Isocrates2.o
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Posts posted by Isocrates2.o
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CLEMSON VS. NC STATE. I'm torn. My research interests are in rhetorical theory, digital media and media theory. My far-too-simple analysis of these two programs, which are my finalists and are both offering similar funding packages, is that Clemson RCID focuses more on rhetorical theory, while NC State CRDM focuses more on communication, media theory and social media. I can't really go wrong with either-- both boast nearly 100% job placement rates.
For anyone with inside knowledge of the programs, could you perhaps give me some advice on how they differ/which better sets up someone who'd like to one day publish in Kairos, Computers & Composition, and Philosphy & Rhetoric?
My gut inclination as of now is to head to Raleigh and commit to NC State based on the faculty, the cohort, the awesome city, the location, the focus on media theory (which attracts me), and the overall level of comfortability. I haven't visited Clemson, so I haven't a clue what life would be like there. But they have big-name faculty and a history of excellence.
Anyone have any inside knowledge on these programs? Thanks in advance!
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On 3/16/2018 at 7:07 PM, kjgv22 said:
Just received my acceptance from Saint Louis University, off of the waitlist. It hasn't really even sunk it yet!
Congrats! I'm in there as well. Looking forward to the visitation dates in a few weeks.
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7 hours ago, Daenerys said:
Found out yesterday I got into St. Louis University off the waiting list. I’m happy about this one! My acceptances so far are SLU, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale. I’m waitlisted at Illinois State and Tennessee, and still have yet to hear from Illinois and Purdue, though Purdue did email me back and said my application was still active. I assume that means they have an unofficial waiting list.
As I have mentioned before, I’m older with children. There was no possibility of us picking up and moving thousands of miles away. I applied to the best schools that were close geographically that I knew, logistically, I could actually attend. While I wanted to get in to all of them, I think I have some decent options now.
Congratulations! SLU is a great school. I'm considering it there. They have an up-and-coming rhetcomp program for sure. Are you visiting the department? I'll be there in early April.
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6 hours ago, elijoe said:
Has anyone receive Acceptance for PHD in McMaster Electrical Computer Engineering Department for F18.
You'll have better luck over on:
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18 hours ago, katie64 said:
Anyone heard anything from Virginia Tech?
That's what I was wondering! Seems like some early acceptances have already gone out, but I haven't heard anything one way or another. I was tempted to email the grad director, but I've held off for now. We'll see.
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Oh, how to choose between a program with a 100% TT job placement rate and a dream program (and perfect fit) in my research field. Anyone out there in the same pickle as I am?
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1 hour ago, renea said:
I have a separate question for you guys: How many of you are paying out of pocket for your visits.
I'm generally deciding to not do this at all, simply because these programs have already made at least $100 off of me through application fees and GRE scores, and because I assume any competitive program will have the funds allotted to bring grad students in to visit. Frankly, I have more than one program asking me to come in and covering my costs to do so. It's not a good look to ask me to pay for my own ticket to your out-of-the-way rural university in comparison, haha. The difficulty comes in when there's a program not holding an accepted students event (or at least not covering travel costs for it), yet is one I'm very much interested in getting a first-hand account of.
I'll be meeting you at the Miami open house! Which day will you be there?
Just out of curiosity, how did you find out about your Virginia Tech acceptance (congratulations, by the way)? I'm still waiting to hear back from them. Was it over email or through the portal?
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5 hours ago, mk-8 said:
It looks like Clemson acceptances have gone/are in the process of going out. If anyone has any questions about the program or Clemson in general, I'd be happy to chat
Thanks! Will PM you.
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Anyone else have a job and need to make some tough decisions in regards to which programs to visit? I'm deciding between three programs, all of seemingly equal merit, and trying to determine which is the best fit.
BUT- I'm a practicing teacher, and I can't just cancel three or four class sessions at the drop of a hat because programs want us to visit on weekdays. My students NEED to hold class. Such a frustrating situation to be in. What I'm doing is narrowing down to my top choices and only visiting them, but... AH! So frustrating.
