<p>Aside from UC Berkeley or UCLA, which UC school has the best philosophy department? (Will I regret majoring in philosophy?)</p>
<p>@Aside from UC Berkeley or UCLA, which UC school has the best philosophy department?</p>
<p>In ranking order for philosophy (minus CAL and UCLA but all in the top 50 schools for Philosophy across the USA):
UCSD
UCI
UCR
UCD
UCSB</p>
<p>Best Non-UC Philosophy Grad Schools in California:
Stanford (#9 tied with UCB and UCLA but a bit better IMO)
USC (#17 tied with Brown and Cornell for the ivies) </p>
<p>Will you regret it?
Not if you love knowledge and learning. Besides a supporting pre-law curriculum Philosophy is one of the better majors for law students. If not interested in law, being a Philosophy Professor is a great gig if you go all the way. Outside of academia you may just **** everyone else off beating them in argument all the time if are good though.</p>
<p>I have a friend in the philosophy department at UCSC and she loves it. Will you regret it? That depends on your philosophy :P</p>
<p>In ranking, UCSC barely makes a blip in Philosophy but would qualify for honorable mention. I love SC and would love to go to UCSC but they need to make improvements to their curriculum in many majors. They also need to whip some of the slackers back into shape since its more the students that bring down UCSC’s reputation over the college itself.</p>
<p>Heres where I stand.</p>
<p>I’m going to be 21, living in northern california. I’m going to a community college and planning to transfer to a university. I work full time and I’m basically my sisters second mother. I work full time, I’m stuck at home so my family can make rent and most of my money goes to everyday needs for me and my family. This being said I’m a little ashamed to admit that my GPA is about a 3.3 which to be frank doesn’t properly reflect my dedication or capability (not to brag, I’m just trying to get an honest opinion on my situation). I was under the impression that the fall semester has more of an effect on your admissions (getting straight A’s would send me into a 3.6) So I work all the time, never took the SAT’s because I’m transfering, have about 8 months of community service and I put myself through school and two trips across Europe (waitressing both here and there to make it happen) Sob stories don’t seem to get you far when it comes to getting into big schools (UC Berkeley, UCLA, NYU, etc) and on paper I pretty much look average. Is there anything I can do? I have to start applying in about a month. Do I have a chance?</p>
<p>I think you have a decent/good shot for UCLA if you have the lower division requirements completed and write essays that tells the reader who you are and your life experiences. Don’t make excuses in your essay, just literally write and tell what you’ve written in the above message.</p>
<p>Aside from that I want you to ask yourself what it is about philosophy that makes you want to major in it? I mainly write this because I transferred in hoping to finish a philosophy major at UCLA, and maybe I was a bit naive about the major, but the philosophy department at UCLA is the complete opposite of what I was expecting of a philosophy major to be like. In the end it doesn’t matter that X school is well known for philosophy if you personally dislike what is being taught in X school’s department. You’d be better off looking into the course offerings of each UC and seeing where you find classes that best suit your interests. That school would probably then be the best option for you regardless of how high or low it ranks.</p>
<p><strong><em>edit: Seems liek beat me to exactly what I was thinking and based upon personal experience too…thanks!</em></strong></p>
<p>First off, a 3.3 is nothing to be ashamed of. Schools do understand that not everyone is nurtured and some people have to work while putting themselves through college. Writing the truth of your struggles is part of the application process and not looked at as sob story to be pitied. If you are almost done then you should be proud of your accomplishments thus far. It is always better to try and fail and try again than never to have tried at all.
Also, you don’t need to go some top school for a undergrad philosophy major unless just got to be in a UC. You may even enjoy taking philosophy classes on the CSU level better. I’ve actually had a lot of philosophy majors tell me that. They said they much preferred to take philosophy at a state school for undergrad then went to high ranking grad school. One of them now is an adjunct professor at UCLA and the other is a professor at Stanford which is where they went to grad school coming out of just your average CSU.
I would say it all depends where you want to live as you can take philosophy anywhere. Do you want to spend a few years in Northern California, SF Bay Area, LA…close to the beach or inland? The next best thing to do is find out what interests you and match those interests to College X’s Philosophy department. If you had some idea of what interests you I may be able to guide you some more.</p>
<p>First of all, why do you want to major in philosophy? If it is to pursue an academic position such as a professorship, then you will want to aim for the highest ranked philosophy program. If you are pre-law or pre-something else, then it’s a slightly different story.</p>
<p>True Philosophy has a certain prestige but it really doesn’t matter all that much on the undergrad level just grad. In fact a state school would better prepare her for professorship. One of the major purposes for CSU’s is for training the next generation of teachers.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the advice.</p>
<p>I love philosophy because I love knowledge, I love debate, the development of thought, and the process of logic. I love the big questions to life, looking for meaning, looking at how man and society has developed and why. Where and how we should progress in the future. I want to become as intelligent as I am capable of becoming. I’m also interested in Philosophy on a more selfish level, I want to become the best, well rounded, healthiest person I can be.
I’m considering law but I’m not set on it, teaching is a possibility, I might minor in English or journalism and end up writing. I wish I were a little more definite in my plans and aware of myself but I guess thats all in the process.</p>
<p>nice goals Draper.</p>
<p>A well rounded liberal arts education will give you most of what you seek – some english literature, sociology, psychology, comparative religions, history, and geography, along with Philosophy.</p>