Historiogaffe

If you're up for applying to Canada, the universities of British Columbia and Alberta both have strong rhetoric focuses. (UBC for history of rhetoric, rhetoric of science/medicine, and linguistics; Alberta for rhetoric and composition, pedagogy, and digital humanities.) Their MAs are funded, and, as a bonus, both place their MA students very well in American PhD programs. UBC MAs have gone to Michigan, Brown, and Harvard recently; and, while I know less about Alberta's stats, I know they've just put someone in Michigan. UBC is very highly ranked for its English scholarship; Alberta's going full-throttle ahead to get itself into the international top 50 by 2020, according to Imre Szeman -- which means it's padding its admission offers with serious cash. Waterloo and Simon Fraser both offer rhetoric coursework; the former a rhetoric-specific MA program. Neither is prestigious, but both fund. Funding is basically the norm in Canada -- with U of T as the exception -- normally in the form of a TA- or RA-ship, or one of those and a scholarship. If you PM me I can give you specific examples of funding offers I received.

I would be happy to help out anyone looking for edits and/or feedback. Following Fiona's lead, I'd also be happy to send around my SOP as an example. Honestly, if I hadn't been able to read sample SOPs in the lead-up to my own application process, I would have been just lost. Can't but pass on the favour!

U of O had completely slipped my mind — a huge faux pas on my part, as Laskaya's there. Thanks for the reminder, antecedant! Lyonessrampant, yes, I was afraid that'd be the case. Though I do find the idea of sketchy, trenchcoat-providing rhetoric programs intriguing in a 1930s Warner Brothers crime flick kind of way... Thanks for the tip on Utah! I think, given solid fit, I'd be up for Utah/Colorado/northern CA. To be honest, I'm still partly tempted to say that on the slim chance of an offer, I'd be up for Wisconsin-Madison, UT-Austin, or Penn State in a heartbeat. (Partly because they're Names enough to make placement within Canada possible. My partner's soon-to-be profession requires her to stay in the country.) The U of A's where I'm heading for my MA, in fact! I'll definitely be applying for the PhD there. I have only wonderful things to say about UBC, but that's because I did my undergrad there — so it's out for PhD apps, sadly.

Advance apologies for geographical cluelessness. A recent change in my personal life (namely, engagement to be married) has made me want to stay within a stone's throw, or short flight's worth, of where I'll be living after my MA, should I decide to pursue a PhD. Trouble is, I'll be living in the southwest of Canada, and it seems like most of the BAMF-iest programs for my interests hanging out eastward, southward, or (alas) both. Apart from Washington and WSU, which both look pretty cool, what rhetoric programs might be hanging out in the northwestern US?

Hi all, I've been accepted into my MA program of choice, which makes me lucky, happy, and deeply stressed out about housing. The school I'll be attending is not in my current area, and it's not feasible for me to move out there much in advance. How much luck have you had securing rental housing from a distance? How did you go about it? What resources would you recommend? It is At All Possible? Thank you in advance!

I withdrew my application, so I haven't heard either way, but in the past UBC's notified later than other universities. Next week, actually, they may start...

If you're unsure, it's better to leave them off than put them on. (C.f. Regina Spektor's "You can write but you can't edit" line — applicable to grad school, and as much to grad CVs as to papers. Thanks, Reg!) My own experience: I didn't apply to PhD programs this time around, but I did get into my top choice. The school's CV form had a (quite small) space for relevant work experience; I ended up deciding not to include a research assistantship because it's more or less irrelevant to what I want to study. Another program doesn't accept CVs at all.

I got an acceptance from Toronto's Medieval Studies program the other day, and — does anyone else do this? — went back to read my application. Instead of feeling a warm glow of awesomeness, I noticed that my application contained at least two sentences that just make no syntactic sense. One was missing a verb. The other's a Frankenstein's derpy monster of at least two different sentences: "Augustine’s Confessions, in which, I have argued, Augustine draws from Roman theatre culture to have made itself amenable to odd texts, then the reappearance of the Confessions, perhaps the most quizzically received and politely ignored of Augustine’s works, confirms it." Semantic sense < clause cuddle-puddles.

Is it wrong that student confusions and misspellings are among my main motivations to teach? Not one that'll be making it into future SOPs, mind, but -- whenever I read something (everything) over at Shit My Students Write, my envy is palpable. It's like watching accidental stand-up comedy.

"If you can't annoy somebody, there's little point in writing." — Kingsley Amis "There is always a surprise in store for the anatomy or physiology of any criticism that might think it had mastered the game … [had looked] at the text without touching it, without laying a hand on the 'object,' without risking—which is the only chance of entering into the game, by getting a few fingers caught—the addition of some new thread." — Derrida, "Plato's Pharmacy" "It's this trick of putting blood and sinew into the argument that is the best that science fiction has to offer. Science fiction isn’t a literature that tells you what will happen tomorrow. It is a literature that tells you how to prevent the bad tomorrows and usher in the good ones. It is an active and activist literature, with an agenda and a point of view." — Cory Doctorow, " A Vocabulary for Speaking About the Future" And every doodle in Tristram Shandy. My forever-favourite: the disappointing trajectory of the first four books.

