runonsentence

I've seen a number of debates about the importance of institutional name-recognition for PhD admissions around the forum. While it certainly doesn't hurt to have done your BA or MA somewhere super prestigious, I personally don't think that an MA from a solid program that doesn't happen to be in the top 15 would hurt your PhD applications. The most important components of your application will be your writing sample, SoP, and LoR (loosely in that order, though the first two may be more of a tie). IMO, this is even more true in rhet/comp, a field I'd loosely characterize as egalitarian by nature. After all, many of the ivies and top-ranked English programs in the country don't even have PhDs in rhet/comp, and most of the strongest rhet/comp programs are at large state instituions in the Heartland. But above all, let me stress this: if you come out of this application season with a choice of acceptances and some of them have funding, DEFINITELY take the funding. It's better to be funded somewhere less known than paying out the nose to be at Purdue or U-T Austin. If I may ask, what are the other schools you have been in contact with that seem likely to offer you funding?

My general advice, which largely echoes the advice from lyonessrampant: Be forward-looking. You're writing about what you hope to do at X school, what kind of career you're pursuing, and how X school will help you to achieve that career objective. Do touch on experiences you've had and skills you've developed, but couch them in terms of how they have shaped (or will shape) you into a successful student at X school. Think also in terms of your audience and its expectations. An adcomm will read strong applicants from many students, but of those strong applications they will admit the students who have a SoP who answers the question, "So, why X school? Why must this student come to this school to achieve these goals?" So your number-one priority is to demonstrate fit with the department, its research interests and priorities, and even its culture.

I definitely agree that your workshop both your creative and critical work as much as possible (since you're going for a PhD, the critical work is important too, though probably not AS important as your poetry). In addition to running your writing by friends/old classmates: Are there any faculty from your MA program you'd feel comfortable running your writing by? Because it's summer, it'd be a good time to ask for this kind of favor. I did this with my critical sample and was really glad I did. Good luck!

I agree that this would provide more options, though word on the street from my PhD creative writing friends is that MFAs are possibly more competitive. (The application fees are also atrocious, from what I hear!) But I don't know this through first-hand knowledge/experience, so take it as you will.

I completely agree with the previous two posters' advice. If you decide to do a degree outside of English and then start applying to English lit PhDs, you'll need to provide a narrative in your SoP indicating why you did it and how you see it relating to your intended area of study. Going outside of English just to get into a master's program won't help you with your future career goals; it may even hinder your English PhD aspirations. Will your theology instructors be able to write strong LoRs, indicating your potential as an English student, for example? Will coursework in an entirely different subject area help to develop and clarify your research interests and scholarly identity (both of which are absolutely critical to writing a strong SoP and getting into a program with a good fit)? I don't see how studying at UCL would hurt your future applications. In my own experience, a master's degree from a solid state school was incredibly helpful in making me a competitive PhD applicant: I had a much clearer idea of my own scholarly identity, actually found a new subfield that I'm really excited about (i.e., I've abandoned lit for rhetoric and composition), and I came out of the degree with stronger writing, thinking, and research skills that surely strengthened my application packet. I say go for the master's program at UCL, and don't worry so much about "prestige." It is the materials in your application packet that will matter when you apply for PhDs, and if you have the money and willingness to pay for a master's degree at UCL, it will surely help you in your future endeavors.

To start, have you tried asking last year's adcom committees for feedback on your rejected applications? Did they point out any weaknesses in your writing samples that might be simply addressed through revision?

Honestly, I think that submitting a well-written SoP (and writing sample, if your field requires those) alongside your score of 5 will be more impressive than a 6 on the AWA. Since you have a strong AWA, I think you'd make better use of your time to work on those documents now. Congrats on your score of 5!

Is your husband's institution on the quarter system, or the semester system? My institution runs on quarters, so my first check doesn't usually come until sometime in early (or even mid) October—but it's farily understandable, given that the fall quarter doesn't usually start until the last week of September.

