Frequently Asked Questions

Home Undergraduate Program Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who should major in Literature?

If you:

• Love reading literature
• Want to study history, culture, and society from the perspective of the verbal arts
• Want to attune your interpretive skills to the complexities and powers of written expression
• Are committed to sharpening your writing by producing critical prose
• Want to learn to think analytically and in detail about human experience
• Want to study literature in the context of other media such as film and staged performance
• Have aspirations as a writer yourself

Then Literature is an appropriate major for you.

2. What can I do with a Literature degree after college?

Literature majors traditionally enter careers in teaching, publication, the arts, public relations, social services, politics, administration, fundraising, advertising, broadcasting, and other fields that require verbal sophistication, interpretive intelligence, interpersonal skills, and wide exposure to literary forms. The study of literature has long been considered an ideal preparation for law school; one of the two most frequent majors for candidates accepted to law schools is classics (the other is mathematics). According to the Harvard Alumni Magazine, literature majors outnumber biology majors for admittance to medical schools in the United States. And the new tech industries are especially hungry for employees with highly developed writing skills and cultural knowledge, not just for jobs in editing and program writing, but for creative tasks like clever website production.

3. How do I declare the major?

First, you must obtain a Proposed Study Plan and Declaration of Major Petition from your college. Section One, noting your progress toward completion of the UCSC general education requirements, must be completed and signed by your college academic preceptor. After Section One is signed, you must bring the petition to the Literature Department to declare the major. You will need to choose a concentration in Literature in order to declare the major, but you may change your concentration at any time before graduation (See: Literature Major Concentrations).

4. Where do I go for advising?

Staff advisors are available daily at the Literature Department office (10:00am-12:00noon and 1:00-3:00pm Monday through Friday). Appointments may be made by calling (831) 459-4778 or signing up at the Literature Department Office (Humanities 1, room 303).

Faculty advisors are available at the Literature Department office Fall and Winter quarter to assist students in choosing areas of study and to offer graduate school, curricular, and career advising. To make an appointment with a faculty advisor, please call (831) 459-4778.

Once you declare a concentration, it is a very good idea to choose a faculty member in your area with whom you can confer on a regular basis for personally tailored advising. Choose someone you have worked with in one or more courses, and with whom you hope to work again (See: Get to Know Our Faculty).

5. How do I prepare for graduate school?

Graduate school admissions in all fields are competitive, and PhDs in Humanities disciplines face an extremely tight job market once they finish their degrees. The average time to completion of a PhD after the BA degree is seven years. MAs may take one to two years.

You must do very well in your Literature courses in order to be a viable candidate for graduate admissions, which means your grades and evaluations should be excellent overall.

Admission to most PhD programs comes with a financial aid or scholarship package, but these too are competitive in proportion to their desirability. Full-time teaching positions in universities almost universally require the PhD and come with the expectation of an active research career.

If you are not interested in a research career but wish to continue your education and perhaps to teach at an advanced level in a non-university, non-fulltime capacity, the MA may be a good option for you. The MA does not shorten the time of completion for the PhD in most doctoral programs. Nonetheless, students often take the MA in one university as a booster degree, to help themselves gain entry into a prestigious PhD program at another university with good financial support. This path also gives the student experience in more than one kind of institution, which can be beneficial. Admission to MA programs is notably less competitive, but it generally comes without financial aid.

Nearly all PhD programs in the Humanities require substantial knowledge of at least two languages in addition to English.

If you are majoring in Literature at Santa Cruz and want to go on to graduate school, the intensive major is a good option for you. The intensive major requires more courses than the standard major, and study of literature in one foreign language is built into its structure. This means you will want to take foreign language courses as part of your lower-division work. If you already know one foreign language, learn another.

Applications to graduate programs require several things you may want to keep in mind as you conduct your studies:

• Letters of recommendation (usually three) from faculty who know your work well and think highly of your potential as a scholar and teacher.

• A statement of your goals and interests in graduate study. What is your general area of desired specialization (a period, a language, a national literature, a genre)? What are the topics and research problems that interest you most? Why is the particular school to which you are applying an appropriate one for you?

