ComeBackZinc

I don't have any insider information either way. All I can say is that it's an anonymous internet comment on a public forum. How could you take it seriously? Ask faculty you trust who would know about the program for their private thoughts.

As far as having your BA and MA at the same school, that's no problem for getting into PhD programs, likely. The worry about attending the same school comes when one goes BA-PhD in the same program and then tests the job market, where there is a legitimate fear about your work never having been evaluated by anyone from outside of one department.

My question is, why do you want to get another MA? To improve your PhD application? It's very hard to secure funding for MAs, particularly if you're going abroad. It doesn't make much sense to me for you to get another MA, and pay for another MA, just to improve your stock for PhD applications. Or would this be instead of getting your PhD?

Remember, your statement of purpose isn't a contract. They don't expect you to write your dissertation about what you think you'll write your dissertation about now. They know that your academic identity is going to change a ton between now and the time you write your prospectus. What they want to see is that you know what an academic project is, that you can define an area of interest that would be conducive to writing a dissertation and building a career. Don't worry too much about the topic you choose. Focus on demonstrating that you know what academic projects and focuses are like, and on showing that you have an understanding of the arc of an academic career.

Tough question to answer in the abstract. As with most things, it'll depend a great deal on your department, professors, opportunities for professional service, etc. Have you thought about attending a school that has strong programs in both, where you could take classes in each? It's fairly common. There's a lot of hybridity between the two disciplines.

I really loved URI's program. I'll say this: it's quite small. You'll be limited in the number of courses you can take and teach. But they're set up wonderfully for mentorship, with a nice spectrum of faculty at different points in their career paths to help you. You'd get lots of personal attention, and their track record for placing candidates is very strong. Also, the new grad director is one of my favorite professors ever. That said, having such limited options class-wise can be a bummer. At URI, you'd really only have three or four legitimate options for classes to take in a given semester. Something to think about.

In rhet/comp, prestige of school matters very little compared to history and quality of the program. I'm sure you can find a hundred different lists for what the big programs are. Just understand that because rhet/comp programs tend to be smaller, you have to be careful that the program won't essentially die out if you have a couple of faculty defections and retirements. For that reason, history and departmental investment is important. Whether it's a concentration or separate department probably matters more to faculty and administrators than to you, although when it comes to funding and institutional autonomy, it likely does matter somewhat. I'm not really sure how that would be expressed in your individual experience though.