Merced skeptic - 2022

I wanted to give my very honest and real opinion on UC Merced to those who might be struggling with it as their ‘only UC option’ in this very, very odd application cycle. We, like many other parents and students in the "Class of 2026’ application cycle are dealing with the leftover remnants of the pandemic, an ‘unprecedented’ amount of applications - and all the other issues that have left many of our high achieving, high stats kids with completely unexpected waitlists, rejections and a seemingly lack of “acceptable” options. We were super naive and assumed lots of acceptances were on the way from some of the hardest to get into schools based on all the things in our favor that were tangible - his grades, his GPA, his high number of rigorous AP courses, and the scores he received. He’s an excellent writer - he had great essays, etc etc etc – What we got was a LOT of heartbreak, unsureness, feelings of failure from my son, and his feeling that all his hard work had been a waste. Lots …

[lovelyCactus]

Yes I have, it was very helpful forum about the experience there. I was wondering more about the quality of education for Data science or least any of their STEM majors. Seems like almost no one posts their experiences about it.

[islandmama1]

You may want to post your question on Reddit if you haven’t already. The UCM thread seems fairly active there.