UC Merced Acceptance?

Hi there! I'm starting to explore my college options and UC Merced seems quite appealing to me. Can anyone tell me how competitive the acceptance process is there? What can I do to strengthen my chances?

Hey there! Admission competition at UC Merced is less selective than at the other UC schools, as the acceptance rate is typically around 88-90%. However, you still want to craft your application thoughtfully - remember, UC Merced is still a relatively new institution, and thus could become more competitive as more students learn about it.

Setting aside the school's overall acceptance rate, admissions officers would ideally like to see a challenging academic record consisting of AP or IB courses (if available at your high school), a strong GPA, and good extracurricular activities. UC Merced is currently test-blind and does not consider SAT or ACT scores in the admission process, so displaying academic rigor through your chosen courses and academic performance is crucial.

For extracurricular activities, try to aim for leadership roles and develop a specialized passion or "spike," which is a highly developed specialty that points to future success in a particular area and sets you apart from even other talented applicants.

For the essay portion of your application, be sure to make your responses personal and specific to you. They should provide insight about you that is not apparent from other parts of your application, by discussing uniquely personal experiences. For detailed guidance on how to tackle the UC personal insight questions, I'd check out this blog post from CollegeVine: https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-write-the-university-of-california-essays

Good luck!