<p>I am aware that these two schools fall towards the bottom in the UC system but I am curious…</p>
<p>Which has the better college life, campus, business programs, etc.?</p>
<p>Which one is better overall???</p>
<p>I am sure they are both fine in their own respects. Usually, newer is not better, as far as schools ago. Riverside has been up there for a while, 50 years, and if you check out the teachers, they are all masters of their subjects. </p>
<p>Personally, Merced has no reputation yet. Riverside does, for better or for worse. Riverside is in the middle of a busy city, Merced is not. Riverside has more established programs, Merced does not. It depends what you want to do and where you want to be geographically.</p>
<p>I would guess that Merced is actually a really good school, people just like to throw stones at it because its easy. I just think Riverside is the better pick of the two for many reasons, mainly that the programs there are established and it is ranked in the top 100 schools in the country according to US News Reports.</p>
<p>Cali Trumpet is right. Some students might pick UCM because it's new, but this is not a positive feature academically, since it has no reputation or even any graduates to speak of.</p>
<p>UCR's reputation is already set, and honestly it's not the best, but it would take UCM decades to even get to where they are now, and I would not choose UCM based on the slim chance that it would eventually surpass UCR. By the time that happened, your undergrad degree would be irrelevant anyway.</p>
<p>Selectivity-wise, both schools accept all UC eligible applicants.</p>
<p>Hm...I will take that into consideration. Thanks!</p>