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uc merced welcomes our new students

The School of Social Science, Humanities, and Arts (SSHA) at UC Merced empowers students with the knowledge to become leaders, creators and innovators who will shape the future of California and the world.

Find Your Degree

Our departments offer 16 majors and 20 minors that prepare students for academic and professional success.

Top 5 UC Merced's Top 10 Enrolled Majors

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Voices of Success

I feel that the topics that are taught are expansive, and I like that I am able to take classes in different areas of study and they still count towards my major. You can get one on one time with professors and get to know them, and class sizes are smaller so there is more opportunity to get to know your professors.


Melanie Farias-Ramirez

Our Impact in Action

Students Zeyi Moo, back left, and Yaying Wang, right, work with Professor Xuan Zhang, center, on her Alzheimer's-related research. Photo courtesy of Kate Marsh.
April 17, 2025

California’s Central Valley, famous for producing much of the food Americans eat, is also infamous for its inferior air quality and its high rates of poverty, housing insecurity and at-risk workers....

Sameen Yunus, left, and her faculty advisor, physics Professor David Strubbe
April 16, 2025

UC Merced physics graduate student Sameen Yunus has been awarded a prestigious fellowship allowing her to spend the next three years working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, conducting...

two males with a drone
April 8, 2025

UC Merced’s School of Engineering and its programs continue to be recognized by U.S. News & World Report as demonstrated in the release today of its 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings. The R1...

Professor Clarissa Nobile
March 27, 2025

Note: This article has been republished in part.The full article is available online . When David Mendoza-Cózatl, a 2006 Pew Latin American fellow in the biomedical sciences, got an email soliciting...

Celebrating Achievements

April 16, 2025

UC Merced is excited to welcome admitted students, their families and friends for another unforgettable Bobcat Day. Set for Saturday, April 19, this annual open house promises a full day of engaging...

Sameen Yunus, left, and her faculty advisor, physics Professor David Strubbe
April 16, 2025

UC Merced physics graduate student Sameen Yunus has been awarded a prestigious fellowship allowing her to spend the next three years working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, conducting...

As Yosemite Likes It UC Merced performers
April 15, 2025

If Arden, the sprawling, wild forest in William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” were in the United States instead of the Bard’s imagination, it would certainly be a national park. Like Yosemite. That...

Where's My Coffee Cup? film subject
April 14, 2025

A UC Merced professor entered the bleak world of a fading, 64-year-old man in a Virginia state prison to illustrate the challenges of being elderly and incarcerated. “Where’s My Coffee Cup?” is a...

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