The English Department at UC Berkeley is tops - a top notch program with top notch faculty and staff. This is one of the top english programs in the United States and is well worth every effort. Please take a moment to check out the UCBerkeley English Departments home page at: http://english.berkeley.edu/. The English Deprtment has great professors who are literary and philosophical geniuses. As with any University, the department is not without its struggles as it fights against those who seem not to value its critical place in academia: http://petition.berkeley.edu/english/petition.pl