bhr

You all have been far nicer to OP than I am about to be. OP, you are an asshole. What motivated you to post this? Is it some sort of patriarical bullshit (or, more likely, a fear of competition in an admittedly tight job market) that caused you to post this? Is it a desire to mansplain something that any potential PhD student already knows because no one else listens to you? I know it isn't a case of "learn from my mistake" because you've failed to critically evaluate what your own mistakes even were. It's the worst kind of ivory tower blindness that makes people think that their situation is somehow unique. I've worked in industries that collapsed, and saw people who worked 10, 15 years in the field fail to find jobs outside of retail. I've worked with adults trying to raise kids on $8/hr without any real hope of personal improvement or job advancement. I've been on the market as both a college dropout and a college graduate, and experienced difficulty finding 9-5 work in both situations. I'm going to say something ridiculous here, and the OP is going to hate it: Getting a PhD is the best decision for me because it provides a level of security I have never had. I know that for the next four years I will have a regular paycheck,insurance, respect and responsibility. I still believe that I'm in a field that's generally "market proof" (it's not as good as it was even five years ago, but there were still more R/C jobs than English jobs this year, for a smaller number of graduates). I'm only considering programs with 90% placement rates (not hard at the top 20+ r/c programs, while making sure that I will have opportunities to teach business and technical writing, assume administrative responsibilities, and do other work that isn't as "pure" academically but better situates me for the market as it is developing. Maybe the question the OP should ask isn't why do we want to be like him, but what are we doing to avoid being the sort of sad, underemployed person who trolls people excited about the opportunity to go on.

I feel like I've said this before on here (repeatedly), but Purdue does a "soft" waitlist, in that they take their cohort, and keep everyone else active until they fill all their slots officially. I can tell you they've notified MFA, English and R/C folks (about a month ago)

One program went radio silent on me, then told me I was on the waitlist after I reached out. Two weeks later I was admitted with their top fellowship, so it's all a matter of timing, opportunity and money. Also keep in mind that you are up against the same pool again and again. The guy taking your spot at Michigan may be the same one at WUSTL and Penn State, so once he decides you will wind up with multiple options.

To follow up on the waitlist thing: There are a lot of reasons that you are the "second option", but I think a lot of time it comes down to those incredible narrow slots that make up a cohort. The person who they took ahead of you may have clicked one extra box (had an extra voice in the room, had that one extra pub, came with a more developed diss idea, or met internal diversity needs) that you didn't. Maybe your program decided to take an older cohort initially, or a younger one, or one with more public school students, or any other consideration that made you a "back up". That doesn't mean you are a lesser candidate, but simply not the ideal candidate for the cohort they put together. It also doesn't mean you are the 13th choose for a 12 person cohort; you could be #2, but the #1 person matches all your interests/eras. Also remember that whatever ranking you come in with goes out the door within the first semester. Maybe it will influence one year of funding/travel funds, but after that your work will stand for you. I've also heard from five programs directly, and two from cohort mates, that have said that this was their smallest cohort admission in years. These are all from large R1 programs in states with Republican governors, fwiw.

I'll add here, however, that seven years for a rhet/comp PhD is incredibly uncommon, especially with an MA. My program averages about 4.8 years, and the field average is under 5.5 (and some of both of those numbers are shaded by part time students). If you do decide to try to go straight to a PhD with the MA as a safety net, do it at a program that is set up for it. I'll also argue, heavily, that multiple rounds of pedagogical training aren't required before your first class. Getting that classroom experience is what made those pedagogical discussions make sense. A strong mentoring and training program for TAs is required, but I can't imagine spending 2-3 in grad school before experiencing teaching. I had a class my first semester, and didn't take a pedagogy course until my second MA year, and still feel like I learned how to teach that first year. I made a lot of mistakes, mind you, but that's that happens to everyone, and the key is to learn from what didn't work. I'm not going to say that Sarah's opinion doesn't reflect most programs (I would never shit on UMass, which produced two of my favorite scholars in the field), but they are a very traditional, deliberate program, as one would expect from a place that was led by Charles Moran and Peter Elbow for so many years, and their practice isn't indicative of how many R1 Rhet Comp programs work.

They've notified. Two things: Purdue only accepts with funding, and does a soft wait list for admissions, so they accept their first batch, then keep everyone else in pending status until they fill their cohort. Once someone else declines, they move down the list. Second, they lost half-ish of their admissions slots right in the middle of application season, which put everything in chaos (it's been all over the academic news). They also don't fund visits, so the first back of folks are probably in no hurry to accept. I'm planning to give them a yes or no after Cs

I would also try to differentiate between high and low quality publications. Things like proceedings papers, graduate journals, 4th or 5th author slots all count as publications, but won't count as much as getting a single first-authored paper in a major journal. I was told to aim for one high quality and one low quality pub a year, but it's very field specific.

As others have said, it depends. Department heads/Deans usually have an academic track to them, but there are academic specialists tracks that can lead to those jobs. Taking a job as a director of technology, or WPA/WAC coordinator are respectable tracks, depending on your field and goals.

Assuming that you're at UMBC, go talk to your faculty. There are a couple of amazing profs (including one in professional writing, which may actually be your track) there that would be excellent resources.

