bhr

Who do you want an introduction to? You know I'll do it.

MSU WRAC notified about 3-4 weeks later than usual this year. With the new director in charge I would expect this to be the new normal.

Different field, but I would also look to see what adjacent areas are hosting local conferences or unconference that you can attend for free. For example, a regional DH or Writing Center conference may be a one-day affair with no/low registration.

It's usually used for a professor who is cross-listed from their primary department. So an ethics professor may be listed as faculty in Philosophy, but have a courtesy appointment in biomed because they specialize in biomedical ethics. ETA: It's going to depend on the program how invested they are in their departments.

I would also make sure to look up the professor's posted office hours, and see if you can make it work within those windows. While profs are usually willing to see you at other times if need be, they use those slots to maintain some control over their own schedule.

I will caution you not to eliminate programs based on posted stipends, or to count on specific numbers. At my program, our minimum is guaranteed by union contract, but you can jump up into tier 2 or tier 3 based on experience, receive fellowships for additional funds, get guaranteed summer funding, or pick up an extra quarter-time assistantship or nine hours a week in the WC or elsewhere on campus. You can also negotiate extra funds. One thing to ask is what work comes with that stipend. $15k at Purdue means a 2/2 load, while a similar stipend is 1/1 at MSU or OSU. That controls how much work goes into that money, and what freedom you have to make more money.

Depending on what you consider Southeast, that isn't that limiting. I'll put in a plug for Jim Ridolfo's rhetmap.org , which provides both a job list and a map of phd programs. Pretty much every SEC/ACC school has an MA in R/C program or track in English, plus there are great programs at places like ECU, USF, UCF, etc.

Here's the thing I'll tell you as someone deep into an R/C program with some study of programs under my belt. R/C programs, particularly dedicated tracks (like OSU or Purdue) or independent programs (like TTU or MSU) will often offer more courses that concentrate on research methods and/or pedagogical practice. Something like digital pedagogy, which is "hot" right now, may be offered by a r/c program as a focus, or at least as an area with some support.

I'm biased, but I wouldn't put any school on that list above Michigan State or Ohio State. I also have not heard anything bad from multiple friends at Purdue, but anecdotal evidence isn't much. Also keep in mind that UM, as good as Sweetland is, isn't a R/C or English program I would suggest the same thing I do with everyone: look at the major conferences and see what programs are being represented. Where did people go/where are they now? Same with journals. Writing centers and WPA jobs are a bit harder to judge based on who is current in those positions, as often those people weren't originally hired for that role, but it's still worth looking at the job listings and seeing who filled them come September.

Congrats. I was there for HASTAC last summer and it's a pretty campus with some interesting work going on. I would have died if I had to live there year round, though, as it's hotter than the devil's taint.

This is WAY off base stateside. Most leases start in August, but the best places tend to start disappearing in February. Hell, the big rental company in my college town had a line outside for their new building back in November when they first opened the rentals for it for next year. If you don't have a place lucked down by the end of the school year you are going to be hurting for options in a "college town". These are the things you ask people in the program. Many places will have a buddy or group of students who will help in the process. I just randomly started FB messenging one of the current students who friended me when I first accepted, and she helped me (and has gone on to become one of my best friends and a mentor).

Question on behalf of a friend: This is the time of year when faculty are taking new jobs as well. What happens when the senior prof you just signed on to a program to work with decides to announce they are leaving the program? Would it wrong to ask the schools you declined to reconsider? Can you back out of a commitment?

Me? I'm referring to pretty much anyone in the top 10/huge endowments/etc. One stat that I think would be interesting would be how many offered candidates accept. My program is at about 85% over the last four cohorts, which tells me that they are targeting the right students, who then choose to attend.

They don't disclose, but I'm also willing to bet that there is a relationship between the people who filled out the forms and the schools that are ranked at the top. For example, if I'm the DGS at, say, Stanford, there's a good chance that I rank my own program highly, as well as the programs I feel like I compete against, and the schools where I hire from. I'm willing to bet that most DGSs who filled out their form have programs in the top 25. And, again, the exclusion of cultural studies, digital media, digital humanities, tech comm, and rhet/comp make these rankings useless for about 1/2 the jobs out there. Talking to a friend at a very good SLAC who used to hire Ivies only recently, she told me her program has stopped considering them, as they expect all TT hires to teach 1-2 sections of FYW a year, and they would rather hire a Lit person who has a strong pedagogical background in that field. Purdue, for example, may be mid-ranked for Lit, but their folks come out with good FYW and PW experience, plus Writing Center experience with the OWL, which means they fit a lot more job openings than a Lit person from a lot of those top 10 programs. Again, I'm biased, as I'm in a standalone R/C program that consistently places folks in TT positions. What is interesting is that we've only placed a couple R1s in recent years, but have had a handful of grads move to R1s after a few years, which is a trend that seems to be catching on.

