Test-freeNo early plan

University of California—Merced

CA · Public · West · National university · Top 100 tier · 8,372 undergraduates (medium)

Admission rates

Latest admit rates

Overall admit rate91.5%
Early roundNo early plan 
Regular round†91.5%no early round, so same as overall

† This school has no early round, so the regular rate equals the overall admit rate.

Trends, Fall 2020–Fall 2024

Admission rates

Overall
0%50%100%'20'21'22'23'2484.8%89.5%91.5%no datano data

Early plans

Fall 2027 applicants

No early plan (one UC filing period, Oct 1–Nov 30) · School admissions page ↗

Testing

Testing policy

Fall 2027
Test-freeScores not considered in admission (University of California policy)School testing page ↗ · checked Nov 2026
Fall 2028
Fall 2028 policy not yet announced.School testing page ↗ · checked Nov 2026

Superscoring

What this means:

SAT
N/A (test-free; scores not considered)
ACT
N/A (test-free; scores not considered)

Source ↗ · checked Nov 3, 2026

UC is test-free; scores may only be used for minimum eligibility or course placement.

How to send scores

Test-free: scores not considered

UC is test-free for admission. The UCLA page says self-reported scores may be entered (they are used for other purposes) and official reports are due after an offer of admission.

Source (UC page, via UCLA) ↗ · checked Nov 3, 2026

Scores

Test-free: scores not used. University of California—Merced does not use SAT or ACT scores in admission, so its Common Data Set reports no score ranges.

Trends, Fall 2020–Fall 2024

Share of enrolled students submitting scores

SAT + ACT (est.)SATACT
0%50%100%'20'21'22'23'24100%10.0%93.0%8.0%33.0%2.0%no datano datano data

SAT composite, middle 50%

25th–75th percentile, enrolled students (labels show both values)
1600140012001000'20'21'22'23'24950–11401140950no data1030–135013501030no datano data

ACT composite, middle 50%

25th–75th percentile, enrolled students (labels show both values)
363228242016'20'21'22'23'2417–222217no data20–313120no datano data

Waitlist admit rate

Share of students who stayed on the waitlist and were later admitted, by entering class.

Not reported

What is a waitlist? How is it different from a deferral?

Test policy in each Common Data Set

History only. The current policy is under Testing above.

  1. Fall 2027 CDS not available2025-26 CDS
  2. Fall 2026 Not reported2024-25 CDS
  3. Fall 2025 CDS not available2023-24 CDS
  4. Fall 2024 Not reported2022-23 CDS
  5. Fall 2023 CDS not available2021-22 CDS
  6. Fall 2022 Required2020-21 CDSAs the school reported it. Not borne out: in the class that entered Fall 2022, 8% submitted SAT and 2% ACT (2022-23 CDS).
  7. Fall 2021 CDS not available2019-20 CDS

Sources