I’m an incoming freshmen for Fall 2017. I’m trying to decide between UCR and UCSC at the moment. I’ll be majoring in English, and my end goal is to be a high school English teacher as well as a part time community college professor. I really fell in love with UCR’s campus. I won’t be able to visit UCSC, but from the pictures online it looks beautiful (sidenote: anyone know if UCC has a rec center anywhere similar to UCR). My only concern is which program is better and the overall experience people have had with both school.
Also any advice on which dorm to choose for UCSC. If I go to UCR I want to live in a Pentland double because I like my space.
FYI:
Money is not a factor both have given me enough financial aid
I currently live in SoCal and UCR is one hour away from home
I’m okay going away from home
I will be dorming in both cases
The two programs are different. UCR is an English major with departmental strengths in media studies, gender studies and queer theory, and African American lit. The program at Santa Cruz is a Literature major with more of a world literature feel with strengths in Latino/trans-American lit, translation studies, etc. You should check out the course offerings, which are usually posted on-line, to get a sense of what classes might be available. Both have outstanding faculty. If you want to teach at a comm college level, you will need at least a master’s degree. Both of these programs are well known enough that if you have a high GPA and strong writing sample, you will be competitive for graduate programs. You can’t go wrong with either one, so it’s more about what you want in terms of type of major and type of campus.
Sounds like you’re leaning toward UCR.
UC Santa Cruz has a better English program according to US News at the graduate level (UCSC is No. 35 whereas UCR is No. 47 in the nation). Graduate school reputation tends to trickle down to undergrad for research universities. I also recommend going far from college so that you can be an independent adult. Most people I know who live an hour away goes home a lot. You’ll be more likely to explore the metropolis of the San Francisco Bay area too on your own or with friends. I honestly think it’s one of the most beautiful campuses in the state of California. Unfortunately, there is no set English major like bookguy said.