UCSC, UCSB, or UCLA-Student w/family

Transfer Students UC Transfers
1

Hello Everyone,

I’m a 33 year old transfer student from Los Angeles, I’m married, and I have a 2 year old girl. I have been accepted into UCSB & UCSC - and I believe I will be accepted into UCLA. My major is English and I will be applying to grad school after two years when I complete my BA. I intend to teach college English when I’m done.

I’m trying to decide where to complete my BA, seeing as how I will be dragging my family along for the ride wherever I go. The campus family housing at all three schools seem comparable to each other, except for the waiting list at UCLA - but I already live in L.A. so it’s a moot point. I’ve visited all three campuses and Santa Cruz is definitely my first choice based on family resorces, atmosphere, and location.

That being said, I’m having a hard time sticking with the Santa Cruz decision because UCLA and Santa Barbara have much higher ranked English programs. How much does school prestige matter when applying for a teaching position? It doesn’t matter much to me at all, but I wonder if it should. After all, aren’t all three schools world-class? The program at Santa Cruz seems much smaller and that also appeals to me, but should that be a deciding factor?

As you can tell, I’m leaning hard to Santa Cruz - even if UCLA offers me a spot. But I would love a different perspective on this, perhaps someone can shed a light on an avenue I have not yet considered.

On a side note, I’ve also applied to UC Davis and expect an offer there as well. But I’ve kind of written them off of the consideration list - not sure why.

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Just to make sure, have you sent in applications for family housing at the universities? I’m only familiar with the process for UCSB and UC Davis which are the schools I’m considering and you can (and should) apply before being accepted. Since my wife and I don’t have children we’re lower priority and I’m actually worried about not getting a housing offer before the semester starts and what we’ll do for housing in the meanwhile. We also live in LA but we’ll be moving up north anyways, so we’ll just play it by ear I suppose.

Since you’re living in LA I’m going to guess that your rent is astronomical already and that cost isn’t what has you undecided? Although they all have about the same price tag minus Davis. I’ll just give my thoughts on the housing at these schools since I’ve thought about it a lot for myself:

UCSC
+beautiful, beautiful family housing and they’re all 2-bdr apartments
+They have a bi-monthly community food pantry where you can get free bread, eggs, fresh organic fruits/veggies which is fun and pretty cool
+I can’t imagine a prettier place to raise my kids than on the edge of a redwood forest in a cool city like SC
-Their academic program wouldn’t provide you with as many opportunities w/ regards to grad school as the other choices.
-cost (~1600)

**This negative is actually the reason I’m no longer considering UCSC (if I even get in!) now that I got into UCSB because, unfortunately, I don’t think UCSC’s math dept has as much to offer me personally as UCSB’s does. The family housing is almost too good to be true, but since my main focus (apart from my family of course) is getting into a good grad school, I’ve decided to choose UCSB or UC Davis over it for the strength of their math depts. Look into what an English major can do for you at UCSC vs UCSB etc.

UCSB
+Again, beautiful housing, beautiful place to raise children right on the ocean (as I told my wife, we’ll probably never be able to afford living in SB again in our lives lol)
+great math program (equal with Davis for me)
-cost (varies I suppose but some of them can get quite expensive, also cost of living is quite high for the area)
-environment (this one is personal, the young, exciting sort of atmosphere doesn’t really fit in with our preferred quiet lifestyle, too many partying college kids)

UCLA
+unparalleled English lit dept (except maybe Cal, depending on who you ask :wink: but seriously, English Lit at UCLA is something I would find very difficult to pass up especially with regards to how it could help you with applications to grad school coming from such a prestigious program)
+you already live here! (yeah the waitlist sucks and it’s actually pretty far from campus)
+your family could stay where they are (I suppose your daughter’s only 2, she wouldn’t have to change schools or anything, but it is nice to not have to move away)
-cost (but then again, you already live here so you know all about that)

UC Davis
+cost! (I have my eye on those Solano Park apts - $900/mo for a 2-bdr!?)
+environment (it seems like a very laid-back and quiet small-town area with co-ops, whole foods across from campus, etc, but also close enough to Sacramento where there’s the zoo, etc for family outings. Not to mention close enough to the Bay)

To be honest, academics led me to narrow my decision down between UCSB and UC Davis, and then the cost and environment makes me want to go to Davis over SB because it’s the best fit for my wife and I. Like you, I also have plans to go to grad school and so I want to go into a good program where I can push myself and end up in the best place I can in two years’ time.

If I were you, I wouldn’t give up the chance to go to UCLA for anything, and you’re more fortunate than most who have to decide to come to UCLA with a family in that you already live here! Unless there’s something about the program you don’t like, or you feel you really wouldn’t fit in there, then it would do great things for your future studies. Not that any other school wouldn’t, but the dept here at LA attracts so much more attention, good seminars, opportunities to work with great people, etc.

You’re correct in that all three are world-class universities, but UCLA is certainly the most well-known, most applied to, and most selective of the three. Their English Lit program i especially famed, as I’m sure you’re aware.

Do remember, you probably won’t go to grad school at the same institution as your undergrad, so in all likelihood it’ll only be 2 years you spend at whatever university you transfer to, that is such a short time (as I’m sure you know as a parent of a two-year old). If you were to stay in LA, it wouldn’t necessitate having to move twice in ~2 years.

It might be advisable to visit the schools with your family to see the areas (and visit the English depts!) of each and see if you could see yourself going there and your family moving there. My wife and I are planning to go on a quick tour of a few but since we don’t own a car and she works 6 days/wk it’ll be tricky to plan.

Sorry I seem to have rambled on, but feel free to reply (or PM me!) and I’d love to talk more about your thoughts on the schools, family housing (my main source of stress these past few weeks!) etc.