Just be ready to commit if they say yes to all/most of it. The mistake people make is trying to pit two programs against each other, like these programs don't chat. FWIW, I got about $25k in extra funding over four years by asking for a bunch of small things ($2500 a year extra, bridge funding, relocation, tech budget, extra travel, book budget), plus guaranteed summer funding for four years

So, here is where I depart from the crowd, and say that you don't need another offer to negotiate. Once you've selected the program you want to attend (or your top choice, if all things are equal), you write the DGS/your contact some version of the following letter: Dr. XYZ, I am honored/thrilled/excited to have been accepted into your incoming cohort. I believe that YOUR PROGRAM NAME is a place where I can thrive over the coming years. In order to put myself in the best position to succeed at YOUR PROGRAM, I was hoping that you would offer the following: 1. Item you must have 2. Item you would really like. 3. Item you could live without easily. (Brief explanation about why these things help). If you are able to offer these thing, I am ready to commit to YOUR PROGRAM NAME, and start getting ready to move to TOWN. Your Name u Some programs have the ability to negotiate, and some don't. No one is going to be offended unless it comes off that you are trying to leverage them to get a better offer elsewhere. Some financial things to ask for: Tech funds (laptop, camera, etc), guaranteed summer funding, extra travel funding, bridge funding (between your current program and the PhD), dissertation completion fellowship. Non-financial things: Guarantee of certain teaching assignments, Office/classroom choice. Affiliations. Conferences (A friend, for example, requested the ability to bid to host a niche conference, knowing that it would give her an opportunity to network with senior scholars).

My program is 5/6 on tenure track placements this year, with one still out interviewing. Why don't you just go back to writing your OP/EDs Freddie. No one here has time for your shit.

I would rather go out toward Odenton/Millersville/Bowie than up 95 if I was buying.

You are an absolute fool if you don't have a paragraph in your SoP saying just this.

My program uses this weekend to set up meetings for you with folks in the department and across the college who you may want to work with at some point. This is especially important, and some of those meetings will have money tied to them in the form of fellowships, assistantships, research funds. Yes, programs also want you to come because it's their opportunity to convince you to come there instead of other options, but if it's a school you are seriously considering you should make the time to attend if possible. From my experience last year, I turned down a program after leaving recruitment feeling that the 2-3 profs I really wanted to work with didn't feel the same way about my research direction I did.

The reason many people suggest completing a masters is that is lets you build relationships with faculty, burnish your research experience, and show an ability to follow through. More importantly though, many MA/MS programs are funded through research or teaching assistantships, so while you are committing more time than if you just took a few independent classes, you will be paying a lot less. In addition, some programs will accept MA/MS work toward your PhD course requirements, allowing you to finish faster or take a wider variety of courses.

You are misreading them. Acceptance seems like it means their acceptance of your application, though I would need to see the rest of the context to be clear. Have you actually declined their offer yet?

I'm a second semester PhD and I'm just now figuring out what my thesis concentration was. This is normal. It's especially tough to settle when you are at a great program, because you find yourself wanting to emulate the work being done by others. I can't count the number of people who came into my program with a strong research interest, but found themselves doing a derivative of someone elses work for a little while because they felt the pressure to copy what works. Meanwhile I'm drilling down to my diss area, and it turns out it's the same thing I wrote about in my MA letter three years ago.

I know I'm late on this, but I can't sleep and decided to look at some threads. The answer is good lord, yes. In fact, I would specifically ask your advisor if you can tag around with them at some point ("oh, I'm going to panel X, would you like to have coffee before and then go?"). I followed my advisor around like we were on our honeymoon at my first conference, which meant I got to meet a ton of people I wouldn't have otherwise been able to. Now I'm established enough (1st year PhD, but have met folks a few times and connect with them on social media) that I set up my own coffees with big names. There's a prof that wrote one of my favorite texts that I now have breakfast with whenever we go to the same conference (and basically let her introduce me to everyone). At big field conferences there are often a lot of private/semi-private parties taking place in the evening. I've gotten two panels put together from folks I met over drinks in a hotel room. A good advisor will do this sort of thing for you. My department chair once said that she will introduce us to anyone we want, but we better not shy away when the opportunities come up.

I live in Lansing proper (Waverly, to be precise), and it's only about a 10 minute drive in. I wanted to live in more of an adult area. Around campus there are a lot of decent, affordable options. Talk to your program/current grad students to vet specific places/landlords. Downtown Lansing (between EL and the Capital), REOtown, and Old Town are all popular grad student places, and are on bus routes. Lots of folks in my department live along Saginaw north of Downtown, usually in 2-3 person shared houses/townhomes. Depending on your funding (there's a big gap for science vs humanities) you may even want to talk to a realtor about buying. I nearly did over the summer, but with only 3 years left it didn't work for me number wise. If you are planning to be in town for 5-6 years it's definitely worth considering buying (you can find a nice condo in REO for under $100k, or buy further out a bit). The thing to know is that MSU is the biggest campus in the country, with something like 50,000 students, so East Lansing is pretty much all varying levels of student housing. Most faculty live east of campus (Okemos, Williamston, Haslett) or south (Mason), but there are some decent apartments there too (and the CATA bus runs right into campus). Meanwhile Lansing is the state capital and an aging industrial center, with all the things that go along with that. As was said elsewhere, buy some good winter boots (warm, not just stylish), and a heavy jacket. Also invest in some YakTrax (basically tire chains for your shoes) for those icy days. DM me if you have any other questions.