rhetoricus aesalon

I don't doubt this, but law is still a more secure path than academia for me, because with the former you can always solo. It's difficult to do as a newly minted JD and there's the threat of malpractice but plenty of people do it despite the bad job market. There are far more solo practitioners than there are independent scholars. Both fields have the same problem of transitioning away from that specific type of labor if they can't make a living because prospective employers see you as a failed lawyer or professor and not as someone with an interesting set of skills to apply to whatever.

First off, it's great that you're considering all your options. I think becoming a professor is the end goal for many of us here and we've been forewarned about how bad the job market is. As disheartening as it is, many (most) of us will not end up with a tenure track position.

I'm not sure if you know this or not but:
-Adjuncts and other nontenured faculty now make up three-quarters of college and university teachers.
-In many fields, from the humanities to the sciences, universities are accepting far more Ph.D. students than there are tenure-track openings.
-https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1438-so-you-think-you-want-a-tenure-track-job
-https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/01/08/economist-offers-critique-job-market-phds-english

While there are a number of MA programs with no funding, there are some that do pay with a stipend. However, this stipend is low compared to the amount of income a full-time job has the potential to make. (Things to consider: Each year of working is less money saved up for retirement)
My goal here isn't to scare you away from becoming a professor but rather to inform you that getting a PHD does not guarantee you a position in Academia. If you find that your passion is still there after reading this, by all means, continue.
I currently teach at 2 colleges (while applying to Ph.D. programs) and my teaching experiences have taught me that there is nothing I'd rather do in life. I realize that there may not be a teaching job at the end of the tunnel and I'm okay with that but I'm going to give it my all.)

It is not a fun thing to share, but it is important to share that higher education is in a labor crisis, and it stands to only get worse now that our government has become ultra-conservative. Getting a graduate degree in the humanities is difficult enough, and even if you do finish there are a mountain of obstacles awaiting your future as a professional.
With that said, law school graduates don't have it all that much better -- perhaps even worse since, statistically speaking, you are about as likely to land a job as a law school grad now as you are an English graduate school grad but are more likely to have amassed much more debt in law school.  
I don't share this to dissuade your choice. I love grad school. I love what I do; I am personally fulfilled and feel I do important work. But you (and any partner you might have) should be knowledgeable about exactly what you're getting yourself into no matter the choice you make. 

Congrats to all those who are already hearing back with good news from schools! And a special congrats to all the OSU acceptances! I'm a PhD candidate at OSU in my 3rd year (I entered with an MA) and look forward to meeting you all at our Open House in March. I'm happy to be in touch with any questions you might have about the program or my experience in Ohio in the meantime, especially those who will be considering our rhet/comp program.
Edited to add: 
From my understanding, OSU only accepts people the program can nominate for university-wide fellowships now. So if you have an acceptance, you will be nominated for a fellowship. Last year, every incoming graduate student in English entered with at least a one-year fellowship.

Congrats on your offer! You can find out about the standard funding package here: https://english.osu.edu/grad/ma-phd/funding. Aman Garcha (our DGS) will be calling you sometime in the next week or so, and one of the things he'll discuss is your funding offer. If you've been nominated for a fellowship, he'll let you know, and you can find more about them here: https://gradsch.osu.edu/funding/fellowships/eligibility-requirements.

I just checked OSU's website.


I GOT IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Congratulations - you have been offered admission! Use the link on the main page of the Applicant Center to accept or decline. Please click the Application Requirements tab above to see what items, if any, are still needed. Items with a status of 'Incomplete' are still required, 'Received' are currently being processed, and 'Completed' have fulfilled the requirement."

I can't believe it. Utter shock and joy right now.

I keep worrying that I'm going to refresh and it's going to go away...

 

40. Obsessively research apartments and neighborhoods in the cities you may be relocating to
41. Prep for CCCC (anyone else going???)
42. Crush your own high score in Tetris

Lovely, Warelin!

What's funny is that I made this list for my own programs and pinned it to the wall just yesterday...

C'mon OSU!

I don't know much about the program, unfortunately. I only know of it because a colleague applied a number of years ago. But I wouldn't be deterred by their summer residency option. As you might know, TESOL is a thriving field within secondary education--more so than in college composition I'd say--and I sense IUP is accommodating grad students who teach full time during the academic year and still want an advanced degree.
I'd be more concerned with their funding for students (it doesn't seem like they fund all their students, and just from their "recent" dissertation list [which is 7 years old] the program looks huge) and their placement rates into careers that interest you. They might not be focused on placing graduates into tenure-line college-level work, but might instead focus on secondary administration or alt-ac work. This isn't bad, but it is something you'd want to know for sure, and isn't information I see readily available on their website.

