empress-marmot

This topic doesn't have much concrete info: However, I agree with their assessments. You promised your graduate programs an MA, and that's what you'll earn. Chances are, the graduate program coordinator is only going to glance at your final transcripts to make sure you graduated--s/he is not going to know that you decided not to pursue the certificate. Do you think you would cause problems with your offers if you asked the DGS directly? I cannot think a department would be anything other than understanding.

I agree with lyoness. You could pursue your own gap-year course of study, where you read as much as you can about the topics your MA skipped over. Good luck making a decision!

I've been changing my mind at least ten times per day thinking about this, and I'm sure that my parents/friends/alter egos are sick of hearing me deliberate points again and again and again. But between School A, School B, and School C, I think I made a decision! 1. Schools A and C only have about 3 faculty members overseeing their Rhet/Comp program. What if one retires, goes on sabbatical, or doesn't like me? 2. Schools A and C have faculty who were last on the job market in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Their degrees are from solid programs, but they might not have experience with the current job market or PhD admissions process. 3. School B has a younger program, but their professors are from the top Rhet/Comp schools in the country. (I rank Rhet/Comp PhD programs by how many of that program's graduates are teaching in other Rhet/Comp PhD programs.) 4. School B has 9 faculty members in my field. That means politics, but I don't mind playing those. My only stipulation? Finding housing for 1)$700 a month and 2) less than an hour commute. How are all y'all making decisions?

Interesting question. I'd be interested to read other people's ideas for contacting POIs. While I'm not sure if I'll do it when I apply to PhD programs, I have a plan: 1. Find a scholar at each school whose work interests me. 2. Read that professor's articles. 3. Email the professor with an intelligent question about his/her article, mentioning that I'm using it for a paper I'm writing for (insert class). Professors probably get tons of unsolicited emails from hopeful students each month, and a lot of them just click delete. Maybe approaching them as a fellow scholar while acknowledging their expertise might make them pause.They may answer my question, in which case I'll have a stronger paper. They may ask to read the paper I'm writing about them (wishful thinking, I know). And they may delete the email anyway.

Maybe I should add this to the list of campus visit questions. "So...what sort of opportunities does your department offer for food?"

I can't imagine how stressful it would be to apply for PhD programs while in a one year MA. One of my MA programs gives applicants the chance to feed into the PhD program after one year, but that's a different situation.

I would ask the programs you've been admitted to for placement information, and rely on that more than rankings. After all, our good friend US News says this about its rankings: It's never rude to ask what the program's graduates are doing. How many of them are in PhD programs? Can they name the PhD programs? How many of them are pursuing jobs outside academia? Does the university offer resources for finding employment or applying to PhD programs? Figure out PhD programs you want to attend. Find the profiles of the graduate students, and look at where they received their MAs. You wouldn't necessarily have to take a gap year with a one-year MA, either. As long as you keep in touch with your previous letter writers, your MA department head or adviser can supplement your application with a nice note saying that in the short time s/he has known you, you have been very professional and your scholarship indicates that you will succeed in a PhD program. (I got this idea from this article: https://chroniclevitae.com/news/684-the-professor-is-in-getting-a-reference-when-you-re-new) I think the established wisdom on the forums is to attend the program with the best placement, funding, and ranking that you can, assuming that the program fits your needs.

Yesssss. I mentioned my research schedule for writing/trying to publish to a professor at a campus visit, and the professor looked at me like I was insane. Then the professor said carefully, "we prefer to have our MA students gain... mastery of the subject before they start publishing."

Hello Jarndyce! I'm making a similar decision between two schools. School A is ranked higher, is giving me a fellowship, and on paper, is a better fit for my interests. School B is located near my family, and though they're ranked lower, they have wonderful placement rates for a program producing cool research. If you had to choose a school in the next five minutes, which one would you choose? Why? Don't discount your emotions. If you spend two years being sad at School A, that might affect your performance in the program. Grad school is stressful enough; will going to School A strain your emotional health? Congratulations on your acceptances, and good luck making a decision.

I'm not even confident that Florida even got my application. Apart from the auto-you-paid-money email, I've heard...nothing. I emailed the graduate coordinator. Still nothing. Did anyone respond to you withdrawing your application?

I'm sure you know this, but please please please check tuition fees for 2 fall semesters, 2 spring semesters, and 1 summer semester. One university gave me about 5k more funding than the others, but the fees completely cancelled out the extra money. Just something to keep in mind. pannpann, I would email the department head. Ask about the size of the cohort, and how many graduates went to what specific schools. I don't think this would be a privacy issue, since you're not asking for actual names.

