I’m an English major who has an interest in creative writing and right now I’m torn between transferring to Cal and Irvine for fall 2019. I’m attracted to the program at Cal because of the many upper-division class choices that are offered each semester for English majors, and I like that the major itself is pretty flexible in terms of allowing students to tailor the program to their own interests by taking mostly elective courses in addition to the two required courses. However, I like Irvine’s program since it offers an emphasis in creative writing, and if I were to go to Irvine I would like to also complete the minor in Literary Journalism. At Berkeley, I would have to complete the separate creative writing minor, but I also heard that their creative writing classes are hard to get into.
In terms of distance, UCB is more convenient. Since I got Regents at Irvine, my tuition is almost fully covered there, so I would only have to pay for housing, etc. However, I wonder if the money I save from having better financial aid there would just be swallowed up by the greater transportation costs since I live about 8 hours away from Irvine.
I would love to hear about anyone’s experiences with the English program at either school. I visited Berkeley during Transfer Day; I didn’t exactly fall in love with the campus but I certainly wouldn’t mind going there. I can’t really afford to travel to Irvine right now, so that’s part of the reason why I’m undecided since I haven’t visited. I’m not really sure if I’d be missing out on anything offered at Irvine (besides better financial aid/Regents) if I were to choose Berkeley. I guess the biggest question I have is, as someone who isn’t really sure what specific career they want to pursue after college, which school would be better considering everything else I’ve mentioned?