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23 hours ago, punctilious said:
I think my husband has a few things he wants to read:
- We Have Never Been Modern by Bruno Latour
- Getting back up to speed on Russian, using The New Penguin Russian Course and the Russian texts we own (novels, short stories, a book on Putin, etc.)
- I saw suggestions for a couple theory overview texts that he may pick up: The Routledge Companion to Critical Theory and Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction
- Perhaps not this summer, but he'll probably pick up French for Reading (as previously recommended by @a_sort_of_fractious_angel, I believe) to work on his second language requirement
- I think Harvard sends out its reading list for the General Exam sometime over the summer, so he'll probably get started on that, too!
Excited to hear what other people are thinking!
I really like the inclusion of Latour on this list, as he's as "hot" a philospher in academia as anyone out there. I'd replace We Have Never Been Modern with Reassembling the Social instead, though, as the latter includes an actual overview of Latour's Actor Network Theory which is only hinted at or outlined broadly in WHNBM.
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5 hours ago, bumbleblu said:
A request for rhet/comp texts:
I'm not really familiar with the field, but my research is definitely going in that direction (specifically: queer rhetoric, autonarratives, and the connections of language and identity). So, can you recommend a/some good introductory text(s)? Or journal titles? Not necessarily related to my specific interests -- I do have some articles recommended by a POI, but I feel like I should also start with the basics. Imposter syndrome has already set in, but it might help if I didn't show up totally unprepared in the fall...
Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
So, last year I was rejected from every PhD program that I applied to. My thesis advisor presented me with two options: give up on academia, or commit to some serious reading over the course of the year. What he told me to do was simple: read the past five years of the major rhetoric and composition journals.
Obviously, you don't have that much time. My recommendation is to read as much of CCC (College Composition and Communication) and College English as you can. These journals are the most prestigious in the field, though they're not specified to a particular sub-discipline within rhet/comp. Once you understand the general outline of the discipline, ie. the major debates scholars are still arguing about, you can specify the journals you're reading into those tackling only your specialty, such as those dedicated to queer rhetorics, etc.
If you can show up on day 1 and make references to the major theorists in the field (Burke, Elbow, Flower....), imposter syndrome won't be quite so resolute.
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Apologies if this has been asked before, but what are the best coffeeshops/cafes/public workspaces in Raleigh? Preferably near NC State?
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1 hour ago, black hippie soul said:
I got accepted with funding to NC State yesterday (2/20).
Congratulations! I was accepted with funding as well. What are your thoughts on the program? I'm having an informal phone call with them on Friday to discuss. How exciting!
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9 hours ago, ThePandaBard said:
Thank you and I feel the same way - though the department has been pretty good at responding I'm not stoked about the acceptance and waiting on funding. My top choice is UCR (for a variety of reasons) and my friend who's in the PhD program now said they're making MORE decisions on Thursday of this week. I'm not sure when they'll send those out, but I'm hoping for something from them.
Nice! What are your research interests? I've heard great things about UCR lately.
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6 hours ago, ThePandaBard said:
Sorry, I'm not replying to this but I wanted to ask: I note in your signature that you've also gotten into Nebraska - is that Nebraska-Lincoln and did you get funded? I got accepted but wait listed on funding. I was told it was a pretty short wait list and I'm near the top. I'm just wondering if 1) you have an offer for funding there and 2) if it's one of your top programs since I note you were accepted to others. Thanks!
Yupp, Nebraska-Lincoln. That one I'm not funded for, though I'm on the waitlist, so I'm not sure I'd be helping you if I officially told them I wasn't interested. They're my last choice as far as the places I've been accepted to, though. Seeing as how they aren't going to fly me out to visit, it's unlikely I'd move to an unknown in Nebraska anyway. I'll likely end up turning them down in a few weeks, as they weren't really in my ideal plans to begin with.
Good luck!
