renea

I'm rhet/comp so I do not really have a background in literature...but... as a second year MA student who recently went through this same problem (and also I'm *still* trying to figure out my "specialization") here are some tips: 1. Go to a conference. Search through the CFPs and find some that interest you it will give you a good idea of what the field is doing and where your interests might fit (sometimes we have interests that align with current topics, but we just don't know the right names to call them). I'd highly recommend a PCA/ACA regional conference- your research interests would fit right in (or if you're near Indianapolis swing by their national conference this spring there are panels on everything and it's mostly English ppl). Some other options: MLA, CCCC 2. Join some listsrvs, scope out the popular journals/groups for your field and subscribe to their emails. If you are unsure of where to start, I'd recommend creeping on the faculty you are interested in working with (or just the faculty in your department) and see which professional organizations they are members of. I know in rhet/comp nearly everyone is a member of either CCCC or RSA. Not only will you get CFPs without all the digging, but you'll see job postings which will show you what specialties are being hired for (and what those specialties are being named). 3. Scope out the other students in your program with similar interests and see where they are presenting, reading, ect.

First I want to acknowledge, what you are proposing is research (very similar to the work produced in an upper level english class, a MA thesis, or for publishing). I know this may not be the answer you want, but this is something you can do on your own (and most grad students do this work on their own). Although you wouldn't be able to list it as "research" on your CV, perhaps going to a conference next year would demonstrate your participation in research beyond the classroom. It seems you could simply ask any professors for advice or to do a review of your paper once it's more formed, but for the type of project you're proposing you don't really need an advisor or cv line. Your writing sample will be proof enough that you can conduct research.

See, I guess because I'm only applying to American programs, I haven't even mentioned that I would want to work with the faculty- I guess I just assumed it's implied? I usually say something along the lines of, "Hi, my name is ... I'm currently at x program and planning to apply to your program. I'm interested in.. (I usually say whatever research interests we have in common like multimodal composition, cultural rhetorics, ect ect).. and then say I'd like to ask a few questions if they have the time. So far I've received a response from every person I've contacted (although some responses have been slower than others). I know some friends though who have followed that same format and not gotten a response at all (perhaps some programs are friendlier than others?). I suppose you are right though, worst case is that I get ignored, it probably won't hurt to reach out

Yeah I'm definitely thinking of reaching out for more program information (some websites are just not that informational), and would like to get a better idea of what resources there are for me before hitting that final submit. I know that my recent phone call (though awkward) provided me with a lot of information that I wouldn't have known otherwise (such as a faculty member I was interested in is leaving next year, and that there are some interdisciplinary groups that fit with my work). After realizing that the conversation was so helpful I thought about reaching out to a program which I will be close to during the holidays, but didn't know if it's too late to reach out (their deadline is still a month away...but... I'm still tempted).

So far I haven't had any apps ask who I've spoken with: although I did have one that requested that I list (and rank!) faculty I would want to work with as a required part I would say that if there is a question on the app I would mention it, but I would leave it out of an SOP unless you had a meaningful interaction with them (you never know who is reading the apps or what their relationship is with the person mentioned).

I second this. I applied to just a few schools as a direct PhD admit and was only offered an MA spot (which surprise was at programs which didn't fund MAs). However, at the schools where I applied MA I was given several offers funded and now that I am reapplying for my PhD I feel more confident and have really narrowed down my research interests (which are now different than what I wanted to do two years ago). If you did go the MA route it would also allow you time to study and retake the GRE if you want. Remember though- no school is safe if you are not a good fit. Additionally, there are many programs that do not require the GRE (hopefully other programs follow their lead). Maybe your best bet may be to seek out programs that don't require it (or do not weigh it heavily) rather than seek out programs that you feel aren't competitive.

I would personally reach out to CUNY's graduate director and ask to be put in contact with students who do rhet/comp. If they say they don't have any (or give some other weird excuse for not introducing you to students) I'd avoid. Speaking with a student in the field should give you a good idea of what the resources, coursework, and support system is like for rhet/comp students.

