<p>Hello All,</p>
<p>As a senior at UC Merced, I have a pretty good perspective on many of things you guys are grappling with. Its obvious there are a lot of opinions out there about Merced being bad. But looking at things from the inside out, I can provide you guys with a perspective few can, unless some other graduate corroborates. </p>
<p>Lets examine exactly what they’re saying. Its a small school, being that is opened in 2005, is there any reason to expect it not to be? It doesn’t have a reputation, again opened in 2005, there is no reason to expect otherwise. I know in applying to a good graduate school, reputation matters, but only to a degree. If you have great grades, lots of extra curriculum, and fabulous recommendation letters from your professors, you can get in any good graduate school you want. For example, our 2009 class commencement speaker got in UCSF med school, its no harvard, but he was granted admission to Stanford pre-med program and turned it down to come to UC Merced. Now, many naysayers out there will say, yea if you get into a Columbia, NYU, or Stanford Natural Science program, your chances of getting into a Harvard/Yale grad program is greater. Of course it is, we’re talking about NYU and Columbia. Who is comparing UC Merced to those schools? If they are, they are out of touch with reality. </p>
<p>A reasonable comparison is to compare UC Merced to other recently opened UC’s. Again, comparing UCM to Cal or UCLA is like comparing Michael Jordan’s son to Michael Jordan, he’s obviously less capable cause he’s younger. UC Merced compared to Santa Cruz or Riverside would be a fairer comparison. They were opened the most recent in UC history and they’re solidly ranked. Opportunities at UC Merced though are in much more abundance. Being that our university is so new, there are many clubs, research programs, internship programs and professor assistantships and individual research programs you can be a part of. Usually, only select students have the luck, grades, capability to get into comparable programs at other UC’s, being that they’re so few and competition is greater. </p>
<p>I and over 100+ undergrads received the privilege of leading independent research projects under the stewardship of professors and have published research in NSF journals, how many undergrads at other UC’s get to do that? </p>
<p>Getting to the topic of Accreditation, a hot topic I am seeing. Its a valid concern for students interested in going to graduate school. I wholeheartedly concur. But, our school is going through WASP to be accredited in the American Association of Research Universities and will be fully accredited by 2011. Most, not all Graduate programs will accept this answer and not disqualify you as a potential candidate. In the event that they threaten to, our provost and Executive Vice Chancellor will be on the phone with the head of that graduate program and settle any questions, concerns they may have about accreditation. Now, I know to some students and graduate programs, being in the process of getting accredited won’t be good enough, and for them then I say Merced’s probably not for you. Some programs and individuals stake so much on reputation alone that there really isn’t anything you can do to change that. UC Merced’s new, its a baby in the UC system, what can you do? You can’t rush whats already occurring naturally. But just to give you a taste of whats already happening on this baby campus should give you a taste of the potential the students and this campus for the future.</p>
<p>For 2009, the only college campus chosen by the First lady of the United States, Michelle Obama to speak at was at UC Merced. If you guys didn’t know this, look it up, its all over the news. UCM was voted the most green campus in the entire UC system, receiving Gold LEED certification. </p>
<p>Our engineering teams won 1st place in a UC wide and national competitions in robotics. We have the 2nd most prolific in terms of getting patents for Solar research at our University, Dr.Roland Winston. We also have 2 Nobel laureates, one in physics and another in biology at our campus. The physics Nobel laureate is researching Gravity Wave transmission that could render fiber optics obsolete in trans-oceanic communication. We have Kobe Jones, former LA Galaxy midfielder, US Olympian developing our first NCAA caliber soccer team. Obviously I am tooting my school’s horn a little bit, but the fact is, these things are all true and they’re happening right now. We have a Management school under construction and have enough space to fit UCSD in. There are a lot of negative facts out there, some have some truth in it but many fail to capture the real opportunities at campus. We have the most opportunities for individual research under a professor out of any UC campus. Most of our faculty are from other UC’s, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, so you can decide the caliber of education that gives. We have the best Professor to student ratio of any UC campus in the system, meaning more access to professors at office hours, more professors teaching classes and not TA’s. These things do not get publicized, which is really too bad, b/c I think most students when they find out these hidden gems and realize their fellow students at other UC’s don’t have them feel pretty damn good about their decision. </p>
<p>Now, we don’t have a huge selection of majors and prolific sports teams and completed facilities or a super developed graduate program, but who would expect those things when your out only 4 years? If anyone expects differently and then judges harshly on UC Merced not meeting those unrealistic goals is simply out of touch. Its my belief, the real reason you go to school is for the education and access to resources that will help you reach that goal. If you’re going to a school so you can get out and brag about going there, I think there may be more complex issues then just wanting to get a good education there. Sure, UCSD and UCLA are more reputable schools, but most of their classes are taught by TAs until you reach upper division. Do you really think the “quality” of education in a reputable 500 person class taught by a TA to be better than the same class taught by a professor to a class of 50 at a less reputable school? Anybody in a smaller class will get a better feel for the material, the professor then in a auditorium with hundreds of other people. I think more than anything, most freshmen at campus could use more 1 on 1 interaction with their professor then to fend for themselves in a sea of other students. Again, its just my opinion. If you went to a big, reputable school and loved it, great. My point is, quality is highly subjective and I believe the qualities that UC Merced provides enhances the education quality of college much more then other, big schools, even if they are more “reputable”. </p>
<p>I hope this gives you guys a new perspective on UC Merced, feel free to pm me with questions. </p>
<p>YL</p>
The daily bruin offered to trade commencement speakers when they heard we got her, so even though we’re young and small, big things are already going on. </p>