<p>Hi, I've been accepted into UCBerkeley, UCLA, and Swarthmore, and I would like to pursue English Lit. as my major.</p>
<p>Truthfully, I love discussion and the 8-1 student professor ratio that Swarthmore can provide, but my mother's been pushing me towards UCBerkeley since she believes its name is worth more. But at the same time, all three English departments look extremely promising, and I'm feeling a bit tortured right now... </p>
<p>Worse, I've received invitations from both Berkeley and Swarthmore to visit their respective campuses, but UCB's on Apr. 18-21 and Swarthmore Apr. 18-19. </p>
<p>If anyone could give me any advice, please, please post. Thanks!</p>
<p>One difference between Swat and Cal or UCLA is that any smaller class at the latter two - and this means 25 students not 8, will be taught by a grad student not a professor. This may or may not be a deal breaker - grad students at Cal or UCLA are brilliant, but they might be more comparable to a Swat student a few years after graduation than to a Swat professor. </p>
<p>The other differences, are of course social - going to a University of 25000 in a big city (or big metropolitan area) means something very different than going to a college of 1500. Neither is necessarily better, although if you can spend the day with a student (not on an admitted students weekend) at each, maybe you will see some of the difference. </p>
<p>Unless you are going for a very specific kind of job abroad, the Swat name will help you. Name brand recognition is not a great way to pick a school, and even it if were, it is not a good reason to pick a UC over Swat - in many circles, saying you went to swat is way more impressive.</p>
<p>The other thing to think about is the issue of whether you will get the classes you want/need at Berkeley and UCLA. California has budgetary issues and who knows how things will evolve. At Swarthmore, you have Bryn Mawr, Haverford and even Penn as back ups if you aren’t finding what you are looking for. No comparison in my mind.</p>
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<li>I wasn’t an English major and I took a few classes, two by profs who are still there and one by a visiting prof, and they were fantastic. I don’t know how they compare to English courses at other schools, but they were terrific, and I think the small size and insites of the other students were a big part of what made them so great. </li>
<li>Sometime in the 90s UC Berkeley’s law school released the metric by which they weight grades, and announced that they weight Swarthmore grades the most (bump them up). I don’t think that it is true any more that it is so hard to get good grades at swarthmore, I think the median grade is probably the same as at its pier institutions. Also, it would be very difficult to go from a 3.0 to a 4.0 at swat, but not so difficult to go from a 2.0 to a 3.0 - as in getting a B average is not really a problem, probably.</li>
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<p>Despite Forbes’ List for Unsuccessful Majors and my mother, I am definitely going to pursue English as my major. I love, love writing and literature.</p>
<p>I looked at the Swarthmore English department, and it looks extremely promising. But so do Cal’s and UCLA’s. If possible, could you please tell me more about the English department at Swarthmore? I would be thankful for any information.</p>