I'll offer this: I didn't do undergraduate research and I had no problem securing funded MA spots. My recommendation letters came from faculty I took classes with who were familiar with my writing ability and interests. I'm currently at a highly regarded program for my research subtopics and I'm still not engaging in "research" outside of my thesis- though I have presented papers based on that thesis work. What I might ask though is what do you mean by "independent" research? Are you wanting to do your own project or are you just wanting to learn about the research process to increase your network and chances of acceptance? I'm going to pick out a few things you've stated: 1. You might not be able to find someone doing the exact work you want to do, but I imagine you've at least taken classes that have touched on your research interests, maybe start with those professors. So perhaps you won't have a mentor working on postmodern literature, but even a general literature faculty member will be able to guide you through the research process. I'm also quite surprised there's no one doing postmodern or contemporary literature at your university. 2. This is probably why your university requires a sponsor. I'm a second year MA student and I'm still learning how to shape research questions (and my program has entire classes that aim to help you do that- so they are aware this isn't something everyone has had the opportunity to learn). Perhaps emailing some professors to ask for advice in general (rather than with the aim to get them to sponsor you) could start some conversations about what research looks like. 3. This sounds like a great idea to me. Put in a few reminders of the class and the work you did, and I think it would be fine to ask how you might go about doing research on your own. I don't think it's unprofessional at all. 4. Without knowing where you are studying abroad and what for... why not look into research options at the university you are studying in now? Surely the study abroad cordinators or some of the professors you are taking classes with now could point you towards a project you could work on. My final takeaway is: You don't have to do research in undergrad to get into a good, funded program...it's a nice point to highlight, but many students lack those options You don't have to find a professor who does your exact research interests: just find someone who can point you in the right direction and who cares You don't have to do independent research: a semester in a group project at your Writing Center or English department can teach you a lot about the research process and provide you with references for your work. I would suggest contacting the graduate director at your current department (or if your department doesn't house a graduate program, then the Writing Center director, director of the undergraduate program, or academic advisor) and saying: "I'm an undergraduate studying abroad, I want to begin doing research but I don't know where to start, are there resources for undergraduates? Is there work I can help with in the department somewhere?" A lot of research at the graduate level isn't just working on your own papers: it's First Year Writing assessment, it's writing center consulting, it's trying to improve accessibility of program resources. I know our graduate department works with undergrads as interns and writing center consultants through an undergraduate research initiative. Maybe you can't start your research this year, but think of what you might do during the summer or next fall.

Sound advice. My chair told me to do something similar. All three of my LOR are touching on some aspect of my application. I guess it's just easier to add to a SOP than to subtract

So I realize this could go into the more general forums, but I wanted the perspective from some English ppl (I'm rhet/comp, but I'd love input regardless). Is anyone still contacting faculty at their programs of interest or has that ship sailed with application deadlines approaching? I've networked a little at conferences (and those convos went great), however I'm finding that emails and phone calls are so awkward. I recently had a phone conversation with a faculty member I'd be interested in working with and it was almost painful. Maybe because I'm an introvert? Maybe because I'd never met the person? Maybe because neither of us seemed to want to be the one to officially end the call even though my questions had clearly been answered? So I'd like to ask: Have you contacted people at the programs you are applying to...if so when and how? Does anyone have any tips to make these conversations feel less forced and awkward? Do you feel contacting programs actually helps with the application? Has anyone felt their contact with departments helped them either with applying or being accepted? I have a few people I'd be interested to talk to, but with the deadline being a month or so away (and finals/holiday break approaching), I'm not sure whether my contact would be bothersome or welcomed. Any suggestions?

See I felt that way too, then after showing some faculty versions that left CV type information off they all said to add that in. For the short SOPs I'll definitely be taking out coursework and conference mentions... I've learned it's a struggle to please everyone and at some point I've just got to get them submitted and be done

Anybody else struggling with SOP word count requirements? Any tips for cutting out all those precious lines I spent weeks crafting? I submitted my first application last week which had a page count of 3-5 pages (open to both single and double spaced), now I've got to cut my 1100 words down to 500 or less... Let's not even get started on some schools wanting a 15 page writing sample and others wanting a 20-25

@snickus@WildeThing I would not stress about the LOR being late. When I applied for my MA, I had a few schools with late LOR submissions, and I was still accepted. Many schools (not speaking on behalf of all, just my experience) still consider applications so long as all the materials you submit are on time. If it's any consolation, I'm at WRAC currently and have been told that they do not count late letters against applicants, they just start reviewing everything else first (how late, I don't know, but surely this weekend at minimum). I too had a prof miss the MSU deadline after ghosting on me for about a week. (Thanksgiving break I know can make the December 1 deadline a nightmare- fingers crossed that the emails are just buried and not that the professor is ignoring you).

