by our College Data Analytics Team
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
University of California - Merced was awarded 5 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is biological & biomedical sciences.
Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.
UC Merced landed the #372 spot in College Factual's 2025 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 2,152 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 20% of all schools in the nation.
UC Merced is also ranked #51 out of 161 schools in California.
See all of the rankings for University of California - Merced.
The acceptance rate at University of California - Merced is 89%, which is higher than many other schools to which you may be applying. But don't think getting into UC Merced is a sure thing. The admissions staff is still going to review your application to see if you are a good fit for the school.
At University of California - Merced, the student to faculty ratio is 19 to 1. Compared to the national average of 15 to 1, this is somewhat high. This could mean that class sizes may be larger than they are at other colleges or universities or that professors may be required to teach more classes.
When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at University of California - Merced is 95%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 82% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like University of California - Merced enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at UC Merced for first-time, full-time students is 45%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at University of California - Merced.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 8,276 undergraduates at UC Merced with 8,194 being full-time and 82 being part-time.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $9,244 | $10,126 | $13,347 | $20,035 | $32,273 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of UC Merced, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At UC Merced, approximately 35% of students took out student loans averaging $4,754 a year. That adds up to $19,016 over four years for those students.
Get more details about paying for University of California - Merced.
See which majors at University of California - Merced make the most money.
Get more details about the location of University of California - Merced.
Contact details for UC Merced are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 5200 North Lake Road, Merced, CA 95343-5603 |
| Phone: | 209-228-4400 |
| Website: | ucmerced.edu/ |
| Facebook: | https://www.facebook.com/ucmerced |
| Twitter: | https://twitter.com/ucmerced |
| Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| General Biology | 316 | $36,140 |
| Computer Engineering | 230 | $58,835 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 200 | $67,096 |
| Child Development & Psychology | 193 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 188 | $46,378 |
| Public Health | 152 | $36,555 |
| General Psychology | 142 | $28,669 |
| Political Science & Government | 119 | $29,153 |
| Sociology | 119 | $37,092 |
| Cognitive Science | 83 | $32,419 |
Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
In 2022-2023, 1,123 students took at least one online class at University of California - Merced. This is a decrease from the 1,528 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-2023 | 1,123 | 0 |
| 2021-2022 | 1,528 | 12 |
| 2020-2021 | 8,763 | 8,077 |
| 2018-2019 | 178 | 0 |
Learn more about online learning at University of California - Merced.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.