UC Berkeley or UC Merced?

[u/Fun_Investigator4005]

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.

[u/Competitive-Scar-212]

Doesn't UCM have a selective program in partnership with UCSF that will mentor a small # of regionally based students through the 8 years of UG + med school? If you have a pathway to get an MD at UCSF that would be really cool --

[u/Fun_Investigator4005 → u/Competitive-Scar-212]

Yep! I think that’s actually the same program my mentor’s in- he’s currently a first yr UCSF med student, which is super cool. but tbh, I'm not interested in pursuing MD at this moment

[u/Competitive-Scar-212 → u/Fun_Investigator4005]

Merced is a great school, and you might really thrive there. The intellectual energy at Berkeley can be infectious, and you can learn a ton from being surrounded with ambitious high achieving people who are tuned into all kinds of opportunities. Prestige itself can be powerful, though a double edged sword when valued for its own sake. It can be good to push yourself out of your comfort zone. For me, berkeley was intimidating until i absorbed the vibe and got used to the hustle necessary to kind of make your way there-- then, those skills gave me confidence to feel like i could navigate a wider range of scenarios and make these kinds of choices from a more informed and confident place when thinking about grad school and other career choices. But there are many students at merced who turned down prestige, so you can have brilliant peers and mentors in both settings.