R.J.

It's not negative, it's a very valid question. I moved to El Paso from Seattle in 2009 and, as you can imagine, most of my friends and family had similar questions and concerns. While Juarez considers to be a dangerous city and it is not recommended that people from El Paso visit there for recreation (as was quite common even just a few years ago, as when I first visited in 2005), El Paso continues to be quite safe. For the past several years (since 1997) El Paso has been in the top 2 to 3 safest cities with a population over 500,000 according to an annual study of crime statistics, and this year it was named safest city over 500,000 population. Of course, whether or not it's the safest in the country is irrelevant; the point is that the crime associated with Juarez is really staying on that side of the border, and El Paso remains quite safe. I live about a mile from the border with Mexico, my living room apartment window looks out over Juarez, and I have never felt any danger here. I don't have a car, so I walk, bike, or bus everywhere I need to go. I have never felt unsafe at night or had anything happen to me. I even go running at night, often very late, after midnight, and it feels as safe as any city I've lived in. I actually feel less safe walking around Denver, which is where I'm from. In 2009 there were 12 murders total; I think Seattle and Denver usually get to 12 murders by mid Spring. Some links about the study I mentioned are http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/nov/22/el-paso-san-diego-among-safest-cities/ and http://www.ci.el-paso.tx.us/homepage_safest_city.asp Let me know if you have any other questions, and good luck with your apps! R.J.

Hi, everyone! This post is for any of you who are still applying to programs in February or, perhaps, for those of you who are receiving disappointing results for applications and are interested in submitting to one or two more schools with hopes for Fall admission. I want to share some information on my university's doctoral program in Rhetoric and Writing Studies, which has an extended deadline of February 15 and which may appeal to those of you with research interests in applied linguistics, ESOL, multilingualism, etc. My academic background and interests were fairly interdisciplinary through my BA and MA, although much of my focus had been in Writing, English, and ESL. I ultimately found that Rhetoric and Writing Studies was a good way to pursue my varied and interdisciplinary interests through the lens of rhetoric and discourse--the one thing all of my interests had in common. I'm currently a second-year doctoral student in Rhetoric and Writing Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso, and I have never regretted my decision. It's a strong program with good funding, ample teaching experience (Assistant Instructorships in First Year Composition, Technical Writing, and Workplace Writing), a low cost of living near campus, and many options for pursuing your research interests and making a mark in the program through working with our dedicated faculty. Our students, who have backgrounds in English, Linguistics, TESOL, Spanish, Communications, and other fields, present at major conferences and publish regularly; I have two book chapters coming out later this year and two national conference presentations in the Spring. The program has also been successful placing graduates in faculty appointments around the U.S. In addition, the multilingual city of El Paso is a perfect place to study applied linguistics and issues relating to multilingualism or ESOL. By way of this background, I'm posting to let you all know that the application deadline has been extended to at least February 15, and some applications may still be accepted even through the end of February. The application requirements are very doable, and you can even apply to a joint MA/Ph.D. plan if you are coming straight from your Bachelor's degree. (Those with a MA would immediately begin the Ph.D. program.) The sooner you apply, the better, but I know the program is interested in getting more applicants from outside of Texas, so I encourage you to apply. If you have any questions about the program or applications, feel free to contact me (rjlambert@miners.utep.edu). There is also plenty of information about applying on our site: http://academics.ute...aspx?tabid=3302 Good luck with your applications this year, wherever you apply! R.J.

Hi, everyone! This post is for any of you who are still applying to programs in February or, perhaps, for those of you who are receiving disappointing results for applications and are interested in submitting to one or two more schools with hopes for Fall admission. I want to share some information on my university's doctoral program in Rhetoric and Writing Studies, which has an extended deadline of February 15 and which may appeal to those of you with research interests in rhetoric, discourse, mass media, and communicaiton technologies. My academic background and interests were fairly interdisciplinary through my BA and MA, although much of my focus had been in Writing, English, and Communications. I ultimately found that Rhetoric and Writing Studies was a good way to pursue my varied and interdisciplinary interests through the lens of rhetoric and discourse--the one thing all of my interests had in common. I'm currently a second-year doctoral student in Rhetoric and Writing Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso, and I have never regretted my decision. It's a strong program with good funding, ample teaching experience (Assistant Instructorships in First Year Composition, Technical Writing, and Workplace Writing), a low cost of living near campus, and many options for pursuing your research interests and making a mark in the program through working with our dedicated faculty. Our students, who have backgrounds in English, Communications, Linguistics, History, Spanish, and other fields, present at major conferences and publish regularly; I have two book chapters coming out later this year and two national conference presentations in the Spring. The program has also been successful placing graduates in faculty appointments around the U.S. By way of this background, I'm posting to let you all know that the application deadline has been extended to at least February 15, and some applications may still be accepted even through the end of February. The application requirements are fairly doable, and you can even apply to a join MA/Ph.D. plan if you are coming straight from your Bachelor's degree. The sooner you apply, the better, but I know the program is interested in getting more applicants from outside of Texas, so I encourage you to apply. If you have any questions about the program or applications, feel free to contact me (rjlambert@miners.utep.edu). There is also plenty of information about applying on our site: http://academics.ute...aspx?tabid=3302 Good luck with your applications this year, wherever you apply! R.J.

