<p>Hey guys. So i have been accepted to UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSC, UCI, and UCD, but i seriously have no clue where i want to go.</p>
<p>I would be an English major at any of these schools, except for UCSD, where i would be Comms.</p>
<p>I have the intention of getting into journalism, and most likely going to grad school for that.</p>
<p>But anyway, where should i start? I live in Los Angeles, and it would be awesome to go to UCLA, but it might be too close to home. The campus at Berkeley was ok, i just wasn't thrilled and it just might not be my thing. I have yet to check out San Diego, but i love the city and i'd be more than willing to go there.</p>
<p>Is anybody having the same problem as i'm having. Any pointers on how to make this decision? Any help would be amazing.</p>
<p>Based on academics alone, I would go to Berkeley. The English dept at Cal is one of the highest ranked in the country, you’ll have the brightest GSI’s, and I think there are some award winning literature and poetry dudes on the faculty. It is very respected and will look good when you apply for grad school.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the dept is pretty big from what I know. Large class size will make it very hard to get to know your profs to get letters or rec when the time comes (but double check class size because I don’t have English dept numbers memorized or anything). And you will be challenged immensely while here, but if you want that, this is the place for you.</p>
<p>If you don’t like the campus you might be a bit miserable. I have two buddies here on CC who are both in the history dept with me at Cal, and none of us are crazy about the campus or anything (it’s good, but could be a little better). We all agree that we like the actual campus of UCLA better, but chose Cal for our own reasons. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t consider any of the other schools TBH, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that, but I do think you should check out UCSD in person. Heck, take the 405 down and pop in and check out UCI as well. After touring UCI, cruise like 5 min down to Newport and snag a cupcake at Sprinkles to congratulate yourself.</p>
<p>I’m also an English major making the same choice, but for me it’s complicated by about a zillion additional conflicting factors. just from your post, you seem to be leaning toward ucla. I would go wherever you think you would have the best experience in the next four years, as both ucla and berkeley have great departments.</p>
<p>I think campus might be the defining factor for me. I love the Berkeley campus and city/Bay Area, but at the same time, it’s pretty close to home, and I’m fairly familiar with it already. On the other hand, I’ve never been to Santa Barbara or San Diego, and have only had the briefest glimpses of LA. It’d definitely be fun living somewhere else for a change.</p>
<p>I should have started my post with “from the academic viewpoint, Cal wins for me, but there are other factors…” It sounds like I said Cal just because of academics.</p>
<p>I am a current English Major at Cal and went through the same thing (Cal v. UCLA). Both are really good schools. Cal is one of the highest ranked (tied w/ Harvard and Yale). The GSI’s are AH-mazing. UCLA has a reputation for being one of the most traditional English programs (if not THE most traditional) in the nation, hence all the Pre-Reqs. I love Cal and the department.</p>
<p>This being said, I have had thoughts where I wonder how my life would have been different if I went to UCLA for undergrad and Cal for Grad. I never thought about this before I was considering Grad Schools, but it is a factor to keep in mind. Berkeley does not like taking undergrads for their grad program, but not impossible. </p>
<p>Feel free to ask me any other questions may have.</p>
<p>Hockeelover, where did you get your stats from? I’m an English major and got into both Cal and UCLA. I’m leaning toward Cal (heavily) but really want to make sure I’m making the right choice. If I haven’t completed all my prereqs do I need to complete them before Cal will allow me into my major? Is there a chance that I will go to Cal and then not get into the English major?</p>
<p>Alright, according to the site below, in 2006 at least Berkeley was tied with Stanford, Harvard, and Yale for the #1 spot. My question is: Is this a reflection of the English department as a whole, or just the graduate program?</p>
<p>I had to make this same decision too. I chose Berkeley for a variety of reasons. UCLA was too close to home (I’m from Riverside). On US News the English Grad Program here is tied for #1 with Yale and Harvard and like Hockee said, you will have some amazing GSIs. Mine have all been incredibly helpful. Part of me wonders what it would have been like had I gone to UCLA, but I’m happy with my decision to attend Cal.</p>
<p>I would respond in more detail, but I’m busy trying to finish my honors thesis for Berkeley!</p>
<p>The rankings are only representative of Berkeley’s grad program, but the side benefit of going to a highly ranked program is that you get to interact with top professors and GSIs. If you’re interested at all in grad school, getting letters of rec from well known professors will serve you well in admissions. </p>
<p>Yes, Berkeley’s English program is huge, but so are all the UCs (possibly with the exception of Merced?). There are ways of establishing personal relationships in the English program even under those constraints. The research seminars (which, unfortunately, have been drastically cut this year) allow you to take classes of 20 or less students with actual professors. I am a tragically shy person, but a combination of seminar classes and the honors thesis has helped me establish strong relationships with several professors. </p>
<p>I’m about to graduate in a couple of weeks, and I have loved every moment of my experience at Berkeley. While I have heard complaints about quality of instruction from my friends in other departments, I adore and respect every single one of the English professors I’ve had here. Yes, department administration is terrible (beware of Ken Mahru), but you really don’t interact with that aspect of the department very often. </p>
<p>I’m sure you could have an equally fulfilling experience at UCLA, but I do not regret my choice of Berkeley in the least.</p>
<p>On another note, would it make more sense to be in media studies at Cal or comms at UCLA and UCSD if i planned on going into journalism? Or would it not really make a whole lot of difference coming from these school with an English degree? That’s really my biggest problem right now, and is really the only thing that would have me go to UCSD.</p>
<p>Typically, actual journalists have liberal arts degrees, not journalism degrees. You’d be better off with a degree in english/lit rather than journalism or media studies.</p>
<p>I agree with Kara on everything (especially Ken). I have been very lucky to have made strong relationships with just about every professor I have taken, which is not easy. By building relationships with the professors they give you a different outlook on schools. Things that I did not consider when I decided (like Grad School options, concentrations of faculty). </p>
<p>Look at individual faculty members and where they went to school and taught. This has come in extremely useful in my grad school consideration. Many times I will mention a school and a professor will say “Hey, I have a really good friend teaching there. Give them a call, here’s his/her number/email.” </p>
<p>A couple of things I did notice: Cal’s English Dept focuses on literature written in English, where UCLA has more “World Lit.” If you wanted stuff like French, German, or Spanish you would have to look at Comparative Lit or the language department.</p>
<p>My area of concentration is American Lit (I haven’t narrowed to a period yet) and Berkeley just hired a lot of new American Lit professors.</p>