I'm fortunate enough that the only other career I can see myself doing is A. one I want to incorporate into my graduate studies and, should it materialize, eventual academic career, and B. relies on portfolio rather than résumé, so those in the biz need not and generally don't advertise accreditation. So I guess I'm also fortunate in that none of my other potential career paths pays well,* either. Ha ha. At least I managed to part with the print journalism dream with relative painlessness. *Or "pay well," because prescriptivist ideals be damned, that's perfectly grammatical.

I'd put in a good word for Alberta, at least for Calgary. I've wandered around there holding hands with my partner, and nothing has happened. As with other big-to-large cities, there's a gradient from queer-friendly to ultra-conservative where neighbourhoods are concerned. Vancouver (especially Commercial Drive and Main), Toronto (especially West Queen West and Kensington Market), and Montreal are pretty hard to go wrong with, and I've heard hip things about Winnipeg (much to my surprise).

Riffing off the "books not to read" thread, I'm curious: what book (all-purpose term including play, poem, &c.) do you feel like you've missed altogether? You know, it seems like everyone's read it and you're not quite sure why you haven't. For me, it's The Great Gatsby. How does everyone else encounter it? Is it a high school read? All I know: it's famous, for ages I've been wanting to read it -- and more so now that I know there's a disappearing baby! -- and I seem to be the only one who hasn't. I think I hear the Lit GRE, somewhere, laughing maniacally.

This one doesn't fall so much into the literary canon (I hope) so much as the popular one, but: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. A copy made the rounds in my high school friend group, each of us reading it in about a day, and spending the rest of the year sneak-attacking each other with some of its most memorable lines. "I feel infinite." I'm just going to lose all my cred by saying I like Gertrude Stein. That said, I've only read her most "accessible" libretto, some poetry, and some composition lectures. (Not "only" in the sense of, alas, I have not digested the canon in its entirety, but in the sense of, I haven't read Tender Buttons.) As a throw-back: Plato. That Socrates, so pro at taking down straw men with his fascist ideals. Except Phaedrus, because paraquote, "You have to give the speech for me, Socrates, in this pastoral field by a river, or I will extract it from your lips with my own." There was actually a footnote in the edition I read that was pretty much, "A lot of people think this scene is pretty gay, for the last time that is not true."* *It is so true. Canonical items from the 17th century tend to leave me cold. Maybe as a medievalist I'm all, "Where my Catholics at," but my deep love for the 18th c. suggests it's more likely just Milton being a big groaner.

I wonder if there's a scientific correlation between white squirrels and Universities of T[x] -- Toronto has them too!

Ha! Ktel, it was a chagrinning experience. Especially because the last place I moved was Toronto. When I looked at Edmonton on craigslist, it was definitely a Gob Bluth sort of "Come on!" moment. Maybe prices have been going up with the boom. I've heard good things about Whyte -- will try for it! Thanks. Unfortunately, true to my hometown's stereotype, I don't drive. Apparently transit has been doing pretty good things over the last few years though? Obrera, padmapper! Brilliant! Thanks. Not sure if the walking-around approach will work for me, as I'll be in Toronto through August. Eep.

Thanks, antecedant! Frozenroses, congratulations! I'm coming from within Canada — I did my undergrad at the University of British Columbia, and am currently in Toronto. My partner is from Calgary and has a good friend from Edmonton, so I'll share their collective wisdom, as I have none: - The winters might kill you, but the summers are mild and gorgeous and full of festivals. - The theatre and music scenes are great. (Symphony, choral, punk.) - Fun neighbourhoods around the university: Garneau, Old Strathcona, Belgravia; downtown and the area around 118 Ave are up and coming. - The Carrot Coffeeshop is cool, apparently? I've looked on craigslist, and the stuff there looks pricey right now; there's also not much of it. That could be because it's winter in Edmonton, and nobody wants to move. Stuff under "rooms and shares" is much more reasonable, and in line with what I've heard about the cost of living being quite low in Alberta. I'm hoping to find a place off campus, since grad housing is a bit pricey. There's one PhD student there who was in my program in undergrad, a couple of years up. Other than that, I don't know anyone. (Edited because I am all about typos, and making them.)

I received an offer from U of A yesterday for a place in their MA English program, with an RAship — after sleeping on it, I accepted this afternoon. (Although Alberta was more or less my top choice of all the programs I applied to, I felt a little impulsive accepting my first offer so soon in the process. But now that I have, what a relief.) My areas of interest are rhetoric and composition and medieval studies. Any takers for the other Alberta acceptances that have been posted? Other applicants to Canadian programs? Any alumni? Best of luck to everyone on their applications.