They've sent out notifications, so if you are still waiting I wouldn't expect to hear anything until right around the deadline

Check your online status if you haven't yet. From what I've been told, everyone should be getting a response in the next few days.

One think worth mentioning is that a lot of programs only guarantee 4-5 years, but can find funding for people (through adjunct appointments or the like) for additional years. The idea of "reapplying" to your own field seems both counter-productive and incredibly risky (I can't imagine having to explain that on the job market). I have a friend changing programs after one year, but that's a very different decision.

I worked in Res Life before grad school, so I wanted to live as far away as possible from undergrads, but I know many who live around/with undergrads. Keep in mind that the average undergrad at most schools is probably around 20, while the average grad student is probably close to 30, and that means that they are at very different life stages. Obviously this is talking in generalities, but you see more parents, people in long term relationships, people with job or life experience, ect. among the grad population. The only undergrads I've really spent any time with by choice (I've had a few combo classes in my MA) are those that have more lived experience (military, parents returning to school,ect.)

I'm going to weigh in briefly, as someone who is applying for PhDs and jobs this semester. An MA in Rhet/Comp, with a couple years of teaching, can put you in position to teach full time at both the 2 and 4 year level, though usually only TT at 2-year colleges. A recent graduate of my program is tenured at a junior college, but most either go on to the PhD or go into the private sector (intentionally, not as a fallback). Fixed-term jobs are not the end of the world, and some schools actually pay them better than you would get as a TT at some places (with lighter (3-3) teaching loads). Look at the type of job you would like, at the type of institution that you would like, and see what background the people in the jobs have. Look at schools with job listings that you would be interested in and look at the requirements. A lot of programs have a progression (Lecture, Senior Lecturer, ect.) for non-TT jobs, and it's always best to look for places that offer some research support/campus leadership/travel funding for NTT positions, as those jobs tend to be more stable and respected within the program. R/C MA programs run the gamut from PhD prep (OSU) to Professional Writing and Editing focused (EMU). Sometimes you may benefit from a school that only offers an MA, as those programs have an incentive to let you teach immediately and know how to market you to the job market. The good news is that R/C MA programs are, by and large, fully funded, or at least have fully funded slots. If you really want to teach, you can often negotiate that as part of attendance. The key part is to have honest conversations with both your advisor and the folks at the schools you are considering, as they will try to make sure that you wind up in the right place. (There are lots of places that are teaching focused, without a research component to the jobs you wind up in, but you need to have the degree to get into those jobs). You should consider reaching out to Howard Tinberg (on the NCTE board) if 2 year teaching is your end goal.

Honestly, I just said "I want to be here, but still have a few concerns. If you could give me X, Y, and Z I am ready to commit to doing my PhD at your program." To be fair, I asked the DGS about a couple of the points on recruitment weekend.

Well, I've taken myself off all my waitlists, and am just negotiating a few financial points before accepting at my first choice, So happy this is over with.

I sent an "accept or reject me" email to the DGS last Thursday (I have other offers, and want to make a decision soon). No reply.

I was there for chunks of it. Definitely a well-done conference. I'm running a workshop at CCCCs and presenting at HASTAC and CW. Still waiting to hear from SIGDOC, though, honestly, I don't really want to do that and CW this summer.

Look at your national convention and organization. Who are on the major committees? Who are winning the awards? Who are keynoting, or giving major addresses? Take that list, then look them up to see who is being cited or publishing regularly. You'll get a good mix there of top names and emerging scholars, both of which are good to know. Keep in mind that many of those names ebb and flow from year to year, and may not be as relevant to your specific work. A scholar may be a "big name", but stuck on the same thing they've been writing about for three decades.

Funding trumps everything when it comes to an MA, at least in my opinion. Outside of programs that admit directly from their own PhDs (like PSU), I don't think that there is a real advantage to any specific program outside of what you make of it. Talk to the DGS and see where they are placing people. Look up the current MAs there and see where they are publishing, if they are. I always encourage people to go somewhere where you can teach, and to work in the writing center, as those are usually the best ways to fund a PhD at most schools (teaching your own section of FYW is gold at some schools, as Dani said earlier)

Many programs call first, but they follow that up with a more formal offer via email, so I wouldn't worry about it yet. That said, definitely get it working before April. I remember my phone blowing up on the 15th back during my MA application season, as schools worked through their waitlists after declines and wanted to get answers from folks quickly.

So, serious question: What the heck do you do when you are visiting your own campus? Finishing my MA, but am attending PhD recruitment soon. They have me scheduled to meet with faculty I see regularly... (Also, I'm skipping the "sit in on a class" part so I can attend a class I'm actually in, which is odd)

Some do, if it is in their budget. It never hurts to ask. (I have a list of 3-4 wants that Im asking for at visits, including a tech budget and extra travel support, and just hope I can get one or two)

Rhet/comp here, but still English. Status on the website has not updated from the original status of received by the grad school. Email from the grad secretary just said ongoing.

To be fair, they send that out because Purdue does this kind of bullshit unofficial waiting list (or at least used to). They dont actually reject anyone until after the 15th, but keep all apps active until they have the number of people they want.