Banana Slug or Highlander?

Xenodore

United States38 Posts

May 10 2015 10:06 GMT

Ok, so I'm an English major looking to transfer. I've been accepted to UC Riverside and UC Santa Cruz. I have about two weeks to make up my mind where I want to go. Regardless, I'll live on campus or nearby. So far, here's what I see when looking at the pros and cons:

Santa Cruz
Pros:
CSL team
more prestigious
Redwood forest
Cons:
farther from home
few connections/friends

Riverside
Pros:
close friend already there
only an hour from home
accepted for creative writing specifically
Cons:
questionable neighborhood

Anyways, curious what you guys think, just trying to gather as much information as possible, not looking for a poll, mostly just why I should go where

Chairman Ray

United States11903 Posts

May 10 2015 10:34 GMT

Have you looked at how much tuition you are going to pay, cost of living, financial aid, etc?

Ghostcom

Denmark4783 Posts

May 10 2015 14:55 GMT

Santa Cruz is the easy choice IMO. I've visited both but haven't actually attended either, so there is that. But the atmosphere in Santa Cruz was much nicer than Riverside.

itsjustatank

Hong Kong9171 Posts

May 10 2015 15:17 GMT

there be only one (choice)

+ Show Spoiler +

santa cruz, IMO. riverside is boring.

Titusmaster6

United States5937 Posts

May 10 2015 16:19 GMT

Been to both, liked Santa Cruz better. But I would say SC just for the fact that it IS far from home and that you DON'T have many friends there.

Xenodore

United States38 Posts

May 10 2015 19:22 GMT

On May 11 2015 01:19 Titusmaster6 wrote:
Been to both, liked Santa Cruz better. But I would say SC just for the fact that it IS far from home and that you DON'T have many friends there.

ok, I can follow this train of thought in part. However, I'd be interested to hear more explanation.

Chocolate

United States2350 Posts

May 10 2015 19:32 GMT

Don't worry about not having a lot of friends at either school. In fact, I'd say it's better to go to a school where you know less people, because then you'll meet lots of new people and will have more freedom in who your friends are (you won't have to worry about your new friends being friends with your old friends).

Unless the distance will make costs prohibitively expensive, or you think you have no chance to study creative writing at SC, SC seems like a no-brainer.

Just_a_Moth

Canada1966 Posts

May 10 2015 20:48 GMT

Redwood Forest.

Archaeo

United States397 Posts

May 10 2015 21:19 GMT

Which school is going to give you more money for fin. aid? I would choose that one. But, if there isn't much of a difference then I would choose UCSC. Making friends shouldn't be a problem and you should venture out away from home. Don't really see those as cons.

EatThePath

United States3943 Posts

May 11 2015 01:49 GMT

#10

I went to UCSC so I'm biased, and don't know much of what UCR is like, but..

I can't recommend UCSC enough for the kind of people you'll find there. You will be greatly enriched by the free and weird permeating the collective psyche. Opening yourself to many diverse views is important for a writer, so you can decide your own perspective and understand others'. There're plenty of "normal" people too if you get tired of the fun ones, and lots of variety in the campus niches and social circles.

But this should really come down to money/irl and how good the writing programs are. Not my area so I can't offer any remarks, but I would make a huge effort to talk to faculty and ask people's opinions or read up on the two schools' English departments. I will say that from my experience in a couple non-general writing/analysis courses at UCSC, the options are varied but slant towards intersectional critique and using literature as a tool to expose and understand exploitative systems. There's also a strong thread of awareness running through the curriculum of technology and it's place in human life and its impact on society and ecology. Think near-term sci fi critical thinking.

For job prospects after school, I'd proffer that this type of education would make you more marketable for practical creatives type positions in the bay area, and for modern image-savvy organizations generally. (e.g. I have a friend who did queer studies and ended up working at a cloud-based natural language analysis startup.)

But congrats either way! You only have good options in front of you.

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