Hi, everyone! This post is for any of you who are still applying to programs in February or, perhaps, for those of you who are receiving disappointing results for applications and are interested in submitting to one or two more schools with hopes for Fall admission. I wanted to share some information on my university's doctoral program in Rhetoric and Writing Studies, which has an extended deadline of February 15 and which may appeal to those of you with interest in teaching writing at the college level. My academic background and interests were fairly interdisciplinary through my BA and MA, although much of my focus had been in Writing, English, and ESL. I ultimately found that Rhetoric and Writing Studies was a good way to pursue my varied and interdisciplinary interests through the lens of rhetoric and discourse--the one thing all of my interests had in common. I'm currently a second-year doctoral student in Rhetoric and Writing Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso, and I have never regretted my decision. It's a strong program with good funding, ample teaching experience (Assistant Instructorships in First Year Composition, Technical Writing, and Workplace Writing), a low cost of living near campus, and many options for pursuing your research interests and making a mark in the program through working with our dedicated faculty. Our students, who have backgrounds in English, Education, ESL, Linguistics, Communications, History, Spanish, and other fields, present at major conferences and publish regularly; I have two book chapters coming out later this year and two national conference presentations in the Spring. The program has also been successful placing graduates in faculty appointments around the U.S. By way of this background, I'm posting to let you all know that the application deadline has been extended to at least February 15, and some applications may still be accepted even through the end of February. The application requirements are fairly doable, and you can even apply to a join MA/Ph.D. plan if you are coming straight from your Bachelor's degree. The sooner you apply, the better, but I know the program is interested in getting more applicants from outside of Texas, so I encourage you to apply. If you have any questions about the program or applications, feel free to contact me (rjlambert@miners.utep.edu). There is also plenty of information about applying on our site: http://academics.ute...aspx?tabid=3302 Good luck with your applications this year, wherever you apply! R.J.

Hi, everyone! This post is for any of you who are still applying to programs in February or, perhaps, for those of you who are receiving disappointing results for applications and are interested in submitting to one or two more schools with hopes for Fall admission. I hope it doesn't come across sounding like spam, as I just want to share my experience and info on an extended application deadline at my interdisciplinary program in Rhetoric and Writing Studies. My academic background and interests were fairly interdisciplinary through my BA and MA, much like many of you. I had studied Literature, Philosophy, Mexican-American Studies, Asian Studies, and Anthropology, and I ultimately found that Rhetoric and Writing studies was a good way to pursue my varied and interdisciplinary interests through the lens of rhetoric and discourse--the one thing all of my interests had in common. I'm currently a second-year doctoral student in Rhetoric and Writing Studies at the University of Texas at El paso, and I have never regretted my decision. It's a strong program with good funding, ample teaching experience (Assistant Instructorships), a low cost of living near campus, and many options for pursuing your research interests and making a mark in the program through working with our dedicated faculty. Our students, who have backgrounds in English, Linguistics, Communications, History, Spanish, and other fields, present at major conferences and publish regularly; I have two book chapters coming out later this year and two national conference presentations in the Spring. The program has also been successful placing graduates in faculty appointments around the U.S. By way of this background, I'm posting to let you all know that the application deadline has been extended to at least February 15, and some applications may still be accepted even through the end of February. The application requirements are fairly doable, and you can even apply to a join MA/Ph.D. plan if you are coming straight from your Bachelor's degree. The sooner you apply, the better, but I know the program is interested in getting more applicants from outside of Texas, so I encourage you to apply. If you have any questions about the program or applications, feel free to contact me (rjlambert@miners.utep.edu). There is also plenty of information about applying on our site: http://academics.ute...aspx?tabid=3302 Good luck with your applications this year, wherever you apply! R.J.

You could call to check for completeness, but I wouldn't call about the status of the application until late March or April. Most schools probably don't have things y.figured out right now, unless you were an early cut, in which case you would hear from them soon, anyway. Good luck! R.J.

Hi, everyone! This post is for any of you who are still applying to schools or perhaps those of you who are receiving disappointing results for English applications and are interested in submitting to one or two more schools with hopes for Fall admission. I hope it doesn't come across sounding like spam, as I just want to share my experience and info on an extended application deadline at my school. I'm currently a second-year doctoral student at the Univeristy of Texas at El Paso, but I had to apply to doctoral programs two years in a row before I enrolled in Fall 2009. In 2008 I applied to ten mid- to top-tier programs in Literature and American Studies, and I was only accepted at one, Boston University, without funding. I didn't want to go deep into debt to get my Ph.D., so I was left to wait another year. At that time, I wished I had applied to a more diverse group of schools to give myself more options in the case that I was not accepted into my top choices. I knew the process would be competitive, but I thought I would have gotten into a funded program, given how many schools I applied to. The next year, in Spring 2009, I applied to eight more programs, mostly in Literature (the focus of my MA from UT Austin). After I had completed my Lit applications, I also decided that I would apply to a couple of Rhetoric and Composition programs with February deadlines in order to diversify my applications and hopefully ensure that I would be able to return to school that Fall. I didn't want to have to wait it out another year and spend several hundred dollars on another round of applications. By April 2009, I was accepted into a few of my mid-level choices and wait-listed at my top choices, but the more I looked into the programs and thought about my research intersts and career options, I decided to go with Rhetoric and Composition at UTEP. Having been here for almost two years, I have never regretted my decision. It's a strong program with good funding, teaching experience (Assistant Instructorship), a low cost of living near campus, and many options for pursuing your research interests and making a mark in the program. Our students present at major conferences and publish regularly; I have two book chapters coming out later this year and two national conference presentations in the Spring. The program has also been successful placing graduates in faculty appointments around the U.S. The main purpose of all this background, other than to share what I learned after having to apply two years in a row in order to return to school, is that UTEP's Ph.D. application deadline has been extended to at least February 15, and some applications may still be accepted even through the end of February. The sooner you apply, the better, but I know the program is interested in getting more applicants from outside of Texas, so I encourage you to apply. If you have any questions about the program or applications, feel free to contact me (rjlambert@miners.utep.edu). There is also plenty of information about applying on our site: http://academics.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=3302 Good luck with your applications this year, wherever you apply! R.J.