The University of California, Merced, received more than 18,000 applications from California high school seniors seeking admission for Fall 2017, a 10.1 percent increase from the previous year, or the largest percent increase in the UC system. The vast majority of the 21,509 applications to UC Merced were from California students, according to preliminary data released Dec. 19 by the UC Office of the President. UC Merced and UC Irvine had the highest increases in total first-year student applications, with each experiencing a 9.3 percent increase over last year’s total — triple the systemwide growth rate of 3.1 percent.