marisawhy

I'm actually planning to go into a PhD, but I hear wonderful things from people graduating with rhet/comp MAs because they chose the right program. If you want to be a grant writer, run a Writing Center, advise, or even just teach lower-level composition classes, an MA alone works! I understand the worry--two of my roommates are going into scientific PhDs and have actually said a Masters would have hurt their chances. I've not heard of that at all from my conversations with other rhet/comp people. For my MA, my school doesn't offer a PhD and works really hard on good PhD placements (and their recent ones were enough to impress me), so it seems having my MA will not hurt my chances later on. I did take the GRE, though there were some schools I applied to who didn't require it or didn't want to see it altogether. I got an... okay verbal score(?) (English programs will not care about your quantitative score anyway) after studying for about three months. No MA programs I looked at had score requirements or even a general "this is our median score" number listed for your GRE, though I've seen a handful of PhD programs that do. Again, there are really good programs that don't want your GRE score, or even recommend you send it. I will! Oregon State only admits students they can fund through some form of GTA. In their case, funding could come from a mix of teaching freshman comp with writing center work or some other composition teaching work. Other schools will admit more and only fund a few. My impression is that you definitely want some form of assistantship in your MA if you're considering a PhD, even if it means being a little broke for two years. I've also found no resistance when asking programs if I could speak to current grad students, and they almost expect you to ask what living off the stipend is like. Are you only considering the MA program at your university, or looking elsewhere?

Hi! I'm going to speak as a total novice and based solely on my experiences, but I'll try to address some of your concerns: The way I'm interpreting this is that you don't read what's considered "literature" often, but you do enjoy reading. If you said, "I don't enjoy reading anything, period," grad school may not be the route to take, but depending on the rhet/comp programs you pick, you may not have to dabble in capital-L Literature very much. I avoided Literature-heavy programs when applying myself because I dig rhet/comp and am not so good at the literary criticism stuff. Unless you were a secondary school educator before your MA, I think it would be out-of-the-ordinary to have teaching experience. Plus, don't discount your Writing Center experience! I'm saying this after speaking to two MA programs on campus visits: very few undergrads have any rhet/comp classes before they enter graduate school. I was very open and said I'd had maybe 3 or 4, with almost none of the classical philosophers and no Foucault, and I was told that was a lot. Multiple professors have expressed to me that they had no idea what rhetoric was until they were already in their PhD for it. Plus, that's what your masters is for. A lot of people on this forum point out that your masters is a time to get to know the literature better, and that's absolutely the case for rhetoric. These are all careers that rhetoric MAs would prepare you for! In my personal search, Rhet/Comp is a bit odd in that a lot of the PhDs ask for an MA first. However, my search was not by any means comprehensive. I'd also like to point out that the possible careers you list seem like they could gel well with an MA alone. There are rhet/comp MAs that prepare you for other futures if you decide to not pursue PhD work. ? I'm not sure about books (I am also working on my own pre-grad school reading list), but someone on another thread mentioned finding the major journals of the field and just reading articles from the last ten or so years to see what's happening in the scholarship. I hope that helps! Let me know if I can help any further!

It's me again! I've accepted my offer from OSU and have also accepted the necessity of a roommate. I'm lurking on the facebook groups right now, and will soon be added to a group for my cohort that I'm told is a good place to start looking. I definitely want to start there because I'd prefer to live with other grad students. Are there other places I should be searching? I know people use Craigslist but I never have and am... wary.

I wish I had seen your post sooner! I visited OSU earlier this week before accepting and got to learn more about the teaching load. Now, if you've decided to move to Cincinnati, I couldn't blame you because I love Cincy if you chose Auburn for the financial security I wouldn't blame you for that either. Best wishes with whomever you chose!!

So excited to post in this thread! I've officially committed to Oregon State's Rhetoric MA I went to visit the area (having never been west of St. Louis), and the faculty and current students were really wonderful. I'm very excited!

Quoting myself because twenty minutes after posting this I heard from Penn State! Apparently their numbers are solidifying and it looks like they won't have room for me. LOOKS LIKE I'M GOING TO OREGON STATE!

I have three waitlists but have gotten none of those emails yet--but I second your anxiety. Only one waitlist school could really make a difference for me... I also hate making my current top choice wait it out because they've been so wonderful.

I have three waitlists, so I'm still checking this every day!

That sounds very positive! I hope this works out to good news for you! The school I'm waiting on is being very vague about most things, though they've said they often go into their waitlist and, while they try not to let it come to this, offers are often made on April 15th. Good to know I'm not the only one feeling like this! I hope for good news! I had a program pressuring me to decide early and other programs (including my waitlists) were unhappy (sometimes angry) about that (though this program's official deadline was early). In other words--don't feel bad if you want to make them wait for it (but if you want it over, go for it!). I read my official offer documents and they said "Return no later than April 15th." I think that's where the language would be more specific.

To my fellow waitlisted: If you're waitlisted at a school you know you would accept but also have an offer from a program you like, how long are you waiting to hear back from the waitlist? I've been thinking evening April 14th/morning April 15th at the latest but is that too late? What are your thoughts?

@sarahchristine be honest! You can definitely say they're your number one but still let them know you have other offers. One of my waitlisted programs told me to keep them updated because, if I got an offer from one of their competitors and was accepted off their waitlist, the DGS would use that info to bully the Dean for more funding for me.

@PricklyParoxysm and @callmethabreeze -- I only found out I was waitlisted for Miami's MA after emailing to ask. I'm rhet/comp, but it's very possible this happened to y'all too! (Also, her response said they would be sending my official waitlist letter that day--the 15th. I haven't gotten it, though my mailman is notoriously unreliable.)

Just declined two MA offers (CMU was painful, but I just don't have $20k+ to spare for a Masters). Nobody's really posted about being waitlisted for those programs, and I don't usually believe in karma, but hopefully this comes back to help us all waitlisted at other places. (Also I'm naturally having a minor freakout because I only have one definite offer left. This will probably drag on close to April 15th.)

Hopping on this thread for similar advice as previous posters--I really like the program I've been accepted to at OSU but I have nooooo idea what housing or cost of living is like in Corvallis. I would really like to live alone, but I'm not sure how I will do on my stipend. Does anyone have apartment complexes they could recommend to help me start my search?

I don't think it's really expected, but it doesn't hurt if you want more information. My advisor said it's totally cool to call or email to reiterate your interest in the program and ask generally about the waitlist--so not really "Am I near the top?" but more of "Based on past years, when have you started to go into your waitlist? How far into your waitlist do you normally go?" --especially if the program is near the top of your personal list.