- Humanities
- B.A.
- Humanities
- Not Applicable
Program overview
UCSC does not offer this as an undergraduate major.
The Literature Department and the Writing Program at UC Santa Cruz offer courses in creative writing and in composition and rhetoric. The creative writing concentration within the literature major supports students in developing their craft alongside their peers and with the guidance of a faculty adviser. The courses offered through the Writing Program assist students in improving research and writing skills.
The Writing Program offers courses designed to help students become more competent and confident writers of prose. These courses approach writing as one of the most important ways we have of making discoveries about ourselves and the world around us and of communicating these insights to others. The courses offered through this program teach skills of grammar and organization and strategies of invention, composition, revision, and editing.
Learning Experience
Study and Research Opportunities
- B.A. in literature with a concentration in creative writing. The Creative Writing concentration encourages students to think creatively and analytically about language and culture. Creative Writing students experiment with their writing in supportive and challenging workshops, and discuss thematic, linguistic, and structural choices with instructors and peers. Creative Writing is a small, close-knit community of undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. Students are accepted into the Creative Writing concentration by application.
- Introductory writing courses with topical foci and courses with disciplinary foci involving significant amounts of reading, formal and informal weekly writing, and peer and instructor review
- A range of courses for students at all class levels offered through the Writing Program
- Student media that include award-winning student publications; KZSC, a public radio station serving three counties; campus newsmagazines; and annual literary journals
First-Year (Freshman) Requirements
In addition to completing the courses required for UC admission, high school students planning to major in literature at UC Santa Cruz should emphasize reading and writing skills in high school. Background in a foreign language is helpful. The Literature Department faculty require that all literature majors have one year of college-level proficiency in a second language, or demonstrated reading ability at this level.
Transfer Requirements
Literature is a non-screening major. Transfer students planning to major in literature should have some training in analytical and expository writing; an introductory course in literary interpretation and one additional literature course are especially desirable. Transfer students are urged to complete the Literature language proficiency requirement before transferring to UC Santa Cruz. The Literature language proficiency requirement is as follows: one year (three quarters or equivalent) of college-level study of a non-English language or demonstrated reading ability at this level.
Program Contact
apartment Humanities 1, Room 303
email litdept@ucsc.edu
email writingprogram@ucsc.edul
phone (831) 459-4778