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Why UC Merced?
Find out what UC Merced has to offer!
Progress to Degree
See the requirements students will complete alond the path toward their degree.
Graduate Orientation Week
Don't forget to register for Graduate Orientation Week by July 26th.
Research Opportunities at UC Merced
Learn about the different research partnerships with UC Merced.

How Can We Help?

Graduate Student Programs staff is dedicated to assisting students navigating their graduate career within the School of Natural Sciences. Graduate students play vital roles in the discovery of new knowledge and in helping our undergraduates share in those discoveries — making graduate students crucial to the University’s research and teaching mission. To that end, our goal is to provide an inclusive and supportive environment in which all our students can reach their greatest intellectual potential. From recruitment and admissions to academic requirements and student funding, we provide information and guidance on an array of policies, procedures and services. In other words, we are here to help students through every step of their journey here.

 



 

Featured News

UC Merced professor and students
January 8, 2026

Should a scientist who sees signs of global catastrophe sound an early alarm or wait until more conclusive evidence is in? Does going public lead to swifter action or give naysayers more time to...

Spectroscopy at the UC's W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii helped the researchers interpret complex data about ultramassive galaxies. Photo courtesy of the W.M. Keck Observatory.
January 5, 2026

An international team of astronomers has studied ultramassive galaxies - galaxies containing more than 100 billion stars - as they existed when the universe was less than 2 billion years old. The...

Student speaker at 2024 UC Merced Fall Commencement
December 22, 2025
Hundreds of UC Merced graduate candidates gathered with friends and family Dec. 19-20 for Fall Commencement. Ceremonies were held for the Graduate Division and the university’s three schools.
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