Comparative Literature

Undergraduate Program

Introduction to the Major

The Comparative Literature major provides students with tools for analyzing texts, writing, editing, translating, and thinking across disciplinary and national boundaries. You will have the opportunity to pursue rigorous research in a variety of literatures according to your interests, engage in team-based projects, participate in discussions about political, aesthetic, and social issues, and develop a nuanced cross-cultural understanding of historical and social processes.

Our students go on to work in a variety of professions, including journalism, media, publishing, translation, theater, and politics as well as in many roles in the legal, corporate, social, medical, and arts sectors. Additionally, we prepare our students to enter top graduate programs in the United States and abroad.

Student Experience 

Our students have close contact with cutting edge scholars in their fields in a small classroom setting, with extensive individualized work. Our undergrad majors publish and edit their own journal of comparative literature (CLUJ) and run an annual research conference. Most majors also choose to spend time in study abroad to deepen their cultural and linguistic knowledge.

Amplify Your Major

I want to emphasize how wonderful the professors I had were, not just as instructors but also as people.
Marica Petrey, class of 2012

Four-Year Student Timeline

First Year

Explore Your Major

Connect and Build Community

Discover Your Passions

Engage Locally and Globally

Reflect and Plan Your Future

Second Year

Explore Your Major

Connect and Build Community

Discover Your Passions

Engage Locally and Globally

Reflect and Plan Your Future

Third Year

Explore Your Major

  • Begin working through your upper division primary and secondary literature courses.
  • Focus on upper division coursework including Introduction to Comparative Literature and Comparative Literature period courses.
  • Review your degree progress with your major and college advisor.

Connect and Build Community

Discover Your Passions

Engage Locally and Globally

Reflect and Plan Your Future

Fourth Year

Explore Your Major

Connect and Build Community

Discover Your Passions

Engage Locally and Globally

Reflect and Plan Your Future

What Can I Do With My Major?

Jobs and Employers

  • Eng. Teacher in France, TAPIF

  • Fellow, AmeriCorps

  • Freelance Journalist/Musician

  • Grant Writer, Fr. Joe’s Villages

  • Psychologist, Private Practice

  • Tax Consulting, Deloitte

  • Teacher, Pacific Boychoir Academy

  • Teacher, Teach for America

Graduate Programs

  • Art History, PhD

  • Chinese Literature, Masters

  • Comparative Literature, Masters

  • E. Asian Languages & Cultures, PhD

  • English Literature, PhD

  • French Literature, PhD

  • German, MA, PhD

  • Journalism, MA

  • Korean Literature, MA

  • Law, JD

  • Medicine, MD

  • Modern Japanese Lit., PhD

  • Psychology, PhD

  • Religions and Politics, PhD

  • Spanish, MA, PhD

Examples gathered from the First Destination Survey of recent Berkeley graduates and from Comparative Literature Alumni Stories

Learn More

Connect With Us

Cal Day

Come to Berkeley’s annual Open House in April for information sessions, campus tours, special talks, and more.

Golden Bear Orientation

Join your peers in the campus-wide UC Berkeley orientation program for all new students.

Events

Attend department events with students, staff, and faculty. Visit complit.berkeley.edu for news and updates.

Advising

Students can drop-in to 4118 Dwinelle Hall to speak with a major advisor, call at (510) 982-6181, or email questions to complituga@berkeley.edu

Advising Drop-In Hours

Tuesday - Thursday, 9am-12pm, 1-4pm.

How to Use this Map

Use this map to help plan and guide your experience at UC Berkeley, including academic, co-curricular, and discovery opportunities. Everyone’s Berkeley experience is different and activities in this map are suggestions. Always consult with your advisors whenever possible for new opportunities and updates.