I have recently been accepted into Cal Poly and my hometown university, UC Merced. Cal Poly is my dream school, but I’m now starting to question if it is appropriate for my major (English). I don’t want to teach, but I’m really interested in editorial work, publishing, editing, or something in that area. I know that CP is well known for architecture and business, and not English which really worries me and makes me wonder if its even worth it. I would be investing more in CP than the UC, but this UC is very new and also has fewer opportunities and pushes teaching for English. I just feel very indecisive and want someone else’s opinion and guidance.
You can compare the English course offerings:
http://catalog.calpoly.edu/coursesaz/engl/
https://english.ucmerced.edu/node/6
However, the schools may have other departments with courses of interest (CPSLO’s journalism department is an obvious candidate: http://catalog.calpoly.edu/coursesaz/jour/ ) that you can take outside of your major.
How does cost compare, and how much does that matter?
I would be going in debt free my first year for UC Merced and about 15k for Cal poly that i would have to owe for the first academic year, which I can figure out and my parents want to support me as well with it. In regards to their academic programs, Cal poly offers a great variety of English classes that could help me branch out and experience different paths with my degree. UC Merced’s courses seem to be strictly literary based with some writing.