UC Merced sees 12% rise in applications

UC Merced received nearly 33,000 applications from prospective students for the fall 2024 semester — a 12% increase from last year, the University of California campus said in a media release this week.

According to the statement, other double-digit percentage increases within the applicant pool, compared to 2023 numbers, include: 29,351 first-year students, a 14% rise; 1,539 out-of-state students, a 21% rise; and 4,121 international students, a 58% increase. 

“It is clear that the word has spread far and wide about UC Merced’s culture of innovation, our world-changing teaching and research, and all the exciting opportunities we offer students and families,” Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said.

Across the UC system, UC Merced also received the highest percentage of first-year applications from low-income students (51%), first-generation students (53%) and students from underrepresented groups (53%), including Hispanic applicants, who made up 46% of UC Merced’s prospective student body, also a systemwide high.

UC Merced, opened in 2005, has added new academic majors and initiatives such as the campus honors program. New programs account for the overall increase in prospective students, said Dustin Noji, the college’s admissions director, via the media release.