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UC Merced Receives Highest Number of Applications in Campus’s History

By Elizabeth Arakelian, UC Merced
February 1, 2021
30,105 prospective students seek to become Bobcats in fall 2021.
30,105 prospective students seek to become future Bobcats in fall 2021.

In a record year for applicants to the entire University of California system, UC Merced has received a total of 30,105 prospective student applications among freshman and transfer students into the university — the highest number in the campus’s history. 

This comes as UC Merced hosted its largest-ever student population for fall 2020 — more than 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

“We have known for some time that UC Merced is a university on the rise,” said Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz. “The eagerness of so many young people and their families to seek to join this community is yet another signifier of our success.” 

The UC system received 249,855 applications for admission for fall 2021, a 16.1 percent increase from fall 2020. This includes 203,700 applications for freshman admission and 46,155 transfer applications.

UC Merced received:

  • 25,458 applications from prospective first-year students, with 1,102 from other states and 1,847 from international students
  • 4,129 transfer applications from California residents, with another 84 from other states and 434 from international students.

Among California applicants for the freshman class, 52% were Latinx — the highest percentage in the UC system — 29% Asian-American, 10% White and 7% Black. For transfers, 40% were Latinx, 29% Asian-American, 21% White and 8% Black.

While applicants for graduate programs at UC Merced are still being accepted in some programs, applications have risen by approximately 25% from last spring, with more than 1,030 applying to enter the campus’s 18 programs. Approximately 40% of applications to date are from women and 23% from underrepresented minority groups.

The review of freshman applications began in November 2020, with offers of admission to be sent out by March 31. Transfer application review began in December 2020 and admission offers will be made by April 30.

Given the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, UC Merced is still accepting late application appeals by any students who might have missed the deadline.