That's how I largely feel about the application (especially the Writing Sample). My last section of my writing sample is very meh. I know it's meh, at this point in this amount of time I don't know how to fix it without redoing the whole thing and I don't think the meh section is going to put me out of the running for any programs. If a program were to say that they would have let me in if I'd just fixed that one typo or just included one more summary sentence on the sop, then honestly it's not a program I want to be in.

I'm in a rhet/comp MA program (currently applying to PhD programs) and this is the advice that our graduate director (also on our admissions committee) gave me in terms of writing samples. *Also disclaimer, this is just based on my department 1. Writing samples are generally the last/least important part of your application. Some admissions committees will just skim it to see if you're able to actually write well. However, that doesn't mean you should just submit anything, because... 2. Your writing sample is part of the your package. If you want to go in a rhet/comp program, you should probably submit a rhet/comp paper. If you don't have any experience in rhet/comp, you would want to submit the paper closest to you research experience. 3. Annotate your sample. Give a short (one paragraph or less) introduction to your writing sample. Why was it written? What is it meant to demonstrate to the committee? Why did you include it in your application over others? If you use the second writing sample, this could be an opportunity to explain what the paper was for and why you chose to include it. This last tip was something that never occurred to me, but it makes a lot of sense) You always want to present your best work possible, but for a lot of programs the writing sample is not as important. Don't stress out too much about it. At the end of the day your SOP and LOR are probably the most important part of your application so you should spend the most time there.

I highly, highly doubt an average Q score would eliminate you when your V is so high. Many programs are moving away from using the GRE as a qualifier, but most do not really pay much attention to the quantitative. I personally wouldn't put forth any effort to improve the Q score and would put that effort towards your writing sample, personal statement, or just getting to know the programs you're planning to apply for. And I'm saying that as someone who currently is applying to PhD rhet/comp programs with a 161 V/152 Q and haven't even considered retaking because after talking with so many people in the field the GRE does not rank high in concerns of admission decisions.

The advice I was given by my chair (who is also on our graduate programs admissions committee) was that you want each of your recommenders to serve a purpose and that far too often candidates will choose three recommenders who only speak about their academic work/writing. Additionally, she highly recommended asking your letter writers what you would like them to address in their letter. You want each of your choices for a letter writer to be strategic and purposeful. I will echo that you will want at least one person from your program. I don't think there is anything wrong with having a recommender write about your teaching. If you hope to gain an assistantship teaching it could speak on behalf of your ability to balance teaching and schoolwork. For my recommendation letters, I'm asking: 1. My chair who has not taught me, but will write about my thesis, a presentation of mine that she was able to attend at a conference, and my professional development so far. She is tenured and the director of our graduate program. 2. Another committee member who has taught me in a theory course last year. I am asking him to write about my ability to comprehend and discuss theory, my ability to write at a graduate level, and my placement (in comparison to PhD students I took the class with). He is tenured and is the director of our undergraduate professional writing program 3. This recommender was a wild card. I had the choice between my last commitee member (who taught me and is tenured/well established in the field) or the associate director of our writing center who is not tenured and very new to the field. Ultimately after talking to my chair we decided that to have someone talk about my work outside the classroom would be more beneficial. There isn't anything my tenured committee member would write about that my second recommender couldn't address, and I felt that having two tenured professors would certainly balance someone newer to the field. So my last recommender is writing about my role in the writing center and the programs I helped with while working there. I would suggest talking to someone in the field you're hoping to enter and asking for advice on what purpose those letters serve. My field (rhet/comp) and even my program might weigh things differently. For some, maybe it's necessary that everyone be in the field and fully established. For other programs they might want to know more about your teaching experience. Talking things over with different professors in my department really helped me narrow my choices and decide what I needed for my apps. Best of luck!

In my program, we have three committee members (MA) and generally speaking this is who will write your LOR for PhD applications. Sometimes some of our students may swap out the second or third committee members' letter for a different LOR. Usually this is the advisor for the classes we TA (our advisor who oversees our first year writing program, does our teaching evalutations), or perhaps a faculty member from another department or program on campus that the student works closely with. However, I have not heard of someone using a letter from a PhD candidate instead. My question would be, how strong are the other letters and what are you hoping the PhD candidate letter will add? While programs want to hear from the people who know your work best, I think there is something to be said of the weight letters can have when coming from faculty currently in the field. A letter from the right professors can really help solidify your application. If it were me, I would stick to professors in your department (preferably tenured, but if not certainly full time faculty with PhDs in hand). However, this is if you have a third person to write you a letter if you do not choose the PhD candidate. It would be better to pick someone who knows your work well but maybe doesn't have as many credentials over someone who doesn't know your work at all. So these seem like the reasonable options: 1. Pick 3 LOR from faculty in your department, and add the PhD candidate's letter if the school allows for more than 3 (most ideal) 2. Pick 3 LOR from faculty who know your work well 3. Pick the 2 + the PhD candidate (if no more faculty are options)