P.S. Funny story, I was actually an English major at CC ~6 years ago and in 2 years I finished all the lower division requirements and an AA before deciding I didn’t want to study English Lit after all! I was almost in your shoes at one point :slight_smile: Sometimes I miss literary criticism, but then again I did fall in love with math eventually…

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Hi ananguiano, thanks for the lengthy reply – don’t worry I enjoy a good ramble =P.

Yes, the stress these last few weeks! Tell me about it… I think that this process is far more exciting for the younger, more traditional, single college students. I’m up in Glendale, so a commute to UCLA would take about 90 minutes give or take, depending on the time of day. We only live 20 miles away, but I may as well be trying to commute to Santa Barbara with those time frames. So I would have to move regardless of the school I choose.

I applied for housing at UCSB back in October when I submitted my TAG for them and I feel confident I will be offered housing. I also applied to UCSC housing last week in person when I visited. The staff there seemed to feel that I would be offered housing sooner rather than later considering I have a dependent child.

Yup, you guessed it, rental rates don’t give me a heart attack. In fact, I will be getting more bang for my buck at UCSB with their rates. Even Santa Cruz is a bit more affordable than the neighborhood I live in now. The thought of Davis for low rent is a pro for me, and I don’t really have the time nor the disposable income to really enjoy the city anyway, so I feel that the small college town feel would not be too shabby.

UCSC
+The community pantry sounds great! I need to look into that…
+Living on the edge of the forest is my favorite part and we would still have the beach available.
+The boardwalk at Santa Cruz is super fun, and just my kind of kooky – check it out if you haven’t already.
+The small program feels right to me. Although I am transferring out of the LACCD, I attended the smallest school with the smallest English program, Los Angeles Mission College.
+Close to SF and Monterey Bay – places I love to visit.
-Haven’t really heard anything amazing about the Literature Department there (They teach English Lit through the Lit Dept, instead of Lit through the English Dept).

UCSB
+Also very beautiful, love the beaches and the mountains for camping.
+Amazing, and established, English program.
-It would feel like I didn’t leave LA since Santa Barbara is like my backyard – We drive far to chill for the weekend
-Party School of the West Coast? Maybe if I was 10 years younger, single, and not focused.
-Very WASPY feel, doesn’t feel diverse.

UCLA
+Its UCLA.
-Dying to leave the town I was born and raised in.

Davis
±???

I haven’t been offered UCLA, but if I was, I’m not sure that I could get excited for it.

PS I love math as well, I was a Comp Sci major before changing to English +D

Good luck with your housing!

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Wow, I’ve lived all my life here in LA too (just south of Glendale off of San Fernando Rd actually! small world) and I’ve never actually met anyone who goes to Mission lol I’m a PCC student but I’m taking a class that was unavailable at GCC this semester! Also I do love the SC Boardwalk, and I have an aunt in Monterey I go visit/stay with occasionally too so I agree it’s probably the most attractive area. Small programs are also especially good for building personal relationships with professors during office hours, etc. I definitely see the appeal.

I have a childhood friend from primary school who studied Linguistics at UCSC (totally different dept, I know) but she absolutely loved the school and everything about it; I think most students tend to feel similarly. (can I end sentences with adverbs?) Her experience might be biased though, because she met her future husband there and they went off to Japan to teach English :slight_smile:

I also don’t feel quite at home with the WASPY feel of UCSB, and how much frat life seems to dominate the social scene, but then again I (and I suspect you as well) won’t really involve myself in that scene too much so I honestly don’t see it as too much of a pro or con tbh. It’s certainly nothing worth sacrificing a more personally fulfilling academic opportunity for me. Then again, it offers nothing attractive.

Have you visited (or talked to your CC profs about) UCLA’s english dept? It would definitely be a good idea to, I think. They have, after all, been through the whole undergrad/grad school thing, many of them I suspect at UC schools! It’s quite unfortunate you’d have to move, but commuting from Glendale to Westwood would I believe be close to impossible at times with traffic. I can understand wanting to leave LA as well, I certainly am doing so! (totally not just because I couldn’t get into UCLA if I tried >.>)

The way I see it, since my grad school will be around 5-6 years assuming all goes well, I’m much more focused (at the moment) on getting a good grad school application built up these next (relatively short) two years as an undergrad. No one should agree to go somewhere they will be miserable or unhappy at when transferring, but at the same time since my undergrad is only a commitment of the next two years for my wife and I before we most likely move somewhere else regardless, I feel like I’m not as picky now as I will be then with regards to location. It feel like more of a steeping stone than an end goal in and of itself, so I feel like I can deal with not living in my ideal city for two years as a trade-off for having that flexibility of choice in two years’ time.

Only you really know how you feel best of all though. Not being excited for the school you may attend is a bad sign if that’s how you end up feeling, and could be a bad indicator of how well you will succeed in that environment. After all, grad school applications are a lot less about what undergrad institution you came from and a lot more about your work as an undergrad, your letters of recommendations which means your positive relationships with faculty, etc.

UC Davis also accepts applications for family housing (Solano Park) before acceptance, but you have to mail it in with a $20 check and some copies of your marriage certificate, etc (which I’m doing tomorrow). It might be worth doing anyways, even though you’re not considering it heavily. You never know what’ll change in the next few months, I wasn’t considering it at all a month or two ago, now it’s my top choice!

I’m absolutely in love with the environment of Davis and, while not as pretty as SC in scenery, the atmosphere is very cool imo. That said, it is the largest of the UCs I believe which may put you off (although many people say that despite it’s size, it feels very close-knit!) They do also have a rather large endowment but idk what role funding plays in English depts, other than making the faculty happy.