Hi all, I've received an offer from U of A and am pretty thrilled about it. A perusal of the current offerings on craigslist, however, make the rent prices look pretty steep. Any recommendations for student budget-friendly, geographically practical neighbourhoods? Incidentally, re: the above post — Alberta, alas, does not have a no pets clause. Thanks!

bdon19, I love love love Tristram Shandy. I'm about to be reading that again -- admittedly for a class -- and I'm so damned happy about it. What I'm reading for fun at the moment will defeat the purpose of this thread, I think, since I've just gotten a heap of books about the history of plagiarism out of the library. But I swear they're fun. My perhaps less pathetic attempts at fun reading currently involve watching The Sopranos (which counts because it's one of the best things ever written, good lord) and perusing* Roz Chast cartoons. I'm heading down to the library this weekend to pick up a copy of The Pillars of the Earth, which my roommate's boyfriend mentioned offhandedly as a good read, and which, when I looked it up, happened to take place in my favourite political climate of the Middle Ages. (12th-century England under King Stephen.) I might have squealed a little bit, I won't lie. *In the actually used rather than the GRE sense of the word.

I thought the same thing about rhetoric, and then I started finding out more about the composition side. Give it a chance! Turns out they're the same field for quite a good reason. You can get a sense of your worries about Bart by pretending it's some other area of study. If a medievalist reads a work by an influential medievalist and hates it, does that mean they shouldn't actually be in medieval studies? No. Just look at the academic debates that happen in journals -- mind-boggling passive agressive as they are -- which most often involve two people in the same field ragging on each other professionally. It's a noble tradition that's been alive and kicking ever since St Augustine and St Jerome engaged in their faux-friendly debate about Galatians. As for actually finding stuff hate-worthy due to sheer dullness, you might A. try a couple more approaches to the same topic by different influential scholars, or B. comfort yourself by reading some scholarly reviews of works that feature a lot of "I'm not sure why the author did this because it does nothing for his argument and it should go away." Boredom is also, occasionally, part of the game

Well, well. Google Chrome doesn't mark "irregardless" as a misspelling. I guess it's time to join 'em, HangedFool: may I suggest "notunwithstanding"?

If you want to flex the philosophy/theory aspect of what you've described, the Rhetoric program offered by Berkeley might be worth a look: http://rhetoric.berkeley.edu/ It's unlike most rhetoric programs in its treatment of rhetoric. (I, unlike some, do think it's a viable use of "rhetoric" as a program title.) Otherwise, there are certain programs that embrace more esoteric theory and certain ones that are more right down to the composition/pedagogy stuff. I'd give UT-Austin a look, or perhaps choose English departments that offer a rhetoric focus -- so look foremost for appealing rhetoric faculty, and then scope out the rest of the department for strong theorists whose interests align with yours. (A bit what I'm doing with rhetoricians and medievalists.) And if that turns up some fabulous programs for you -- in the sense of programs that are a fabulous fit for your interests -- then, yes, rhetoric's what you want to study! If not, then it's not. If Berkeley's Rhetoric program seems more your speed than typical rhet/comp programs, you might also want to look at Duke's Literature program.

My two cents, based on my inference from two years' worth of vigorous Grad Cafe and applyingtograd stalking: The general wisdom for English programs—as distinct from others such as the hard sciences or law—is that your numbers should be your area of least concern; the CV is an honourary member of the "numbers" category. If you've presented at five conferences but your statement of purpose doesn't blow anyone away, you won't get into the program; if you've never been to a conference but your statement of purpose blows everyone away, you stand a much stronger chance of getting in. (Though, with today's academic market, that might as well say "you stand a chance of getting in.") They do look good on a CV, but more for rhetorical effect than as items that will give you a qualitative leg up. The chorus of Things That Matter will always be "Statement of purpose, writing sample, LORs." As for the difference between MA-holding candidates and straight-from-BA candidates, this conversation happens at least once a year and the consensus is always "it depends." It depends on the school: some (e.g. Yale) prefer to hone you from day one, with a kind of monogamous approach to their pedigree. Others (though fewer and fewer) require an MA in hand—I've found these are usually rhetoric rather than literature programs, e.g. Syracuse—and a bunch more (e.g. Berkeley, UT-Austin) can go either way. I don't know about Princeton. The difference is that, as an MA-holding applicant, you'll be expected to have a much more refined idea of what you want to study; and you will to some degree be expected to have "real-world" experience in terms of conference presentations. (Not publications.) The bar is higher for MA-holders, but in a way only because an MA-holder should, logically, be better prepared—they've done 1-2 years of grad school, they've got an extra degree... etc. You should basically not sound interchangeable with a BA-only applicant.

You'd have to be a little more specific than that, since the 20th century to the present could be 1990-2011 or 1909-2011. The 20th century is typically separated into pre-1945 and post-1945 (i.e. pre- and post-war). When are your favourite theorists? You might choose their era as your speciality, for simplicity's sake rather than necessity's, as a friend of mine studying the Frankfurt school and pre-1945 American lit has done.