University of California Merced

Visited today. Buildingwise its good and new. But moving around campus and parking is nightmare and ridiculous. In the middle of nowhere and yet visitor parking is miles away from the place i need to go and not free and not possible to pay. Ridiculous. You are building a university in the middle of nowhere and charge for parking (price is not important, there is no place to park). Nonsense and rude. Also internal circular road is very very narrow two way one lane with no stopping standing space. Temperature was 107 while at the same time san francisco area was 76. There is a good lake nearby and also they charge 6 (not 5!) dollars to see what's inside. Could be a very good university but no life is around. They need to build small walkable cyclable city nearby. On the long run it could be a good place. Good staff and people. But yet again, charging for parking is fine but there is no visitor parking around the campus. If you cannot walk long in the middle of nowhere in farmland under the sun at 107F, dont come. Also they need more tree planting in campus i think. Maybe they will grow but still not much i think.

GRADUATION CEREMONY: Beware of crap security! You cannot bring umbrellas inside the ceremony. They only have floor seats. Security told me I could put my umbrella aside at the entrance of the gate and I could retrieve it after the ceremony. I exited the ceremony before it even ended to get my umbrella and they threw it away. Security is a piece of crap for lying and throwing my item away.

Beautiful campus and very friendly staff. Teachers are amazing and my son is thriving. We made a great choice, and never second guessed our decision. Caring community of students and faculty it shows in their spirit throughout the campus. WOW what an amazing campus, so modern and impressive classroom facilities. Dorms are so modern and new feeling throughout your stay. Very close to Yosemite and a wonderful lake nearby. Safe campus feeling of leaving my son in good hands. Thank you UCM for providing this opportunity and excellent education for all your students. I highly recommend your school!!

The campus itself is really quite pleasant. So much is new, though, that the trees haven't had time to grow in, and can be a little stark.

World-class academics, amazing faculty, high-tech labs and classrooms, and a truly private-school feeling on campus. Plus, it's growing like crazy!

This university has the best food of any university I have visited. I am an AVID Student, we got a tour, and our guide Donald was AMAZING! The food was ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING! I am very highly to go to this school when I go to college.

UC Merced is a beautiful, prestine campus. The campus tour was well organized, easy to navigate and gave a great overview of the campus and it's services.

We live in the Bay Area at first I was not so excited my daughter chose to go to the school even though she had better opportunities, but now I see it was an excellent choice because she comes home every weekend and if there's an emergency I know I can go visit her and see her within two hours. Recently they have spent a lot of money building up this University, because if it is a fairly new University. The other advantage of attending this University is that as a freshman my daughter had a chance to be project leads on some engineering projects that normally third or fourth year students only get to do in other UC's. All in all it was a great decision and I've come to love the idea of her being there. Last Friday night I was there to visit and I truly felt safe. I'm not worried that she is going to the gym late at night or walking around or going to the library if she had to study late. There's campus police and security everywhere. Up to now, I have been very happy!

The newest UC. R1 research institute. Progressive and inclusive and so many opportunities.

great environment as my son says.Tthe overall structures are very modern and all newly built. Moreover the student are so nice and helpful dont feel shy they are super nice