Thank you for the advice.    I have actually emailed the new faculty member who will being conducting ELL work.  Oregon State is one of my top choices.  Thank you so much.

Cardinal sin? Absolutely not! 10 years ago, just about no one was writing rhet/comp writing samples. My understanding is it's not generally an expectation of adcoms, even in the current climate of proliferation of rhet/comp programs.
But I sense that tides are changing and even if expectations haven't caught up with reality, you should know that now it is not uncommon for a substantial amount of other applicants to have writing samples in rhet/comp, especially for the more prestigious institutions. Everyone I knew and met during my application seasons (both MA and PhD) could speak to their specific interest within rhet/comp from taking multiple courses in the field, and this leads me to believe they also had strong writing samples. You should expect to be competing for spots alongside students who have very clearly-articulated interests within rhet/comp and writing samples that show they are familiar with the literature pertaining to conversations and studying within that subfield. 
This doesn't mean that your materials don't do this -- they very well may! All this is to say that while a number of years ago the idea of a newly-found interest in rhet/comp was the norm, I feel like it is not something you really want to convey in your application materials anymore.

Welcome, stumbleine! You've received some great advice here, and I'll try to supplement with my experience and observations.
I agree, I suspect you will be a competitive applicant given the information you've listed here. Even though programs in rhet/comp are proliferating across the country, it is still relatively uncommon for undergraduates to have specializations in rhet/comp. Your experience will make you stand out, especially if they relate to your research interests. Professionally speaking, there is no difference between a graduate degree in English with a specialization in rhet/comp and a degree in rhet/comp. What matters more is that there are faculty members at the institution who you can work with (i.e. are respected in the field of rhet/comp and can direct the kind of work you want to do). As klader suggested, differences in how a degree is titled has far more to do with individual university histories and politics than the quality or robustness of education you will receive in either type of program. There are a lot of good programs in the northeast, and you have some of the best listed here. I support your feeling of expanding your search if possible, too. Not because programs in the NE aren't great, but cost of living is higher and even if you're fully funded you will still be living off a pittance. I can go into more detail about what I know about a number of the programs you've listed in a PM if you're interested. And the map kirbs005 shared with you is, I feel, the going standard for rhet/comp programs. Rhetoric Review published a listing of doctoral program in the field (which I think is what the other link kirbs shared is based off of) but it's nearly a decade old: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~enos/.  This is going to be completely program specific and you will need to ask the program. I know that Purdue will just place students without a masters into their MA program even if they applied to the PhD, but other programs may mark you as ineligible and reject your application.  This can be a great way of making connections, but isn't something I would expect will make you more competitive for a program. Admissions procedures can vary from program to program, so sometimes the person you connect with may have no impact whatsoever on your admission. Making connections is, in my opinion, never a bad thing, though. Rhet/comp is still a small world and you might benefit in the future from using application season as an excuse to reach out and meet other scholars. I will say that I did not personally reach out to faculty when I was applying to schools. I'm less familiar with certificates, but my assumption is that certificate programs are ways of making students more competitive for the job market when they otherwise would have no exposure to rhet/comp. Regardless, these programs I assume will still have core faculty in rhet/comp, which again is the most important thing to be looking for in programs. So I wouldn't necessarily be turned off by these programs, no. Happy to be in touch more if I can help with anything else/share more of my experience. Best wishes for your application season!

Evening!
I'm currently revisiting my undergraduate papers for submission for Ph.D programs in rhetoric and composition. The trouble is, I have never taken a class in Rhetoric and Composition. I didn't know that Rhetoric and Composition was even a field until six months ago. As such, I'm moderately wigged out about having no writing samples in the subfield. I have plenty of English papers (some of them are even good!), but they all take a lit-crit approach. My question is whether any of y'all know if it's a cardinal sin to not have any written material in Rhet/Comp when applying for Rhet/Comp. Basically, should I start a paper in this subfield now (even though I don't feel too qualified to do so without taking any coursework), or should I hope that my statement of purpose will effectively demonstrate my willingness to participate in conversations within the field? 
Your reading of this is greatly appreciated. Here's a picture of a turtle in a reindeer costume, because why not?
 

