LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF
- Connect with the Student Career Center (SCC) and meet with a career specialist
- To schedule an appointment, create a Handshake account with your UC Merced login
- Complete free career-related assessments
- Continue to reflect on your interests, values, and strengths
- Explore your interests: What kind of work do you enjoy doing?
- Understand your values: What kind of impact do you want to make on the world?
- Embrace your strengths: What are you naturally good at?
EXPLORE MAJORS
- Connect with your BAC academic advisor every semester until you declare
- Review the majors and minors offered at UC Merced
- Explore the UC Merced Catalog
- Select Academic Programs in the left column to browse:
- Requirements for every major and minor at UC Merced
- Sample 4-year graduation plans in each major
- Select Course Descriptions in the left column to read about classes in different departments
- Select Academic Programs in the left column to browse:
- Browse What Can I Do With This Major? for career options in your intended major
- Review requirements for your intended major using MyDegreePath (MDP)
- Learn more about using MDP
- Under the Audits tab, use the function to Select a Different Program to run "What If" audits for majors of interest
- Under the Audits tab, use the Program Matcher to explore majors suggested for you based on courses you have already completed
- Use the Plans tab to create preliminary graduation plans for different majors
- Need help getting started? See our quick video: MDP: Creating a Grad Plan
- Use the Sample Grad Plans or flowcharts for your major
- You must have a graduation plan in MDP before you can submit the Major Change Form
RESEARCH CAREER OPTIONS
- Learn from career and industry experts
- Conduct informational interviews with professionals in your intended career field
- Watch a short video on informational interviewing from the UC Berkeley Career Center
- Video Part 1: Informational Interviewing: Purpose & Preparation
- Video Part 2: Informational Interviewing: Requesting & Conducting the Meeting
- Video Part 3: Informational Interviewing: Following Up
- View suggested questions to ask on an informational interview
- Watch a short video on informational interviewing from the UC Berkeley Career Center
- Watch brief TED Talks
- Conduct informational interviews with professionals in your intended career field
- Use online career resources to explore careers in depth including job titles, career outlook, salary, career preparation, graduate degrees needed, job duties, etc.
- O*Net Online
- Occupational Outlook Handbook
- Peterson's Guide to Graduate Schools
- Explore the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center (UROC) Path to Grad School workshops
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Explore what employers want from college grads
- Attend career-related events including workshops, alumni panels, career fairs
ENGAGE IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT-RELATED ACTIVITIES, NETWORK, AND EXPAND YOUR RESUME
- Join a student club or attend activities
- Expand your leadership skills
- Attend the UC Merced Leadership Conference on Saturday, September 24, 2022
- Annual conference for students in all majors and class years held each September
- Bobcat Leadership Seminar
- BOLD: Black Students Organizing for Leadership & Development
- EMPOWER: Womxn's Leader Development Program
- LEAD Pre-Health
- Yosemite Leadership Program
- Apply for the University of Chicago Becker Friedman Expanding Diversity in Economics Summer Institute
- Designed to identify and support talented undergraduates from a broad range of backgrounds interested in the study of economics
- 3.5-week summer program
- Includes stipend of $1200 (stipend is increased to $2400 for Pell Grant recipients) upon completion of program
- Summer Institute pays for participant travel (flights), housing, meals, and group activities in both Chicago and Washington, D.C.
- Actively recruits applicants who identify as African American, Latino, Native American, or first generation college students
- Applications open in October and are due in early February
- Ideal applicants are college first years or sophomores
- Cumulative GPA must be 3.30 or higher
- 2024 program dates (must attend entire 3.5 weeks):
- Thurs. June 6 - Fri. June 21 at the University of Chicago and
- Sat. June 22 - Sat. June 29 at the Brookings Institution's Hutchins Center in Washington, D.C.
- Meet the 2024 cohort (45 students from colleges across the U.S.)
- Participate in the UC Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders (SIEML)
- UC system-wide initiative for undergraduates designed to increase diversity in graduate business programs at UC schools
- All-expense paid immersive business and career leadership program
- Applications usually open in September with a due date in late December
- Must be currently enrolled in sophomore or junior year at UCM
- Open to all majors with cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher
- Open to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or undocumented students with AB540 or DACA status
- 2024 program dates and location:
- Mon. May 20 - Fri. May 31, 2024
- UC Davis Graduate School of Management
- SIEML alumni are eligible to receive up to two years of full tuition and fee fellowships at any of the six UC graduate business schools (to complete MBA or other graduate business degree)
- Watch the 3-minute video about SIEML
- Attend the UC Merced Leadership Conference on Saturday, September 24, 2022
- Complete one or more internships
- Handshake
- Internships.com
- ZipRecruiter.com
- Examples of internships at regional, national, or international organizations:
- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
- Chevron
- Disney College Program (California or Florida)
- Disney Professional Internships (U.S. or global)
- E. & J. Gallo Winery
- FBI Honors Internship Program
- Genentech
- Getty Center
- Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (HACU) National Internship Program
- Lucasfilm Jedi Academy
- Microsoft
- Monterey Bay Aquarium
- NASA
- NASCAR Diversity Internship Program
- Northwestern Mutual
- Pixar
- Roche
- Sacramento Kings
- Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)
- San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance
- San Francisco Chronicle
- Sports Camp of America (Japan)
- Tesla
- The Marine Mammal Center
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee
- Expand your horizons
- Participate in research
- Join the UC Merced Citizen Science Research Community
- Community Research and Service minor
- Independent Study units for research with an individual UC Merced professor
- See information under Registration and Enrollment section
- Learning Aligned Employment Program (LAEP)
- New program starting Fall 2022 funded by the California Student Aid Commission
- Provides funding to students with financial need for academic year (fall through spring) research with UCM faculty
- Designed to help students gain career-related paid experience in their field of study
- School of Engineering Innovate to Grow
- Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center (UROC)
- California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP)
- Joint Genome Institute (JGI)
- Kidney Undergraduate Research Experience (KURE)
- Summer Opportunity for Advanced Research (SOAR)
- Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)
- UC Leadership Excellence through Advanced Degrees (UC LEADS)
- Undergraduate Research in the Humanities (UROC-H)
- Drop in to the annual UROC Undergraduate Research Symposium to see research completed by your peers
- Volunteer or complete projects that benefit the community
- Community Engagement Center
- Engineering Service Learning (open to all majors)
- Donald A. Strauss Scholarship Foundation Award
- Application open to UCM sophomores or juniors with 3.70 or higher cumulative GPA
- Maximum of 3 applicants nominated by UCM each year
- Applications typically due in February
- Project proposal is a major factor in the selection process
- $15,000 award for a student-generated public service project to be carried out in junior or senior year
- See UCM Strauss Scholarship contact
- Good Tidings (GT) Foundation Ventures Grant
- Application open to students age 24 or younger who reside in California and identify as Black, African American, or of African descent
- One-time cash award of $10,000 to be used as start-up capital for talented Black youth to develop their own nonprofit or business venture
- Recipients also have access to mentoring from a network of industry leaders
- Applications accepted on a rolling basis with annual winner typically announced on Juneteenth (June 19)