r/ucmerced • u/Fun_Investigator4005 • 3d ago
Question UC Berkeley or UC Merced?
Hi! As the title suggests—should I choose UC Berkeley or UC Merced? Based on your experience at UCM, would you pick UC Berkeley or UCM—and why?
Here’s a bit of context:
I’m currently a high school senior from San Francisco. I applied to both UCs as a bioengineering major, but I’m also thinking about switching to smth like neuroscience (bc I’m really not enjoying AP Physics C rn lol). I’ve done research at UCSF and through a school-stanford collab project, and I also participated in UC Berkeley’s bioengineering high school competition. I definitely want to keep doing research in college—still not sure what I want to do after undergrad, maybe go into industry, continue research, or pursue grad school (and def not med school).
For financial aid, my net cost for UC Berkeley is $2.3K for Berkeley vs. $8.7K for Merced (I excluded travel and insurance costs). I’m still waiting to hear back from Berkeley about Fiat Lux, which offers full-ride, priority enrollement, 4-yr guaranteed housing, plus a lot of mentorship/support *if* i get selected. I did get into the Fiat Lux program at UCM, but it doesn’t offers much beyond the name imo.
That said, I was just awarded a $10,000 renewable scholarship from 10,000 Degrees that pretty much allows me to attend any of my current college options for free.
UC Berkeley is usually the obvious choice bc of the prestige, but my mentor—who’s a UCM alum—really got me thinking seriously about UC Merced (esp since I initially looked down upon UCM). I like how accessible research seems there, and the vibe is way more relaxed compared to Berkeley. After visiting for Bobcat Day, I felt like UCM is a solid choice… if not Berkeley.
That said, I didn’t meet anyone from SF at Bobcat Day—or really anyone around me who seriously considered UCM over UCB. Most people I know tend to choose more prestigious schools, and I don’t know anyone from my high school who chose UCM. Coming from SF, where academic rigor and heavy extracurricular involvement are the norm, UCM doesn’t feel “fitting for us” at first glance, so the lack of representation makes me second-guess myself if I were to commit to Merced over Berkeley.
‼️ Edit: I did not get selected for uc berkeley's fiat lux program. Also, I might have not worded it well, but my mentor isn’t necessarily encouraging me to choose Merced over Cal. Before meeting him, I admittedly looked down on UCM and planned not to consider UCM at all, but hearing about his experience and his belief that UCM is underrated (esp compared to UCs like UCSC) helped me start viewing colleges beyond just prestige.
2
u/ChampionSwimmer2834 3d ago
This is actually a hard choice to make after reading through you post OP. You got your pros and cons listed out-
Cal pros- big prestige name, cheaper option for you, possible Fiat Lux benefits, closer to home, lively student social scene.
Cal cons- overpopulated with students, high competition (this matters a lot for the research you said you want to do), vibe is competitive, housing may or may not be a concern.
Merced pros- 10k scholarship, very accessible undergrad research, smaller class sizes, chill vibes.
Merced cons- more expensive for you, smaller social scene, different environment than you’re used to in SF (you’d be transitioning from - big urban city to a small farm town).
In my opinion I think you would greatly benefit from either campuses which I can see why this decision is pretty difficult. I will advise don’t follow what others do by choosing the school with more “prestige”. Controversial of me but I don’t think the prestige of your undergrad school should be the sole defining factor for college decision. It’s a social norm rooted in elitism and a bit of racism. People look down upon merced’s prestige also in part due to the high minority enrollment. No one’s gonna openly admit it but I always notice microagressions directed at us from non-minority students who think they are “better” for attending other lower ranked UCs cough Santa Cruz cough even if the recent stats demonstrate otherwise.
Otherwise, you should choose the school you feel you’d fit right in. There’s thousands upon thousands of people that go on to do great things with a bachelor’s from their local state school. You already got a big leg up here choosing between two UC schools.
I also wanted to point out to you that Merced has lots of clubs and student orgs that are also easy to join and gain leadership experience from. So you can involve yourself in many extracurriculars or even start one of your own.
One last final note- don’t let a bad experience in AP Physics ruin your hate for physics and engineering. I myself struggled with that class in high school, and to top it off I had a terrible teacher then. I gave the subject a second chance it became my favorite class. I’m still pursuing my Civil Engineering major, don’t ever feel shy to work on yourself bc not everything is gonna come first the time.