That’s not how they’re spinning it…Obviously without a car, a lot these places would be largely inaccessible, but I know there’s a shuttle from Merced to Yosemite (I think it’s about a 2 hour trip). Personally, I think that would be fantastic. But of course not for everyone.
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For proximity to Yosemite, yes, that’s great. But is there a town nearby? How convenient is it to restaurants, clubs, movie theaters, and other “town” perks?
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I would be happy going hiking and camping every weekend and checking out of the rat race for a while, fully focusing on learning and study…To me, it sounds wonderful. But again, obviously not everyone would be excited to do that.
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No, there is no town. There’s a small town maybe 15 minutes away that has like one restaurant or something? The area is severely lacking in infrastructure.
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The good news about UC Merced is that the town and the university have FINALLY put together a plan to merge and grow toward each other so they are no longer a 20 minute bus ride away. Should have started this 15 years ago.
Same sort of plan is in the works for the town of Seaside and Cal State Monterey Bay. In general college students want to be in a city or college town–not placed in the middle of nowhere with no town ameneties. There are exceptions.
There is some NIMBYism I think where the town of Merced originally didn’t want the university built too close to it. And in the case of CSUMB it’s built on an old army base that was not too close to the town of Seaside to begin with.
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Maybe I am missing something, but why would anyone choose UC Monterey Bay over CSU Monterey Bay? Students aren’t choosing Merced because of the perceived UC prestige. I think CSUs overall offer great programs and a great education. Humbolt remained a CSU but rebranded itself as a Poly, and its application numbers skyrocketed. I wish people wouldn’t focus so much on brand names. 
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But people do care about brand names and always will. That’s why they re-banded CSU Humboldt. They needed the interest.
Maybe all the CSU’s should call themselves Cal Poly : {insert place name} and people will stop focusing so much on the UC’s lol.
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Merced is a city of more than 80,000 people: Merced, California - Wikipedia
Merced has a Mall with JC Penny, Target, Kohls along with many other stores: https://mercedmall.com/
Plenty of restaurants, movie theatre, several grocery stores etc…. Yes, it is a small town in comparison to many nearby cities but they have all essentials just a bit more rural and isolated which might not appeal to all students and apparently parents.
Depending upon where you want to go in town it can be anywhere from a 10-20 min drive.
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Central Merced is a long way from the campus.
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It’s around 15 minutes. Plenty of shuttles etc. between campus and the main part of the city AFAIK.
It has daily flights to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, as well as shuttles to Yosemite.
ETA: I removed the references to a high-speed rail service that’s yet to be built! But the point remains that Merced is not isolated by a long-shot. In addition to the above, it has Amtrak service.
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Or Merced could offer free tuition to a % of students waitlisted from the other UCs. That would make it interesting too. Currently, the issue is really a self-fulfilling prophecy where students and parents feed each other statements like:
- I applied to all UCs except Merced.
- Everyone who applies to Merced gets in
- I will go to a CC and tag to a UC in 2 years but not go to Merced.
For a lot of students, they don’t dispute that the quality of education there could be as good as all the other UCs. They probably feel a sense of defeat in accepting UCM offers because of the collective narrative around it. Free tuition might help them justify it leading to increased interest and that would feed itself and make it prestigious.
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At out Bay Area public, the tide is turning for Merced. Particularly with regards to CompSci majors. There are more and more students attending every year because they don’t want to go out of state due to cost or don’t want to bother with the CC route and transfer route. One of my neighbor’s son’s just started this past fall and I asked her how it was going. She said that the only complaint she heard was about the food (they are huge foodies that travel just to go to specific restaurants). Last time I saw her she said her son had gained 10 pounds and that the food, bad as it is, was evidently not inedible.
I’m with the poster above that said they would be hiking in the mountains every weekend if I went there (Yosemite is a gorgeous park with lots to discover!) I also think the Central Valley has a special kind of charm to it. The kicker for me would be the heat. It can get VERY hot there for long periods.
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Tuition is already free for the majority of UC students. Fifty-five percent pay no tuition at all. Really due to supply and demand UCLA and some other high demand UC campuses should cost way more than Merced, though, for sure.
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Tuition is not free for our family. I have two full pay kids at Davis and another looking at UCSC who will also be full pay. On top of all that CA tax I pay 
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My son knows a couple of Merced students (slightly older friends who were students at his HS). He summarized to me that they think that their UC offers an excellent education, as well as other academic opportunities due to being a smaller and newer UC (for example they feel there is great access to research), but the location feels isolated to them. They wish they had a college town right there bordering the university (like Davis).
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I think you see this because of ELC. If they don’t get into any of their initial choices, their application will be redirected to UCM. If that is the case, why pay the $70 to send it there?
For more competitive majors, there is a chance that UCM might not have room for redirected applicants. If students are concerned about this, they should spend the $70 to send their application there from the get go.
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@worriedmomucb Would you mind explaining what you realized the UCs were looking for in the PIQs? I was going to try to PM you, but your profile is hidden. Let me know if we should PM in order to not derail this thread. Thanks!
The bottom line was that they were not looking for a creative personal statement. They were not even looking for “good writing” per se. They didn’t want creativity, metaphors, poetic digressions and reflections, they weren’t looking for “hooks” or memorable openings or “place the reader there with sensory details.” Basically they wanted nothing that high school English teachers have been trying to drill into their students as good personal essay writing.
They want the facts. Lay out the facts. Make the facts clear. Provide necessary context and make connections, but without creative digressions or extraneous musings.
Tell them what you did, maybe why you did it, what you learned from it or what it meant to to you. With straightforward language.
Pretend you are at a job interview. How would you answer an HR rep asking you about your previous leadership experience (or a challenge you overcame, etc)? That’s how you answer the PIQs.
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Super helpful, thanks!
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