University of California, Merced

Basic Information

Type Public
Geographical Reach Regional
Population 300,000

Weather

Comfortable Days 115 (84%)
Sunshine Hours 3,604 (99% ☀️)
Days Without Precipitation 307 (94% 🏖️)

Demographics

Total Undergraduates 8,412
Men / Women 55% / 45%
From State 98%
From Region 0%
Athletes 210 (2.5%)

Racial/Ethnic

Hispanic 55%
Asian 24%
White 9%
Black 5%
Mixed 5%
International 1%
Native American 0%

Schools & Majors

⇅ Ranked Trends Degrees Male White Asian Black Hispanic Intl Earnings Earn % Earn z ROI Employment Debt-to-Earn Accept SAT p25 SAT p75
School of Engineering 385 81% 12% 32% 5% 44% 0% $99,871 95 -0.51 92 94% 97%
Bioengineering 25 — 52% 20% 32% 4% 36% 0% $82,068 5 -1.43 79 98% — 97% — —
Civil Engineering 28 — 68% 14% 14% 11% 46% 0% $88,199 27 -0.59 85 — — 97% — —
Environmental Engineering 12 — 50% 17% 8% 0% 75% 0% $81,177 25 -0.58 78 97% — 97% — —
Materials Science and Engineering 5 — 100% 20% 20% 0% 40% 0% $88,111 17 -0.71 85 — — 97% — —
Mechanical Engineering 114 — 88% 11% 13% 5% 66% 1% $97,472 44 -0.22 91 97% — 97% — —
Computer Science and Engineering 201 +2 84% 11% 47% 5% 30% 0% $106,481 31 -0.54 95 92% — 97% — —
⇅ Ranked Trends Degrees Male White Asian Black Hispanic Intl Earnings Earn % Earn z ROI Employment Debt-to-Earn Accept SAT p25 SAT p75
School of Natural Sciences 372 43% 13% 29% 4% 49% 1% $67,391 35 -0.20 55 95%
Applied Mathematical Sciences 28 — 75% 21% 29% 4% 39% 0% $84,860 21 -0.76 82 94% — 93% — —
Chemistry 28 — 39% 14% 21% 4% 61% 0% $71,387 55 -0.02 63 95% — 93% — —
Earth Systems Science 22 — 36% 14% 9% 5% 64% 0% $70,502 79 +0.49 62 100% — 93% — —
Physics 13 +1 92% 54% 15% 0% 31% 0% $73,030 18 -0.76 66 — — 93% — —
Biological Sciences 280 +1 38% 9% 32% 4% 48% 2% $64,781 42 -0.19 48 94% — 96% — —
Environmental Studies 1 — 100% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0% $55,434 33 -0.40 23 — — — — —
⇅ Ranked Trends Degrees Male White Asian Black Hispanic Intl Earnings Earn % Earn z ROI Employment Debt-to-Earn Accept SAT p25 SAT p75
School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts 925 34% 8% 17% 5% 64% 1% $59,081 7 -0.58 32 95%
Public Health 101 +10 24% 2% 16% 7% 72% 0% $61,732 36 -0.32 40 90% — 94% — —
Economics 23 +2 61% 9% 35% 9% 39% 0% $66,400 5 -1.19 52 97% — 93% — —
Management 191 +7 61% 7% 19% 2% 64% 2% $68,304 33 -0.48 57 — — 92% — —
Comparative Literature — — — — — — — — $43,909 10 -1.04 5 — — — — —
Ethnic Studies 7 +1 0% 0% 0% 14% 71% 0% $50,454 22 -0.70 12 — — 93% — —
History 17 — 53% 18% 12% 0% 65% 0% $37,635 0 -1.88 2 94% — 91% — —
Literature 6 — 33% 33% 17% 0% 50% 0% $42,501 6 -1.21 4 — — — — —
Literatures in English 12 +3 67% 17% 0% 0% 67% 0% $40,355 3 -1.47 3 93% — 91% — —
Philosophy 7 +1 14% 14% 14% 0% 71% 0% $51,761 23 -0.73 15 — — 91% — —
Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies 1 — 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% $42,553 6 -1.20 4 — — — — —
Spanish 7 +4 43% 0% 0% 0% 100% 0% $45,834 10 -1.09 7 — — 91% — —
Anthropology 16 +2 38% 19% 6% 12% 56% 0% $46,519 6 -0.94 7 100% — 93% — —
Cognitive Science 57 +11 39% 12% 42% 2% 37% 0% $58,074 8 -1.05 30 98% — 92% — —
Political Science 64 +7 27% 9% 9% 5% 70% 3% $63,471 27 -0.64 44 94% — 93% — —
Psychological Sciences 325 +40 22% 9% 15% 4% 66% 1% $56,419 28 -0.54 25 — — 93% — —
Sociology 78 +11 23% 3% 12% 10% 69% 1% $55,735 52 -0.10 24 96% — 93% — —
Global Arts Studies 13 +1 15% 23% 31% 0% 38% 0% $44,902 29 -0.54 6 — — 91% — —

Financial

In-State Tuition & Fees $15,690
Out-of-State Tuition & Fees $55,891
Est. In-State Cost $20,297
Est. Out-of-State Cost $72,301
ROI Percentile 61th

Retention & Graduation

Full-Time Retention 82%
4-Year Graduation Rate 50%
6-Year Graduation Rate 69%
Transfer-Out Rate 11%

Earnings by Major Category

Each major category's degree-weighted estimated median 5-year earnings at this college, expressed as a z-score against the national degree-weighted distribution for that category. 0 is the national average. The shaded band between +1.28 and −1.28 marks the central 80% of the national distribution (10th–90th percentile).

