#applyuc

College is a frightening thing to think about when you’re in high school.  I know I was terrified because I didn’t feel ready for it, and I had no idea where I wanted to go. I spoke to my counselors, my friends and my family about what I should do and where I should apply. My dad told me about a school called UC Merced. “It’s the newest UC, in the Central Valley, and we should go check it out.”

So we drove two and a half hours from my home in the Bay Area to a place surrounded by cows and farms—a place I didn’t even know existed in California. I got there and acted like a sassy teenage girl, but in reality, I was amazed by what I was seeing. UC Merced was beautiful, and I had a feeling that I hadn’t felt on any campus before – that I could actually see myself going there.

I was looking for a school where I would succeed and have opportunities that I wouldn’t have at other campuses. The other campuses I had toured had more than 40,000 students attending, which would have made me feel like just another number. Of course, the other campuses had cool traditions, and D1 sports, and other stuff that a newer campus like UC Merced didn’t have, but I didn’t miss it when I was there.  

Everything that UC Merced had to offer overruled all of the other factors of the other campuses. At UC Merced, I could get to know my professors with a 20:1 student-to-professor ratio. There were opportunities for research, internships, jobs and so much more.  My tour guide was constantly saying hello to people and seemed to know everyone. She ensured me that UC Merced is a close community, and I couldn’t agree more.