The Valley's UC

The San Joaquin Valley, up until the opening of UC Merced in 2005, was the only major populated area in the state that lacked a UC campus of its own. Many of its brightest high school graduates fled the region to attend top-flight universities in other parts of the state like UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford and California Institute of Technology. Some stayed behind, attending California State University campuses in Stanislaus, Bakersfield and Fresno.