[Rhetoric & Composition Folks...Can I get your advice?]

23 hours ago, DKScully said:

Other considerations:

- How many R/C courses are offered a semester? Many R/C faculty are in administrative positions that keep them from teaching much and they are often a smaller cohort within the department, so some programs might be limited in course offerings. Take a close look at the class schedules from the last few years.

- Do faculty seem to be publishing with their graduate students? If you can look at profiles of current students, see if there is a trend towards publication with advisers. My sense is that some schools have more of a culture for this than others and it will make a very big difference in your professionalization and preparation for the market. Also, of course, see if graduate students are publishing on their own, as an indication of how well they're being professionalized.

- Will you get a variety of teaching/administrative experience? Prioritize programs that will have opportunities to teach beyond first year composition, ideally (again) in a technical communication/digital rhetoric/or multilingual context. Bonus points for programs that will provide an opportunity to teach upper level courses in your areas of interest by the end of the program or that will give you teaching releases for administrative positions in FYC, the writing center, the WAC program, etc.

This comment was quite helpful! It is always good to hear straight from those experiencing the job search. I'm very interested in Writing Program Admin experience, and that is something that all my final picks have in common, so it is encouraging to read what you wrote. Thanks for sharing! 

[Rhetoric & Composition Folks...Can I get your advice?]

Hi there!

Fellow rhet/comp person here. I have had a similar concerns. I was accepted to two programs, with one slightly edging out the other in regards to rank/ placement. However, the one with the slightly lower placement/ranking felt like a better fit and offered me a lot more funding. My advisers/ past professors all told me to go for the fit/ funding. They indicated that the confidence/ comfort that funding allows would help me both professionally and personally, especially since the difference between the rank of the universities was relatively small. 

Hope this was somewhat helpful!

[2017 Acceptances]

3 hours ago, aob981 said:

This weekend, I received nice, brief emails from professor/DGS at UGA and U of South Carolina saying that I had been accepted, welcoming me into the program and offering to answer any questions that I have, but without any kind of letter or more information about funding, visiting, etc. Is this something that might come later in a more formal communication or is it up to me to read what's on the website and ask them to go over this with me/answer specific questions I have? Any insight is appreciated, thanks!

I can't speak to UGA, but from what I can tell, U of South Carolina is sending out postal acceptances this time around for their literature and comp/rhet programs. I had a conversation with someone at the graduate program who mentioned that information regarding funding and assistantships will be included in the postal acceptance letters, so that is something to be on the look out for! 

[2017 Acceptances]

Hello all!

I have been lurking for the majority of the season thus far, but I got some responses that may be of use to any Comp/Rhet people who applied to schools in the Southeast.

On Thursday, I got an email from the Grad Director at Clemson who mentioned the advisory committee was meeting to discuss who to admit to the program. No information as far as a timeline goes, but I guess it's still in progress for anyone still hoping for that program.

Additionally, I called the grad school at University of South Carolina about an oddity on my application portal and ended up speaking with someone from the English department. It turned out I was accepted (hurray!), but the comp/rhet acceptances are coming through postal mail like the literature acceptances, so some comp/rhet acceptances should be making their way through the mail soon.

Congrats to everyone's acceptances and successes thus far!!