Hi, everyone.
I am an international student who is planning on going back to my country after the graduation.
School name does matter a LOT in my country(like UCLA or UC Berkeley is well known.), and having a degree from USA qualifies my English skill(although it’s not going to be as good as that of Americans) . So no matter I major in Humanities from a prestigious UC school I would not be in Starbucks nor Burgerking.
I am really into English or Philosophy major and a few of my American acquaintances recommended me to pursue an English degree over Philosophy.
If I go for major in English, I might have to discard the advantage of having a better school name since English major is popular.
What’s your opinion?
Better school with Philosophy? or just a normal school with English?
Thanks for reading, God bless America!
I think you might have a tough time with English, as there is a LOT of writing required and your skills are not really at that level. Philosophy might be harder to get a job. What about history or political science?
@lindyk8 I have thought about History, but I was afraid if I should have already acquired a strong back ground knowledge of History in the first place. If that matters, I would just take a few more extra History classes in community college.
Both of the majors have their benefits. I’m a philosophy major who was considering English as a second major, but decided against it. I love reading literature, but I came to the conclusion that I’d rather do it on my own time, and not write essays about books.
I’ll tell you this: if you are able to get into UCB or UCLA at all, you can probably get in as an English OR a Philosophy major. The statistics for both majors are comparable. English is popular, sure, but it’s not really impacted. If you had a 3.75 GPA, for example, you should be able to get into both UCLA and Cal for either major (the higher the GPA the better, of course). Study what you enjoy the most, and consider what you are best at. If you dedicate yourself, you should be able to get into either school for the major you want.
@swheed well, if you major in Asian studies or similar, I will say I think it is easier to get in GPA-wise. And one thing about Berkeley College of Letters and Science, you are not admitted into the major, but rather into the College of L&S. Assuming you have completed the pre-reqs for another major within L&S (and the major isn’t capped/impacted, which means highly selective - such as English), you can switch into it.
If you check out the UCLA profile of admitted students, you can get an idea of GPA of admitted students by major. Focus on College of Letters and Science. (No other UC has this profile, so you need to work off of UCLA.) https://www.admissions.ucla.edu/prospect/adm_tr/Tr_Prof14.htm
And I disagree regarding English. Unless your writing skills substantially improve, it ain’t gonna happen. I don’t mean this as a negative – you can definitely get into a UC – but Berkeley and UCLA have selective English departments, a very hard nut to crack unless you can really read and write English extremely well. I would pick another major. Or – at least get into Berkeley L&S via another major and try and declare English after the fact. I think applying for English might set you up for a fail. And another point: Even if you managed to write great essays (meaning you get essay help) there is a heck of a lot of writing in English. I majored in English at Berkeley. Your GPA might suffer greatly. I’m not sure you should chance it.
Another thing, philosophy is considered one of the hardest majors at Berkeley. You might be great at it-- just throwing it out there.
Eh, I suppose that’s true. Disregard what I said about English. I still think getting admitted as an English major shouldn’t be too difficult so long as you do well in CC, but @lindyk8 is right- it will be difficult at Cal.
Philosophy at Cal is hard as well, but it’s much less about command over the English language. If it’s something you’re seriously interested in (i.e. you’ve taken a couple of classes, read a book or two within the subject), then maybe you should go for it. A decision like major/school should take into account not only prestige or what you are interested in, but also your strengths.
@goldencub Yes! - I’m taking a philos class at Cal via summer sessions currently, and I can attest to it being rigorous. Definitely enjoying myself, though. UCB Philosophy is my first choice.
@lindyk8 it doesn’t seem impossible, granted I am taking a lower division course that people say is easy (although plenty of people have told me that symbolic logic has been the most difficult course they’ve ever taken, so I suppose it depends on the individual). The major seems fun so far.
@Cayton I’m not in the program, yet, I’m just taking Cal courses via summer session/cross-enrollment. I will be applying this Fall.
Alpha-ubermensch. Thanks haha.
haha @cayton, I do tenaciously analyze, as you can attest! I honestly don’t know if I really have it in me. Semiotics in the English department did me in. Although oddly I do think I might like the symbolic logic class.
Although I think you meant that for @goldencub! :-??