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Woo hoo! I'm in at NC State's RCDM program w/ teaching!
Wishing the best to all the other NC State applicants. If anyone else plans to visit or is accepted to the program, feel free to message me!
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3 hours ago, It_Must_Be_Abstract said:
Excuse me if this question has been covered in other threads (I'm new to the GC). But reading your post here, @Isocrates2.o, I'm wondering what people think about this: should emailing faculty at the PhD programs to which one is applying be treated as a necessary step in the application process?
Sincerely,
Someone who didn't email any faculty
Ah, sorry if I was unclear on this point. It's absolutely not NECESSARY to contact faculty members you're interested in working with, merely HELPFUL in certain situations. I've found it helpful in certain circumstances, such as if you have any way to "break the ice" in a natural, organic way. I've devised ways to do it for two programs this application cycle. But it might not be useful to everyone.
As an example, I saw one of my POIs present at a conference once, and I was able to email her later on and say I enjoyed the talk (I also asked a question). Something like that. Circumstantial, but possibly helpful.
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This one I found this morning might be more current:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XNJR4IhOJ56zd7zLuVSUK7h054dBRNvyiC7iStCOsxo/edit?usp=sharing
Thanks to whoever made it/compiled it.
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Some people on this thread have complained of St. Louis' "lack of culture." Can anyone suggest areas that might have more of this, even if they aren't particularly overwhelming? I'm not looking for Brooklyn here, people, but some coffeeshops, galleries, co-ops, theaters, etc.?
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Something that helped me was to email a particular professor ahead of time about the work they've published. Something along the lines of "I was intrigued by your treatment of X in your essay X...." Academic writers work incredibly hard on the intricate process of publishing an article, and then often receive an underwhelming and oftentimes non-existent response from readers in the disciplinary community. Sending these emails demonstrates at least three major items about you: 1. That you keep up on disciplinary literature, 2. That you're interested and invested in that subdiscipline (Object-oriented ontology in Victorian literature; Community literacy in Rhet/Comp, to name two), and 3. That you have a distinct interest in that scholar's particular work.
After doing this, ideally ahead of time, feel free to mention that you're considering their graduate program for MA/PhD work. Only after. Tell them a bit about yourself, and mention your interests. They'll ideally be able to tell you if you're a fit or not.
Do this MONTHS ahead of the grad application's due date. It's a low-risk way to get your name out there, at the very least. It helped me get into two top-tier grad programs.
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Congrats to the most recent bunch of admits!!
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59 minutes ago, bigfluffybearcat said:
Got the official acceptance from Arizona's RCTE program! But do you think they're gonna rescind my offer for being so awkward during the phone call? God I wanna die.
Society tends to privilege extroversion. Hopefully the grad program realizes that. Congrats!
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It's worth a shot. I know the UB English department (got my MA there two years ago) and they typically are more than happy to help out with travel assistance with possible grad students. They also host massive wine and cheese parties with the members of the department. So, not something I'd want to miss, haha.
Rhet/Comp 2018
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
Posted
CLEMSON VS. NC STATE. I'm torn. My research interests are in rhetorical theory, digital media and web social activism. My far-too-simple analysis of these two programs, which are my finalists and are both offering similar funding packages, is that Clemson RCID focuses more on rhetorical theory, while NC State CRDM focuses more on communication, media theory and social media. I can't really go wrong with either-- both boast nearly 100% job placement rates.
For anyone with inside knowledge of the programs, could you perhaps give me some advice on how they differ/which better sets up someone who'd like to one day publish in Kairos, Computers & Composition, and Philosphy & Rhetoric?
My gut inclination as of now is to head to Raleigh and commit to NC State based on the faculty, the cohort, the awesome city, the location, the focus on media theory (which attracts me), and the overall level of comfortability. I haven't visited Clemson, so I haven't a clue what life would be like there. But they have big-name faculty and a history of excellence.
Anyone have any inside knowledge on these programs? Thanks in advance!