I was potentially looking into applying to two different disciplines. I'm in rhetoric and writing which often tends to be housed in English departments, but there are a few comm departments that have solid programs for my research interests. I'm currently in a standalone rhet/comp department which has meant being able to largely focus on just rhet/comp in terms of my collegues, research, and courses. What my committee chair recommended was looking closely at the coursework/program requirements at each program. Think about what training and methods are important to you. What do you want to spend more time on? For me, the foreign language requirment in a lot of English programs really helps me compare some programs (I mean, yeah I'm not lazy I can learn a foreign language again, but if I don't have to and it doesn't add to my studies why pick programs that have multiple requirements). Another factor is how many lit classes am I going to have to take to graduate. Something I've noticed in a lot of rhet/comp programs is that every school wants to market their tracks well, but not every school is as upfront about how many resources they have for their rhet/comp students. At the end of the day, if I'm only offered 1 course a semester in rhetoric and the rest are all lit classes- am I really being trained for the position I want? Even if the department says they focus on x, y, and z, their coursework may only cover x. Even if the department says they offer research in x, y, and z, they may only have 2-3 faculty members doing active research in those areas. It seems like digital research is a big factor in your application: why not see how much coursework they have in that area. Additionally, it may be helpful to start looking into what other resources the campus has in general for your work (digital humanities labs, interdisciplinary research groups, ect).

I just finished (well okay temporarily finished) narrowing down my list and it's really difficult. Whereas you have 10 as your number I wanted 5, and ended up with 6 (SO is applying as well, so really it's close to 14 apps total). For me, my SO's interests and needs helped narrowed down the list, but from there I looked at a few other things. For my method I have an excel sheet which I have the school, deadlines, cost, pros/cons, funding (estimates from the internet, gradcafe results, and colleagues), and at least 3 professors I would want to work with (for you this would also include labs). What helped a lot was the pros/cons section. When I started writing out why I would want to attend I realized that for some programs, I just wasn't able to think of much other than it's a prestigious program! or wow huge stipend. Quite frankly, if that's my only reason for attending, it's probably not a good sign. To narrow it down further I started looking around at the well known programs in my field to see where they were hiring from. While placement records are great, some programs are vague and it might be too much work to email every program. Now my field is small (rhet/comp), but it seems that a lot of schools are hiring from the same school. Now going there won't guarantee that I'll find a job, but it's a pretty good indication that their students are being trained well and are hired to work in the best programs across the country. I ended up with: 1. A big name school that I may not get into because it's very competitive 2. A lesser known program close to my family (but with good funding, interesting research, and good faculty) 3. A well known school in a location I'd love to live in 4. A safety school 5. A newer program, but with really cool curriculum and very interdisciplinary research 6. My current institution Each school on my list serves a purpose and has 1 major benefit. A couple have more cons than others, but try to think of what each purpose of your school choices are. I agree with Sigaba, apply to your top 2 for sure.

Thought I'd add mine in. I'm completing my MA this Spring and am applying for PhD programs for Fall 2018. I'm currently in rhet/comp and plan to do the same for my PhD although my research interests have shifted (and widened) this past year. In general I'm interested in visual rhetoric, multi-modal composition, digital humanities, identity studies, and I've been really into writing about food in cultural/political/digital contexts. In terms of teaching/classroom related research I've been teaching FYW and do have some interest in pedagogy and literacy practices. I love my current program (to death) and the faculty/resources are amazing, but I'm not really in love with where I'm studying (Michigan is pretty cold for a TX native and adjusting to the midwest has been interesting) and have been looking for other PhD programs in different areas just to know my options. Fit and placement are on high priority, but the realization that I'm committing to 4-7 years (since my SO will be applying to grad programs as well and physics PhDs tend to take longer to complete) in the same place is definitely motivating me to take a closer look at where I'll be living than I did the last time. In comparison to my MA applications I feel so much more confident in both the application process and my work. I'm so glad I did the MA first (even if it does mean I might take a little longer to get the doctorate), it was well worth it and my program has been very supportive in my exploration so far.

