Which schools should a hopeless English major apply to?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>So to start this off, here are my depressing stats.
I'm a sophomore attending Glendale Community College in Southern California. I'm a declared English Lit major, 3.9 GPA in my major and I currently have a 3.1 overall GPA due to a rough first semester. Since then I've been receiving consistent A's and B's in all of my classes, and I have until Spring 2015 to get my GPA up even more. </p>

<p>I'm trying to find as many schools as I can apply to so that my chances are better, but before singing USC's or UCLA's praises, there's another catch. I need to get out of Southern California. Whether I go Northern California or Alaska or New York, I need to get out of the LA area... so a lot of the UC's and Cal States are out. The only four schools so far that I believe I have a chance of getting into and also meet this criteria are UC Santa Cruz(I'm TAGing it), UC Davis, CalState Chico, and San Jose State. My dream school is UW and I admire Berkeley, but I don't really know if my chances are that great.</p>

<p>If you could list any schools, whether public or private, that you believe I have a chance of getting into, it would help me so much. A good or fairly good English Department is preferred, but I'll take any leads at this point. Bonus points if any UW or Cal students would be willing to throw in their input about my chances. </p>

<p>Thank you in advance!</p>

2

<p>A key element: how much can you afford? Outside of CA public universities, you will not receive much (private) if any (OOS public) financial aid.</p>

3

<p>Assuming you went to cc due to affordability (usually the case, but not always), you are best off going to the best school you can get into within the CA public system for your last two years, then move where you want to live. It is only 2 years, a very short period in your life. But high college debt is forever (or at least it feels like it).</p>

4

<p>Much will depend on your budget. Transfers rarely get great aid…exception is instate UCs…if you qualify.</p>

<p>San Diego is different from LA…is Santa Barbara too close? how about Santa Cruz.</p>

<p>you might want to consider Merced. It is a small new UC, so the feel is more like a private…likely to get lots of attention in the upper division courses.</p>

<p>I doubt you’d get the aid if you went to NY or Alaska…unless you got into cornell.</p>

5

<p>Based on the financial aid my relative has promised for my next two years, I can go for anything under 50,000 a year. So… No NYU or Ivy League schools. </p>

<p>Also Santa Barbara isn’t too close and I like the campus a lot, I just don’t know if I’d get in since they’re more selective than Santa Cruz and Davis for the English dept…</p>