Before I get to your question, I'd like to mention that, typically, people in rhet/comp earn the MA first and then apply for the PhD. Some schools have joint MA/PhD programs, but most of the ones I've looked at explicitly say you need an MA to apply for the PhD. I'm bringing this up because I think it makes a difference in the kind of writing sample you'd need. MA programs would probably accept less rhet/comp-focused papers whereas PhD programs would most likely be looking for them (or for papers within the general realm of rhet/comp). (This is, of course, assuming that you're applying straight from undergrad. Please ignore this part if you're actually applying with an MA in hand).
My writing sample (for MA rhet/comp programs) took a rhetorical approach and was about rhetoric, but I was also applying while finishing up an undergraduate rhet/comp degree, which I don't think is very common. A lot of people cross over to rhet/comp from literature/professional or technical writing/etc., so I would imagine that adcoms understand this (if not expect this to a certain degree).
I've always been told that it's more important to have a writing sample that demonstrates your best critical thinking, ability to do research, and writing technique. These are the kinds of things that are valued in both literature and rhet/comp programs, and if your personal statement addresses why you want to go into rhet/comp, then I think that paired with an excellent writing sample would be a good strategy. You don't want to submit something less than stellar, after all, even if it is tailored more to your subfield.
If you're still feeling a bit nervous, though, perhaps you could rework your papers a bit and take a more rhetorical approach? Maybe analyze things through a different lens? Address audience, ethos, etc?
Rhet/comp is interdisciplinary in nature and is still growing as a field, so I don't think there's really one concrete answer on this. I think it certainly helps if you know things about the field and can demonstrate that you can analyze things in the way that scholars in this field do, but I'm not sure if it's *completely* necessary.
Hopefully others with more experience can chime in here!
PS - That picture is adorable!

Ohio State has a funded MA/PhD, but students do sometimes go to another institution upon completion of the masters. Good luck!

Speaking of OSU, Oregon State also has a fully funded MA program in rhet/comp and offers opportunities to teach and work in their writing center.  Definitely worth a look...

I would also heavily suggest looking at Cultural Rhetorics programs (Syracuse, UT, MSU, ect.). Comp Rhet is one of the few humanities fields that is not (yet) bleeding jobs, and you can do cultural studies work from a rhetorical perspective.

Seeing these numbers really stresses the fact there are no "back up" schools. Thanks for putting this together, hypervodka! 

I just got back from presenting at Lavender Languages & Linguistics in DC. It was a lot of fun, even given the record coldness of the city itself and spending 6 hours waiting in ORD.  I'm also going to present at CCCC in Houston, which should hopefully be a little warmer.

If you're heading to CCCC, check out WPA-GO's Mentoring breakfast! I'm helping to organize it; it's an awesome event, and you'll be matched with a mentor from another institution. Plus, breakfast! 

AHHH, I almost approached you after your panel discussion to ask if it was you and to thank you for all the questions about OSU you answered for me last year. Thought your panel was productive and great. Glad you enjoyed the conference. 

Solomonski: Take as much time as you need (well, until April 15). This is a big decision, and don't let worries about politics or wait lists force you to rush. Once you are 100% sure you don't want to attend a program, let them know-- there's no reason to wait. But until you know, take your time to really process the pros and cons of each program. Heck, for most schools, visiting day hasn't occurred yet. Unless the DGS inquires on when you will have an answer, you don't owe them an explanation of why you haven't accepted their offer yet. Sure, if you haven't chosen by April 1, you could email and let the DGS know what factors are preventing you from saying "YES!" But really, this is your time. Take it! DGS's are familiar with the process and expect students to wait until they receive all their offers, visit all the admitted schools, and weighed all the risks and rewards of the options. 

Congrats! I've been following Crip Futurities on Twitter, and it seems like it was an amazing conference. I wish I could have been there! I imagine we have some mutual colleagues: I presented with two UM English/Ed grad students on disability and writing last year at CCCC's, with Melanie Yergeau chairing our panel. 

After last year, in which I only attended one conference (and presented at two others via Skype) due to le bebe, I overcorrected! I'm going to FOUR conferences: presenting at CCCC, Rhetoric Society of America, and Computers and Writing, and going to CWPA for service stuff. I'm trying to gather more funding, as I'm stretching the $800/year travel support my department offers. How are you all funding your travel? 

I just finished helping to organize the Crip Futurities conference at UM, which occurred the last two days and was a truly wonderful experience. We didn't allow organizers to submit papers, So I got to just listen for two days! Such thoughtful, productive discussion that really has me feeling energized about my field. 
In June, I'll be presenting at the Children's Lit Association conference, and I'm pumped!