<p>People were saying that about UCSD when it first opened. Back in the late 60s my aunt didnt like UCSD because it was new and not recognized so she transfered to SDSU.</p>
<p>Didnt take long to realize she could have had a much better school on her resume if she woulda stuck it out</p>
<p>The worst UC? That’s still pretty damn good dude.</p>
<p>^ thats what im trying to say. Nobody knows how Merced is going to look in 50 years. Which is why it annoys me so much when people say horrible things about it. Give it a chance…</p>
<p>@yheafreak not everyone goes to college to party, and I’ve actually been invited to a few at Merced. 20 year olds always find a way to have fun, don’t forget that.</p>
<p>I’ve never personally met any alumni nor visited the school so I just am going on the fact that it’s new</p>
<p>@kc20cali</p>
<p>You can throw little hang out place AT uc Merced, but we’re talking about the environment around merced. i hear its boring and dull compared to the other campuses. People can have fun anywhere. you can play solitaire with your self. thats pretty fun. but in the end, the environment around UCM is a lot more boring RELATIVE to the other campuses, don’t forget that.</p>
<p>but the ucm campus itself is pretty nice.</p>
<p>I would love to live near Yosemite. Honestly, if the school had a little better of a name and had my major, I may have put more thought into it. But at this rate, I doubt I would even more up north for UCB.</p>
<p>I wasn’t actually aware it had only been around since 2005 but a joke someone in Honors told me about Merced was that they should really shut it down and turn it into a prison for white collar criminals. Maybe it’s because it’s newer but along with Riverside it really is one of the worst UCs. If only because it’s riddiculously easy to get into, I could have walked in back when I put my GPA in the toilet. Honestly I was of the opinion that Davis was down there too because nobody ever says “Ohh I wanna goto Davis!” so I’d been putting it down there just above Merced/Riverside. Apparantly they have a good engineering program so they kinda have me there, but for Psych majors I’ll maintain that they’re a lousy school in comparison to Berkeley, LA, SD and Irvine (for Grad school at least). But I’m off-topic… yeah, it’s mostly location and rigor, if UCR and UCM didn’t let everybody and their mothers into the schools they’d be in higher demand.</p>
<p>And there’s my point yet again, you don’t care that it’s a new campus, that the classes are rather small (especially lower division), or that apparently they’ve got some pretty decent faculty. All you care about is the GPA of the entrants.</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s just that you have an inferiority complex and are paranoid that going to a more accepting school will show anyone that sees UC Merced on your resume that you aren’t smart. That’s your problem. Besides, you’re in a community college now right? People that go to community college are generalized as kids that couldn’t get into a university straight out of HS, does that mean you weren’t good enough to begin with? Come on.</p>
<p>I will agree I’ve heard some stories about people with no record whatsoever getting into UCM… but so what? If the professors are good how does it affect you? Your pride? Seriously are you that vulnerable?</p>
<p>I actually really want to go to UCD - it’s a pretty respectable engineering school and the campus/environment is pretty nice, albeit a little old. UCM has a pretty nice campus, I’m more in the “It’s in the middle of nowhere!” camp… When they offered me a full ride last year I spent a couple of weeks thinking hard about saying no because it was just a damn good offer. </p>
<p>I just skipped it because I have my family with me and I wouldn’t want to subject them to living in the middle of nowhere. hehe.</p>
<p>^Now now, there’s no need to insult my intelligence, nor is it that I have an inferiority complex. I’d just like to go to the highest school I can be admitted into and like I said, UCM and UCR are pathetically easy to get into. I’m sure the professors are fine, many of the professors who teach at West Valley also teach at San Jose State, they’re fantastic. The reason I wouldn’t want to go to SJSU is because of their administration and getting them to do anything is like pulling teeth. In a similar vein, I’m sure UCM and UCR have fantastic professors, but they’re in the middle of nowhere, have a lousy reputation right now and won’t get me where I need to go via grad school. I’d much rather go to some place like UCLA, UCSD or UCI, have the excellent professors there teach me and have the leg up to get into grad school.</p>
<p>With an average high school applicant GPA of 3.55 for 2010, it doesn’t sound like UC Merced is letting in just anybody who wants to go there. My guess is the GPA average will go up for this year, as I have heard that the number of rejection letters being sent out to HS students is historically high.</p>
<p>@Itachirumon, you make it seem like an undergrade at UC Merced has NO oppertunity to get into a good grade school. People have a habit thinking a school makes a student, but it really doesn’t. I’ll concede that UCLA or Cal would be a great asset for grad school, but if you have the grades, you HAVE the grades! Surely going to Merced, still a UC wouldent obliterate an oppertunity for grad school. In fact, I read on a different UC Merced thread that some if the better Merced graduates got in UCSF and UCLA medical grad school. Prestige is great, but not everything, dont dismiss Merced just because of it.</p>
<p>Having a UCM degree is probably better in the eyes of the UCs than a CSU Pomona degree, especially if you want to go to UCB for grad school. For one, everything will transfer over and they won’t weigh on your grades because they come from another UC. </p>
<p>Again I say, the name of the school doesn’t really make you. It’s funny… I wanted to go to Stanford because it was a fantastic campus with some cool professors and a great town. Not because it was ranked top in California - shoot I’d be happier if it was ranked lower because it’d be less of a pain to get into. </p>
<p>The majority of the reason why UCs are so picky though, has to do with geography more than anything else.</p>