<p>I know a few years ago there was a big debate on the forums about Merced, and its generally poor image, given its status as the youngest UC. The general consensus was that it was still not up to par with the middle tier schools, but that it had potential.</p>
<p>How is the school now, several years later? Academically, is it starting to join the ranks of Davis and SD? Or is it doomed to wallow in the pits with Riverside? Has the nearby town grown any bigger, or is it still just a few restaurants and 2 movie theatres for entertainment? Any answer would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Still very young. Davis and SD are top 10 publics, Merced is the little brother that’s still growing. Remember, it took the other UCs a long time to build their reputation.</p>
<p>Unless I’m wrong, but Merced came out of cal. One of my old classmates goes there for engineering and that’s all I know. My former high school counselor said that students from UCM graduate in 4 years and come out with jobs, but that’s debatable with every college…</p>
<p>Riverside is far from wallowing in the pits. Their business school has a good reputation and they are building a med school. Riverside (and merced) will most likely stay the “bottom 2” UCs because of their location and their age but saying that the “lower tier” UCs are academically poor is like saying Cornell is a bad school because its probably the lowest of the Ivies. At the end of the day, the UC system is a great choice and all schools will offer you great research opportunities that you wont find at CSUs or small liberal arts colleges.</p>
<p>Additionally, one could make the argument that you would get a better education at Merced or Riverside due to the decreased competition. Becoming a professors star student and getting a coveted research position and fantastic LORs will help you much more than the perceived reputation of UCLA or UCB.</p>
<p>My best friend goes to UCM. This is exactly what he told me. The professors are idiots (some of them), and can’t spell. They are blatantly racist and ignorant (they didn’t know what race a turbaned person was), and the classes are way too easy. They have this thing called Core that is an amalgamation of different subjects, so that won’t transfer over to other 4 years most likely. The city looks like a dump, and the only good thing is the financial aid they offer.</p>
<p>Pros:
-Cheap housing, you could living in a mansion for a very low cost. I remember with the last-year college confidential members, one of their friend was living in a big house with other room-mates for only $500 a month. The house developers ‘over-developed’ houses, so the supply exceeds the demand.
-Next to Yosemite Park, so if you ever wanted to visit there you can
-Small classroom sizes, more personal connections and attention with professors.
-Isolated school, more personal connection with individual students than big population schools
-It’s a UC </p>
<p>Cons:
-Brand new, so it’s not as ‘solid’ as older schools are and still needs to work on its kink
-Reputation/Rank (But your happiness in the school is more important than ‘rank’)
-Isolation</p>