Academics

⇅ % Degrees Male White Asian Black Hispanic Intl Earnings Earn % Earn z ROI Employment Debt-to-Earn
Social Sciences 32.1% 540 25% 9% 16% 5% 63% 1% $57,037 45 -0.56 27 96% —
Life & Natural Sciences 16.6% 280 38% 9% 32% 4% 48% 2% $64,781 35 -0.19 48 94% —
Business & Economics 12.7% 214 61% 7% 21% 3% 62% 1% $68,099 20 -0.56 56 97% —
Computer Science 12.0% 201 84% 11% 47% 5% 30% 0% $106,481 43 -0.54 95 92% —
Engineering 10.9% 184 78% 14% 16% 5% 59% 1% $92,651 9 -0.48 88 97% —
Health Sciences 6.0% 101 24% 2% 16% 7% 72% 0% $61,732 5 -0.32 40 90% —
Physical Sciences & Math 5.4% 91 57% 22% 20% 3% 51% 0% $75,553 41 -0.23 71 96% —
Humanities 3.4% 57 40% 14% 7% 2% 68% 0% $43,122 2 -1.33 5 94% —
Arts 0.8% 13 15% 23% 31% 0% 38% 0% $44,902 19 -0.54 6 — —
Agriculture & Food Science 0.1% 1 100% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0% $55,434 30 -0.40 23 — —

Research R1

⇅ Research $ Rank Federal Industry $ PhDs Rank PhD students Postdocs
Engineering $18.0M #152 50% $0.4M 12 #170 154 22
Physical Sciences & Math $17.0M #144 61% $0.2M 20 #124 171 27
Humanities & Social Sciences $10.6M #146 12% $0.7M 29 #149 81 5
Life & Natural Sciences $9.3M #166 75% $0 18 #116 106 4
Health Sciences $5.0M #164 62% $0.1M 4 #195 20 1
Business & Economics $4.9M #102 41% $0 1 #242 15 —
Computer Science $2.9M #170 49% $0.1M 13 #78 — —
Agriculture & Food Science $0.9M #163 89% $0 15 #39 52 7
Education $0.6M #274 71% $0.0M — — — —
Total $69.3M #180 51% $1.5M 112 #162 599 66

Expenditure and funding source: NSF HERD, FY2024. Degrees: IPEDS completions, 2023–24. Students and postdocs: NSF Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates, fall 2024, which covers science, engineering and selected health fields only. An em dash means the source does not report the figure, which is not the same as zero.

Sports

⇅ Athletes ▼ Revenue Expenses Net
Soccer 32 $319K $306K $12K
Track & Field (outdoor) 25 $96K $94K $1K
Water Polo 22 $271K $238K $33K
Basketball 20 $318K $311K $6K
Volleyball 20 $244K $242K $2K
Cross Country 13 $103K $103K $0
Total 120 $1.4M $1.3M $56K
⇅ Athletes ▼ Revenue Expenses Net
Soccer 24 $363K $361K $2K
Track & Field (outdoor) 19 $85K $87K -$1K
Basketball 17 $286K $277K $9K
Water Polo 17 $198K $193K $5K
Volleyball 14 $213K $208K $4K
Cross Country 11 $95K $95K $0
Total 90 $1.2M $1.2M $19K
⇅ Athletes ▼ Revenue Expenses Net
Soccer 56 $683K $667K $15K
Track & Field (outdoor) 44 $181K $181K $0
Water Polo 39 $470K $432K $38K
Basketball 37 $605K $589K $16K
Volleyball 34 $457K $450K $6K
Cross Country 24 $198K $198K $0
Total 210 $3.8M $3.7M $156K

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Equity in Athletics Data Analysis. Each team's revenue and expenses are what the college attributes to it. The Total view's totals row is the department's grand total, which also includes money not attributed to any team; the Male and Female totals rows only add up their teams.

Admissions

Uses Common App No
Acceptance Rate 96%
Yield (non-ED) 4%
Regular Decision Jan 1

Acceptance Rates

In-State Out-of-State International
Regular Decision 97% 97% 97%

This college’s Common Data Set does not break down admissions by applicant demographics, so in-state, out-of-state, and international applicants share one Regular Decision rate.

Standardized Tests

Test Policy blind