iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns

Holy crap. This is happening. I've actually applied for grad school. woah.

To what sort of programs are you applying?

The most eye opening observation I had at my first conference was: I'm the expert that they all came to listen to. So relax. You know your stuff and they want to know it too. :-D

Awesome! I'm presenting on espionage. I've never been to a popular culture conference - what should I expect?

Exchange notes? Split a car rental? Gossip about, "omg I can't believe he wore that" ? I'm in and it looks like I'll get funding.

I once heard back from a POI who spelled a word wrong. WTF, your in a writing department! (obvious sarcasm is obvious)

I attended an interdisciplinary conference (pertaining to tech writing) and I had the exact opposite reaction. Everyone was awesome. The presentations were awesome. The rooms were well suited for discussion and we were all interested in sharing ideas. It was a true community of scholars! I was lucky. I had a very healthy turn out for my presentation. Did you enjoy visiting other panels, Bunny?

Bunny, I heard similar complaints from a friend of mine. You're not alone.

Yay! Now I don't need to worry anymore! THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH! (obvious?) Very fun- perhaps forward everyone who creates a "what are my chances" topic here?

Thank you! It was a research grant- the paper and presentation that it resulted in is listed under "conference presentations".

I searched the forums and didn't find a definitive answer. What's the protocol? I received a research grant last year for something like 1200.00 Do I list the grant? The amount? The results? The little bit that I found on google was all for science folks- GASP! Here be monsters!

Letters of Rec. I'm in a small dept. of a small U. But I'll share my strategy. I've identified key reasons I want to attend the Uni's I'm submiting to. I've identified courses and documents from the classes with each prof. I've included my C.V. as well as a statement about myself. I've put all this information into folders and gave it to my 3 biggest supporters.

Of course! I wrote that previous message on my phone so excuse my lack of detail. I wrote a pentadic analysis of the genesis of the EPA. I Burked ( work + Burke ) through several documents identifying the motives and then applied them to current EPA regulations and behavior. I identified and argued that the EPA was working as a market metaphor (knowledge, public opinion, regulations. All as sort of tradable commodity). As a whole the paper was passable – I was invited to a professional conference (most presenters were profs a few were grad students) and bumped elbows with some great folks from great place. Maybe it was early onset imposter syndrome but I couldn’t stop worrying that I was going to get to the conference and someone would tell me that a mistake had been made and that I didn’t belong there. I went to the conference keynote and had my mind blown. As the speaker spoke about his topic my mind started thinking about my own presentation in less than 2 hours. I raced back to my hotel room and re-wrote my presentation. I wasn’t interested in how I got to my conclusion, I didn’t want to speak on that – I figured people could read the paper if they were interested. My presentation was the time for me to tell them why they should read it and what it all means. Boom! Mind blown and reassembled. So I presented on this metaphor. How big industry has the knowhow and commodities to trade with the EPA, how the general public doesn’t have that opportunity. You and I are sort of like the small business being ran out of town by the big department store. I then made a bit of a case for rhetoric and education as a way of gaining those tools to start influencing the “market”. So, the paper itself is less important for me. I suppose I could put all my presentation notes into a few coherent paragraphs but I’m afraid it would get drowned out by the actual analysis. Plus I still have this inkling of imposter syndrome, perhaps the paper wasn’t that good. Perhaps I got lucky. I’ve always been lucky. Furthermore, I’m concerned that I’ll get pigeonholed as this environmentalist type. Or rhetoric and social justice type. To complicate matters; I love rhetoric but I also love composition (they’re closely related for sure). I’m in my current rhetoric undergrad program because of composition. I’m concerned with how cognition and composition are related. How we think via words and writing. Composition + general writing/thinking strategies (I am not saying that poor writers are poor thinkers). But my other love is rhetoric. How we can work in the sub-text and how an education in rhetoric allows us to circumvent barriers. I get into arguments with tea partiers, not because I have political reasons but to see how they frame their argument. I’m fascinated by it all and I really don’t want to give up the cognition and theory stuff to gain the social justice and practice stuff.

I've sent my scored to Louisville- I'd love to go there! I'm not sure what to use as a writing sample. I presented a paper last semester- it was published and I wrote off the copyright, can I still use it? To be honest I'd prefer to submit something else... I just don't want to be pigeonholed before being accepted.

My friend is presenting! Yay to her - an undergraduate from the lovely state of Michigan presenting out in sunny California.

Howdy! Penn is high on my list for Rhet/Comp. You said "ask you almost anything" Sooooo. Can I ask you to toss out every rhet/comp app that doesn't have the Tardis on it? But seriously, what's the vibe? what's the emotional support? Is it pretentious? Are they stuffy? Are they people you'll want to spend the next half decade of your life with?

Honesty is the best policy. Why do you want to edit at an academic publishing house?

Huge sigh of relief. scored a 164v 150q They're not so low as to keep me out anywhere.

Why? Why do you want to commit to academics? HW for the weekend: do some soul-searching and come back with "why". How do you expect us to figure out "what" and "how" without why? But seriously, you're in bad shape but that doesn't mean the ship is sinking! Write an SOP that is both passionate and compelling. Answer the "why". I can't offer advice on MFA vs MA- but if you get into an MA and work your tail off you can get that PhD.

Thanks for the input! Purdue is on the list- I just haven't yet done my due diligence on it. I take the GRE in a few weeks. I have a conference publication as an undergrad, for what it's worth, so I'm hopeful I can place somewhere nice.

UIC? University Illinois Chicago- Not on my radar. They say they don't accept many BA to PhD students and no funding for MAs. Florida... hmmm I'll consider it.

Hey folks, I'm scared and I'm sure I'm not alone in this emotion. Started this thread to share our resources and strategies- perhaps bounce a few things around. I’ll start. I’ve been examining programs for a year now- checking out “where do I fit in best?” All of this work, however, was in vain because I haven’t spent enough time examining myself. Gee- just when you think you know somebody! So I’ve got this terrible self doubt- but I’m not alone right? Ya’ll feel this way too? I’ve got this list of 30 schools I want to apply to- of course this isn’t possible so I’m mixing it up (not a good idea right?) Some programs are MA’s some are PhD’s some programs are well-known some are obscure. I’ve found these 3 resources to be very helpful in finding rhet schools http://www.mdcwss.com/2013/02/report-on-the-2012-survey-of-programs/ http://www.cws.illinois.edu/rc_consortium/members.html http://batchgeo.com/map/1a491427ce89c24f0206905a57091e6e I think this one is pretty well known but I’ll toss it in anyways. http://www.u.arizona.edu/~enos/ I’ve checked out and thumbed through books for grad classes at places like Miami of Ohio. I’ve emailed administration staff. I’m just too damn excited to focus on a single thing- how can I write an SOP that doesn’t sound scatterbrained? So, what are ya'll doing to get ready?

I'm silly- just humor me; are you a non-traditional student? What type of degree are you specifically interested in? What do you want to do? Why do you want to study more? Can you answer those succinctly?

I stopped reading at US News rankings (Not really- just hyperbole for rhetorical effect). Take the funded PhD, why pay Columbia to tell you how special you are when the PhD program wants to pay you for the privilege. Unless the placement is terrible or the weather is miserable take the offer.