• A writing sample that shows your best work. Are you a good writer? Are you knowledgeable about some areas of literary study already? Do you think clearly? Are you able to think independently and to offer fresh ideas?

All of the above suggest that it is a good idea to start thinking early about possible roads to graduate school. Try to become acquainted with professors who teach your courses and can advise you when it comes time to apply to graduate programs. Check out the programs that might interest you by looking at web sites or catalogues. Which schools offer the types of courses you hope to take? What are the admission requirements for the schools of your choice? What are the financial aid options at each school? How much could it cost to live where your choice schools are located? What is the average time to degree for candidates pursuing degrees in each program? What is their job placement record? If you can afford it, as you apply you may want to visit schools that especially interest you and set up appointments with faculty with whom you hope to work.

Many students take a year or more off after the Bachelors degree before applying to graduate programs. This time away from school is often useful for studying another language, for considering non-graduate school options, and for thoroughly researching the schools to which one may want to apply.

6. Should I study a foreign language?

The literature major at UCSC does not require second language proficiency, but the Literature faculty strongly advise language study. For the study of literature, knowledge of as many languages as possible is most desirable, because study of texts in their original language removes the filter of translation. In many cases, scholarly publications on a given literary text may be available only in the original language of that text. Certain literary works themselves still await translation into English. In sum, the more languages you are able to read, the wider your knowledge can become.

Study of any foreign language enhances our understanding of the languages we already know. Knowledge of multiple languages is in many parts of the world a standard skill for jobs ranging from retail and the service sector to the specialized professions. In the United States, bilingual or multi-lingual skills are less common, but they increasingly figure among the qualifications sought by employers in many fields.

For many students, the years at university represent the last extended block of time they may dedicate to the task of additional language acquisition. Language instruction at UCSC is innovative and efficient; it is entirely possible for a dedicated student to enter UCSC with no previous instruction in a given language and to exit with speaking and reading proficiency. We hope you will take this opportunity to count a new language among the things you learned in college, and to experience the satisfaction of studying literature in a second language of your choice, whether or not you plan to go on to graduate school.

7. Can I study abroad as a Literature major?

Certainly. The University of California operates one of the finest and most extensive programs in the US for students who wish to study abroad. UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) runs study centers in 34 countries around the world, associated with 120 host institutions. Literature majors who participate in a UC EAP study program may count up to three upper-division courses from EAP toward the literature major, or up to two upper-division courses toward the literature minor. If you choose to study abroad, your courses must be approved for credit to the major upon your return. Keep records such as syllabi and course descriptions from your classes taken abroad, as they may be useful in determining the appropriateness of credit in Literature.

8. How do I get into the Creative Writing concentration?

Creative Writing is different from the other concentrations in Literature, in that admission to Creative Writing is selective. Students interested in the concentration should take at least one beginning or intermediate creative writing class (LTCR 10, LTCR 52 and/or LTCR 53), and may apply for admission to the Creative Writing concentration after completing a beginning or intermediate Creative Writing class at UCSC (See: Creative Writing Program FAQ).

To apply, pick up an application form in the Literature Department office (Download: CW Application). The application must accompany your portfolio (a thoughtfully chosen selection from your writing in the genre for which you seek admission). Normally this means eight to ten pages of poetry or fiction (See: How to Apply).

Students may apply simultaneously to both fiction and poetry by submitting a separate portfolio for each genre.

Students accepted into the concentration will have to declare the major in Literature. If you are already a Literature major with a different concentration you must redeclare the major.

9. I am a graduating senior. Am I eligible for honors in the major?

Yes. All Literature students are automatically reviewed for honors in the quarter in which they graduate from UCSC. (Summer graduates are reviewed the following Fall quarter.) Honors in the Literature major are awarded to graduating seniors whose Literature evaluations are judged to be outstanding by a committee of Literature faculty. To receive honors in the major, students must have a consistent record of excellent or outstanding narrative evaluations in all of their Literature courses. In exceptional cases the faculty may award highest honors.