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Graduate Studies at UC Merced
As our campus grows, so does our reputation for outstanding research in critical areas.
Despite being less than 20 years old, the University of California, Merced has already embodied a number of different personas. We’ve been the new school. We’ve been the fastest-growing school. We’ve been the school for sustainability. We’ve been the school for social mobility.
We remain all of those things, but we are now taking on another important persona — that of a robust and respected research university.
Thanks to our founding faculty members and all those who have followed, the research enterprise at UC Merced has always been in good hands, and several areas of strength have naturally emerged. We are now building on those strengths, and will be leveraging our new labs and research facilities to supercharge that growth of our vibrant and diverse graduate student community.
Affordable Living in the Central Valley
UC Merced graduate students can enjoy all the benefits of small-city-living with easy access to a multitude of California's landmarks and attractions. San Francisco, Sacramento and Monterey are all within a two-hour or so drive, and smaller cities like Fresno and Modesto are within an hour of campus.
You simply can't get closer to Yosemite National Park — one of the most amazing and majestic attractions California has to offer — than UC Merced. In addition to the variety of research projects our faculty conduct in Yosemite, the park is a wonderful place to take a break from your studies. It is a short 75-mile drive from campus, or you can take advantage of Yosemite Area Regional Transit Service (YARTS), an inexpensive bus service that stops on campus twice on a regular basis.
Merced is an area with reasonable housing costs and a significantly lower cost of living than many other parts of California. Students are able to choose from a wide variety of housing options in the Merced community, including condos, houses, room rentals, and apartments..