I think this is something I worry about as well. My mother passed away two years ago (when I was still near home) and while I didn't get to say goodbye, I did have the chance to see her often. My husband's father passed away a few months after we moved and he had not seen him recently when he died. I think part of me does feel some guilt about that.

We actually had a student in our MA program this past year who already had a MA and PhD. They were changing fields. We also took someone on this year who was working on a PhD in another field- their previous department wasn't working for them and they enjoyed taking some of our grad classes. I think if the programs complement one another and you address your desire for two rather than one it's perfectly fine. You have the same challenge as anyone with only one MA- why do you want a PhD? Why that program/field?

Hi katie64, I'm currently in a rhet/comp program at Michigan State (WRAC program) and our program is fully funded (so feel free to PM me if you're interested in knowing more about it). The only school on your list that I applied to (for Fall 2016) was Purdue for their rhet/comp which I did not get into. I don't mind sharing my stats: GPA: 3.8 GRE: 161/152/6.0 (I think for verbal that was like 88 percentile that year). With that being said though, for a lot of programs stats aren't necessarily everything. It also depends on who else is applying that year. If you don't mind sharing, what are your research interests? I'm happy to recommend some programs to look into for rhet/comp, but it will really depend on what you want to study. For the record though, I got into these schools and they were all fully funded (although some packages were nicer that others). Michigan State University (WRAC does not use the GRE and it's well known that stats really don't play into applications, we have students who entered with undergrad GPAs less than 3.0) Washington State University Illinois State University University of Oklahoma This is a sidenote: but where are you currently studying? I'm from TX and did my undergrad at UNT. If you're at all interested in staying in the area I know TCU has a wonderful rhet/comp grad program for people interested in digital humanities (if that's not where you already are).

Pardon me if this overlaps/repeats what someone else has said (shamefully I didn't read all the comments, so sorry). But if you are having problems coming up with an "original idea" (and let's just sidestep the debate about whether it is important that your idea is new, I'll just say that if your idea adds nothing new it's not adding to the conversation), I would suggest thinking about research more in formulaic terms. First: you do need to do at least some reading. No one should expect you to read up on everything, but you should be reading up on 1. the major works in your field (sadly, the cannon) 2. the well-known works in your subtopic 3. the articles/critics/contributors that you either admire or completely disagree with (I often find these to be very specific articles from major journals in my field, imagine these to be the most recently published out of the 3 types listed here). This seems like a lot, but really imagine it 3-5 books and 6-10 articles. You shouldn't have to read all of it, skim the articles, get the main ideas, and pull out the applicable quotes. Read the books and then maybe read some articles/commentary about the books. There's your lit review. What I like to do with the lit review is instead of just summarizing the texts (boring and not always useful), is to draw out a bit of a diagram (it can be a list, a map, or just some notes, whatever works for you), about how the texts relate to each other. After doing this I look for the physical gaps. The recent articles will be the best indication of what has/hasn't been written about these texts, since they were recently published. Most (good) journals aren't going to publish articles talking about outdated/irrelevant topics. Most (good) scholars also won't be revisiting these topics unless there is still more to be said. The gaps that you find among the texts are your research topics. Once you have your idea, I find it best to chat with a couple of people in the field (if you have some professors who are open listeners). If you're idea is not new, they will probably tell you. I find that when I talk to my chair about my ideas she often throws a few more ideas for readings/tosses me a book off her shelf for me to read on the topic as well. Once you have your topic, have done some reading, and are ready to start writing I find that following a formula of sorts can be helpful as a jumping off point: What is your topic? This is the subtopic you picked. What has been said about the topic so far? This is the review you did (don't always feel obligated to do the summary/traditional lit review thing, feel free to just mention a few of the authors and give a very short mention of their contributions. I've seen published authors do their lit review in a mere 3 sentences and it's brilliantly simple to mimic). What is missing? This is your gap that you just found. Why is it important (the exigency). Why does the gap matter (this may be the hardest part to explain, but your topic must have some sort of relevance to the field- does it answer some questions? Is it applicable to understanding other texts? Does it somehow apply to the classroom or academy at large?) Then dive into your conversation. I apologize also if this is all very obvious stuff, but for some of my graduate coursework this is how we were taught to get started on research and I found it very helpful. In general I mostly just find it very useful to read though recent articles in journals (which it seems like you do as well) I would want to be published in. What are they writing about? How are they writing, and what "big moves" are they making in the text? Also if this is relevant, I'm in Rhet/Comp, but I framed this as English/Comp in general.