Dear Campus Community,
At UC Merced, we create new knowledge while educating outstanding young women and men, most of whom are the first in their families to go to college. Our faculty and staff make UC Merced feel like home to nearly 9,000 students, and those students throw themselves into their work and, with our help, improve their future.
We do not seek accolades for this. But when independent institutions notice and praise what we have created here, it is worth taking a moment to celebrate our shared success, and to thank you for all that you do for our students and our institution.
U.S. News, perhaps the best-known organization for assessing several hundred universities on a variety of metrics, has released its 2020 report today. It ranks UC Merced at No. 1 in the United States for outperforming expected graduation rates — that is, for taking students from where they are to where they need to be to earn a college degree. UC Merced is also No. 1 for percentage of students receiving necessary financial support to complete an undergraduate education, and No. 7 in the nation for creating social mobility.
Among all public institutions in the United States, the pride and generosity of our amazing alumni — those who know us best and support us most passionately — have placed us at No. 27 for alumni giving rate. This is especially remarkable given that the average age of our alumni is just 27, and most of them are early in their careers. They understand the need that many of their fellow Bobcats face, and as soon as they’re able to, they are giving back to help the next generation along their journeys.
Academically, U.S. News ranks us at No. 13 among all public institutions for undergraduate teaching, No. 77 for innovation (our first time on this qualitative list) and No. 153 for undergraduate engineering programs, up from 167 last year.
In the overall ranking of hundreds of colleges and universities with national reputations, UC Merced is up to No. 104 overall and No. 44 among public universities, a truly stunning rise over a few short years that reflects not only our teaching and research, the quality of our students, and the generosity of our alumni, but also our peer institutions’ assessment of us. UC Merced saw the largest jump of any institution ranked by U.S. News this year, proof of our growth and momentum across all key metrics.
This is but the most recent in a series of independent appraisals that weave a narrative of a university truly on the rise. This summer, the Times Higher Education Young Universities Ranking placed UC Merced fourth among institutions less than 50 years old, and we debuted on The Princeton Review’s Best 385 Colleges list. Washington Monthly has placed us in the top 10 for performance of first-generation college students, and the Sierra Club ranked us sixth on its “Cool Schools” list. Just last week, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education listed us at No. 1 in the world for campus sustainability, and No. 1 specifically for sustainable buildings.
It is of course a great moment of pride when thoughtful people and organizations take note of what we do at UC Merced out of passion and conviction. Please take this moment to celebrate our university and everything that you and all your colleagues continue to do, every day, to contribute to its success. Share the news with your friends and family, and with all those future students who are contemplating where they will choose to pursue their academic studies.
And of course, when the rankings become yesterday’s news, we will all still be here, working hard to build the future in the heart of California.
Thank you for all that you do for our students and for UC Merced.
Nathan Brostrom
Interim Chancellor
