Accolades

UC Merced, founded in 2005 as the first US research university opened in the 21st century, is already renowned as one of the top universities for both academic quality and ability to transform the lives of graduates.

The university is highly ranked by several prestigious publications such as U.S. News & World Report, Washington Monthly, The Princeton Review, Money and others. It is increasingly recognized for its outstanding academic programs and for its commitment to environmental sustainability.

Here is a selection of UC Merced’s top rankings:

Recent Rankings

• Rising 72 spots in just four years to Top 100 (USNWR).
• Top 20 | No. 18 among R2s (USNWR)
• Top 20 | No. 17 Best Public Undergraduate Teaching (USNWR)
• Top 40 | No. 38 among publics (USNWR)
• Top 100 | No. 93 Overall (USNWR)
• Top 100 | No. 57 Most Innovative Schools (USNWR)
• No. 3 Young University (Times Higher Ed)
• No. 4 for social mobility (USNWR)
• No. 7 Top Ten “Cool School,” Sierra magazine ‘2021 Cool Schools’ list
• No. 8 Economic Diversity (USNWR)
• No. 12 most transformative colleges (Money’s 2020 Best Colleges)
• No. 19 for social mobility (Washington Monthly’s 2020 College Guide and Rankings)
• Best Bang for your Buck (Washington Monthly)
• 2022 Green Honor Roll (Princeton Review)
• America’s Top Colleges (Forbes, 2022)
• University of the Year (Education Dive's Dive Awards, 2018)
• “Best 386 Colleges,” three consecutive years (Princeton Review)
• No. 131 for undergraduate engineering (among Ph.D.-granting schools) (US News & World Report)
• High marks for “Quality of Life Rating” (Princeton Review)
• Highest marks on “Green Rating” (Princeton Review)
• High marks for “Fire Safety Rating” (Princeton Review)

Graduate Programs (USNWR)

• No. 116 School of Engineering
  • No. 84 Environmental Engineering
  • No. 91 Materials Engineering
  • No. 94 Computer Engineering
  • No. 115 Computer Science
  • No. 118 Biomedical Engineering
  • No. 122 Mechanical Engineering
  • No. 128 Electrical Engineering
• No. 115 Chemistry
• No. 132 Mathematics
• No. 138 Physics
• No. 144 Biological Sciences

Social Mobility

• No. 4 in the nation for social mobility (US News Best Colleges 2022)
• No. 8 in the nation for economic diversity (US News Best Colleges 2022)
• No. 51 for least amount of debt incurred by graduates (US News Best Colleges 2021)
• No. 19 for social mobility (Washington Monthly’s 2020 College Guide and Rankings)
• No. 12 most transformative colleges (Money’s 2020 Best Colleges)
• No. 8 in the nation for performance of students who receive Pell Grants (Washington Monthly’s 2019 College Guide and Rankings)
• No. 8 in the nation for performance of first-generation students (Washington Monthly’s 2019 College Guide and Rankings)

See Accolades Archive >