Good point. I like my decisions to be very, very simple. In the end, I want to say "I chose this program because I liked the people, liked the placement, and liked the location." I'm crunching numbers right now. Three programs have accepted/funded me, and pending final review (because I'm not a math person) these programs come within $500 of each other. Yay! Cost factor=thrown away. Factors for me: --whether the MA program feeds into the PhD program (one DGS told me explicitly that she wanted me to stay for the PhD) --if I become a PhD student, what is the placement rate? (for me, more important than ranking) --program fit --livability of location (urban? rural? crime rates? nearby apartments? hobbies?)

One of my MA programs just emailed me and raised my stipend $3,000 for two years. That's a lot of books, folks. Congratulations to the other acceptances today!

Okay, I found a couple 2014 success stories. And you're right, CarolineKS, no more bashing my undergraduate institution. It won't happen again. Instead of reading about how non-Ivy graduates never get jobs, I found Dr. Leah Schwebel, an assistant professor at Texas State University.She's a Chaucer scholar, and her MA is from McGill University. Her PhD is from the University of Connecticut. I also found Dr. Rachael Zeleny, who's the Writing Program Director and Assistant Professor of English and Communication at Alvernia University! She earned an MA from James Madison University, and her doctorate is from the University of Delaware. And then Dr. Jordan Youngblood at Eastern Connecticut State University, who's interested digital rhetoric. Dr. Youngblood's MA is from the University of Mississippi, and the PhD is from the University of Florida. These people's names are all public knowledge, and I found them from rapid-fire searching state university websites. Congratulations to them for coming from state schools and having TT jobs!

It is awful. But keep remembering the audience for these stories. People like to read about doom and gloom, about fancy-schmancy PhDs not getting jobs. Writers know this, so they write more of it. Besides, who would read a dinky little newsflash about Cool Person from Podunk U getting a secure nonTT at another Podunk U? Who would care about A. Nother Coolperson from Pretty Nice University getting a TT job at a teeny Midwestern teaching college? Thanks for giving me a research project for tonight, though. If I succeed at finding academia success stories, does anyone else want to read them?

I'm sorry to hear that! Everything is so arbitrary in the admissions process...congratulations on your other offers, though. I still don't know about the relative ethics of finding out (and approaching) faculty on the adcomm. The info is usually buried on faculty-only pages, or in senate-minutes. It's not impossible to find, but it still has the aura of "you shouldn't be looking at this."

I think I saw the issue about recruitment come up a couple days ago. Sometimes departments really focus on recruiting their accepted students--a professor called me on a Saturday once. When I mentioned visiting, she put together a campus visit day just for me. One school accepted me in late January. I wasn't contacted by anyone till last week. I wouldn't hold it against your "unwelcoming" school till you contact professors/graduate students in your field. Maybe they want you to make the first move?

The admissions committee isn't always made up of the same body of professors, either (at least, I assume so). If a serial applicant keeps applying and applying and making him/herself a nuisance to the department, I could see them doing the "oh, him/her again" thing. But applying the next year because the school is still a good fit and one has a stronger application? I don't think the committee can penalize that determination.

I don't think you're coming across as bitter. Refusing to inform rejected applicants seems really unprofessional to me as well.

Hello! I have a couple programs to suggest, though I don't know how "prestigious" they are. They do, however, offer funding. Funding is good. Kansas State University has been discussed on the forums before, and I've heard nothing but good things about the program. The professors I've been in contact with are really friendly. Their deadline is Feb. 1st. Virginia Tech was recommended by one of my rhet/comp professors. Their deadline is Feb 1st as well. Colorado State was also recommended by another rhet/comp prof. Deadline Feb. 15th, but you have to mail in the application. Creighton U is a private Catholic college. I heard that the funding for English majors is quite nice. Deadline (for assistantships) March 15th, but they still had fellowships to award into April (at least, they did last year). I hope that helps, for those people who aren't on the lit track, or who don't want to move to the east coast.

Becoming a rhet/comp person made me see more possibilities for my research, and that's how I knew it was the right specialization for me. How did you all decide to be Rhet/Comp-y folks?

Allplaid, I live in Florida, and one of my schools is about 1000 miles away. Another is around 500 miles further than that. Since the cost of visiting both separately would be really prohibitive, I don't see anything wrong with telling school B, "hey, I'll be traveling from a campus visit at School A, could you reimburse me from there?" Then I'd mention to School A, "I'll be traveling to School B for a campus visit, so my return receipts are going to be dated a week later." It's a sticky situation, but if you ask if it's a possibility beforehand, I don't think it would be an issue. The only reason they might say no is for accounting purposes. My thoughts exactly.

This is a good point--I felt like I had to spend a lot of time explaining that I was familiar with Rhet/Comp in my SOP. Upon rereading, it's almost to the point that I was apologizing for being a lit major, which is a problem. I'm certainly not ashamed of my humble little undergraduate institution. This kind of makes me wish I'd tried applying to one or two literature PhDs as well, as an experiment.