I’m a transfer applicant looking at UC Berkeley , deliberating on whether to apply for the Legal Studies or English major. I genuinely would be equally happy in both departments (I’d like to take classes in both, anyway), so I’m trying to decide which major would make me a more competitive applicant.
I’ve completed all the requirement for Legal Studies transfer. The only problem is, no other UC offers Legal Studies as an undergraduate major, so my essay on what my academic interests are is centered around English (because that’s what I’m applying to other UCs for). I’ve tried to mesh legal studies into the essay, but it’s hard to make it flow, and I think it ends up making the essay worse overall.
For the English major, on the other hand, I have the essay completed, but I don’t yet have all the prereqs required to transfer into the major completed. I could take them next semester, but Cal wouldn’t see my grades for those courses because the terms goes until late May, so they might be hesitant to admit me.
Thanks so much for reading. Anyway advice is appreciated, particularly from former Transfers and/or students in the English or Legal Studies departments.
English is not limited to literature. English is first about language. Law is first about argument and rhetoric. Any paper that references an experiences with argumentative writing or a desire to be a more effective communicator would reference both fields.
Admissions officers are interested in reading essays that show ambition! An applicant would not be applying to a program if they did not have a reason to study within the field. No on cares why an applicant choose to apply to the statistics program instead of the general mathematics program, or linguistics instead of Spanish, or philosophy instead of rhetoric. Unless one major is significantly more impacted than another, admissions officers do not care about those details in a personal statement. They are interested in learning about your unique aspirations and how those aspirations might separate you from your peers.
Example: “A volunteering experience during my teens taught me of the ways that I could use my passion for writing to spread awareness for mental health issues and provide resources for my community.”
Relevant Subjects: English, Communications, Public Health, Sociology, Psychology, etc.
An English applicant does not need to write about books. If anything that will read as stereotypical. Questions asking why you are interested in your major? Or why do you want this job? Should never be taken that literal. They want you to use those questions to show more about your ambitions and relevant experience. They do not want you to limit yourself and act as though there is nothing about you that transcends the specific program or job that you are applying for.