Undergraduate Students

UC Merced's Study Abroad Program Among the Country's Best

April 1, 2026

Depicted is a collage of UC Merced students taking part in study abroad programs in various locations around the world.

Frida Quinto Ruiz went to Sweden with a curious mind. She came home with a plan. "Studying abroad completely reshaped the direction of my college career in ways I never expected," she said. "I went to Sweden already curious about the world, but I came back with a much clearer...

Commuter Student Finds Belonging at UC Merced

Most weekdays, civil engineering major Jacqueline Garcia travels 45 minutes each way from her hometown of Hughson to attend classes at UC Merced. “The perk is being able to pursue my...

UC Merced student Taliyah Miller poses for photo

Her UC Merced Path Changed But Stockton Student Stays on Track

Taliyah Miller would be the first to tell you she arrived at UC Merced with an unwavering, long-range goal: become an anesthesiologist. What she could not have predicted was that a difficult roommate...

An undergraduate students works on a science experiment with two middle school students during a CalTeach Bobcat Summer STEM Academy camp.

CalTeach and Local Schools Team Up to Energize Learning across Merced County

UC Merced’s CalTeach program is opening new pathways for younger students to experience hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning, academic support and early exposure...

Ripon Student Turning Heart and Heritage into a Path of Healing

As a child of the Central Valley and a member of a Native tribe, Grace Grinder developed an early awareness of health care disparities affecting rural regions and underserved communities. While in...

Student stands outdoors on the UC Merced campus holding a notebook and pen, looking off into the distance near a campus walkway lined with leafless trees.

Student Finds Community and Purpose Through Culture and Literature

Between classes at UC Merced, you will often find Padme James under the trees outside the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library. What she studies there isn’t directly correlated to her classwork,...

Line of UC Merced graduates in cap and gown

Hundreds of UC Merced Graduates to Cross the Stage at Fall Commencement

Hundreds of UC Merced students will be celebrated this weekend at the university’s fall commencement ceremonies in downtown Merced. Nearly 400 undergraduate students and 40 Graduate Division...

Graduate Students Highlight Research and Campus Life to Encourage Transfers

Three Ph.D. students recently visited Madera Community College to share research findings and highlight opportunities available to transfer students at UC Merced. Emily Rivera Mondragon, a...

Conference of California Sociologists Engages UC Merced Undergrads

More than a dozen undergraduate students in UC Merced’s Sociology Club were immersed in the discipline’s breadth of research and professional possibilities during the California...

UC Merced Professor Rose Scott, student Narciso Martinez Solorio

First-generation Students Shine at UC Merced. This Week Celebrates Them

More than six in 10 UC Merced undergraduates are the first in their families to attend a university. The national average for four-year universities is about two in 10. Opening doors to...