Clarion U of Pa vs UC Merced

Clarion University of Pennsylvania and University of California-Merced, though both public institutions, offer distinct educational experiences. Clarion, nestled in the picturesque town of Clarion, Pennsylvania, boasts a close-knit community and a strong focus on undergraduate education. In contrast, UC-Merced, located in the vibrant city of Merced, California, emphasizes research and offers a wider range of graduate programs. With Clarion's acceptance rate hovering around 80% and UC-Merced's at a competitive 55%, prospective students have varying chances of admission. While Clarion's student body is predominantly White, UC-Merced's reflects the diverse population of California. Explore the detailed comparison table to discover more about these universities' acceptance rates, popular majors, student demographics, graduation rates, and other key factors that can help you make an informed decision about your academic journey.

	Clarion University of Pennsylvania	University of California-Merced
Overview
Location	Clarion, Pennsylvania	Merced, California
Campus setting	Town: Remote	Rural: Fringe
College type	4 year	4 year
Control/business model	Public	Public
Calendar system	Semester	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate and Graduate	Undergraduate and Graduate
Students retention rate	75.0%	79.0%
Common app member	No	No
Religious affiliation

Admission
Acceptance rate	99.2%	86.6%
Application fees	Undergraduate: $35 Graduate: $40	Undergraduate: $70 Graduate: $120
SAT range	N/A	N/A
ACT range	N/A	N/A
Students submitting SAT score
Students submitting ACT score
Total number of applicants	1,642	27,793
Total number of admissions given out	1,629	24,068
Admitted students who chose to enroll	522	2,410
Yield rate	32.0%	10.0%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	N/A	N/A
High school GPA	Required	Required
Recommendation letters	Not required	Not required
High school transcript	Not required	Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	Not required	Required

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	In state: $28,793 Out of state: $33,672	In state: $28,870 Out of state: $58,624
Average net price	$13,840	$11,586
Tuition	In state: $7,716 Out of state: $11,574	In state: $11,442 Out of state: $41,196
Room & board	Room/dormitory: $8,590 Meal plan: $4,340	$18,901
Available payment plans	Tuition payment plan	Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	97.0% Average amount $8,127	92.0% Average amount $21,623
Students receiving federal student loan	56.0% Average amount $5,282	18.0% Average amount $4,470
Students taking out private loans	11.0% Average amount $11,498	1.0% Average amount $2,687

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	3,156 Men 30.7% Women 69.3%	8,321 Men 47.7% Women 52.3%
Graduate students	766 Men 18.9% Women 81.1%	772 Men 55.8% Women 44.2%
Racial/ethnic diversity	Very Low	Low
Out-of-state students	5.4%	0.2%
International students	0.6%	8.7%
Campus local/setting	Town: Remote	Rural: Fringe
Dormitory capacity	1,745	3,634
First year students are required to live on campus?	No	No
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	Pennsylvania Ohio Maryland Arizona New York	California Alaska Idaho Missouri Texas

Academics
Popular study areas	Health Professions Library Science Business Education Law Enforcement and Firefighting	Engineering Physical Science Social Sciences English Language and Literature Psychology
Students to faculty ratio	17:1	19:1
Institutional accreditation	Middle States Commission on Higher Education	Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and University Commission

Outcome
Graduation rate	55.2%	71.6%
Dropout rate	19.1%	5.0%
Transferred out	24.4%	22.6%
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $93,036 Year 2: $101,964 Year 3: $97,139 Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $58,882 Year 2: $72,796 Year 3: $73,725 Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $63,702 Year 2: $62,409 Year 3: $66,763 Computer and Information Sciences, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $51,741 Year 2: $52,941 Year 3: $61,720 Information Science/Studies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $44,553 Year 2: $51,106 Year 3: $55,540 Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $55,648 Year 2: $45,383 Year 3: $55,375 Communication Disorders Sciences and Services (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $44,672 Year 2: $50,387 Year 3: $52,068 Accounting and Related Services (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $40,736 Year 2: $40,089 Year 3: $50,174 Finance and Financial Management Services (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $39,419 Year 2: $41,565 Year 3: $48,591 Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $46,716 Year 2: $43,493 Year 3: $48,524	Computer Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $54,675 Year 2: $55,286 Year 3: $68,164 Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $55,936 Year 2: $51,392 Year 3: $67,761 Economics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $30,771 Year 2: $43,000 Year 3: $57,642 Biomedical/Medical Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $38,420 Year 2: $39,729 Year 3: $53,045 Business Administration, Management and Operations (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $41,245 Year 2: $41,937 Year 3: $50,288 Applied Mathematics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $32,755 Year 2: N/A Year 3: $49,047 Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $40,917 Year 2: $38,721 Year 3: $47,958 Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $29,685 Year 2: $31,391 Year 3: $43,274 Chemistry (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $37,397 Year 2: $29,685 Year 3: $42,368 Cognitive Science (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $27,909 Year 2: $28,960 Year 3: $40,928

Compare Similar Colleges

The list of suggested college comparisons provided below is generated automatically by our system, utilizing statistics gathered from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and various online sources. If you don't find the colleges you wish to compare, please visit our comparison page. There, you can search for the specific colleges and initiate your comparison.

Clarion U of Pa vs UC Merced

Clarion University of Pennsylvania

University of California-Merced

Overview

Admission

Tuition and Fees

Financial Aid

Students and Campus

Academics

Outcome

Compare Similar Colleges

Find Colleges By State

Resources

About