Our majors and minors have diverse interests. Below you will see a snapshot of some of our past graduates who responded to an end of year survey as well as some quotes from select graduates about their time at UC Merced.
Our graduates' favorite classes, as a word cloud:
And their future plans:
Here are some quotes from past graduates:
“My philosophy experience and in particular my experience with this program has been vital to lead me to where I am now in a PhD program with the intent to further pursue teaching and research afterwards. Were it not for the help of these wonderful professors, my trajectory with academia would likely look very different, perhaps even being in a different field. My experience with my professors and in the classroom solidified for me that philosophy is something I intend to further pursue and that it was possible for me to succeed in doing so. I will always be grateful for the experience I’ve had here. Thank you.”
“My philosophy experience broadened my reading and writing skills, and I want to emphasize that my experience was not only in-class. The curiosity that philosophy students have about their reading extends outside of class and becomes a part of their personalities. I think I’m always going to miss those discussions myself, my peers, and my professors had in-class and outside of class.”
“My philosophy experience has meant liberation. Visceral liberation. It has forcefully pulled me up from the muck of the prescribed, into the airs of self-aware agency, responsibility, and freedom, imbued with the confidence to doubt.”
“My philosophy experience meant a lot to me. Through this field of study, I found a desire to learn more from it. Having come into UC Merced undeclared, I got to explore and expand my academic journey with topics that provoked questions and critical thinking. Philosophy equipped with diverse ways to start understanding the world, life, and existence. Frankly, I do not think I would have grown as a student and an individual in at the point of life I was at without philosophy.”