If the statistics are well done (like the MLA's job numbers for English), they'll break down how many are employed in their field, how many employed within the field found TT lines, what year the TT appointments earned their PhD, etc....basically, as long as your numbers aren't coming from a self-interested place (like a university/program, for instance) you should be able to find some numbers that aren't so distorted.

If I'm meeting/e-mailing someone for the first time, I'll refer to them as "Professor so-and-so" and wait for them to introduce themselves by first name. Because I usually don't meet faculty until I've had them for seminar, this usually means that I don't have to address them directly until after the first day of class, by which point I feel comfortable using a first name because we've been introduced. What do you hear other students in your department do, when they address faculty in or outside of class? If you hear a mixture of titles and first names, then perhaps stick with what's most comfortable for you. Zeemore: I should have been more specific in my second paragraph: I think that if you are in a department like mine, where everyone uses first names, then it is seems childish. And I do think it's true; both the directors of our comp program have told me that they always introduce themselves by first name to grad students, and as "Professor __" or "Dr. __" to undergrads. When the faculty themselves make that distinction, then to continue using titles is to subtly brand yourself as an undergrad, in a way. (I mean, for illustration, the only grad colleague I can think of in my department who insists on titles for every address to faculty is a first-year master's student, fresh out of undergrad.) And indeed, when I graduated from my undergrad institution, I was admonished by one of my English professors for still referring to her as "Dr. __," now that I had my B.A. As to my original third paragraph (the advice from the PFF faculty), I suppose take it as you wish. It was advice she gave to a room of grads from mostly hard sciences and social sciences, as well as a few humanities students like myself. She didn't acknowledge herself to be speaking from a humanities perspective, but it could be that the advice is most applicable to humanities cultures.

Nope. My advisor has co-authored papers with a number of students now. If the student made a smaller contribution than what usually warrants second-authorship, they at least get a "with" in the byline.

It is common practice in my department for all MAs and PhDs to address faculty by their first name. We are their junior colleagues. They also introduce themselves as such in the first class period, email, etc. (e.g., "my name is [first name] [last name]"). It seems to be the culture of most every English department I've come across as well (though previous posts by other English grads perhaps contradict this impression I've formed of English departments at large?) But interestingly, because it is such an accepted practice in my department, NOT using first names at my program has the effect of making the grad student seem child-ish/undergrad-ish. I've also been advised that this is something to be careful of on the job market. The head of our Preparing Future Facutly certificate program at my university, a history prof, said that a hiring committee once was surprised by her use of "Dr. ___" when referring to her advisor in an interview. She got the impression that it made her seem less mature to the committee. EDIT: Edited 2nd par. for clarity.

You might get more informed responses if you post this question in the Earth Sciences forum?

This is a bit late for the shoe conversation bit, but I wanted to wholeheartedly endorse: Born sandals (unless you're in lab of course, hah. But they're fashionable, insanely comfortable, and supportive).Ahnu shoes (not quite "dressy" but nice-looking styles that look more put-together than an old pair of trainers) I used to try to tool around on cheap flats and boots—NOT worth it! Gives me achy ankles and hips (though this is probably also because I over-pronate).

My mentor, who sat on the adcom at my university this past year, has told me that GRE scores don't break an application (a number of my undergrad profs and friends in grad school assured me of this as well during my first application cycle). In the case of the adcom here, they use GREs more as a secondary consideration: something they might use when breaking a "tie" between two similar students, say. Without a doubt, the writing sample, SoP, and LoRs are the most important components of your application. You should still do everything you can to produce a strong and well-rounded application, of course. I say this to help quell the panic that is quickly climbing in the room. You should still apply and still give it a shot, I think.

Those are a bit low for English, but if you have a strong packet (fantastic writing sample, strong LoRs, strong and clear SoP), I think you might be able to overcome them. I overcame a low verbal myself (a 570) and had two actively courting acceptances, but then again, I received kind rejection letters from all of my reach schools on my list. (Though I didn't ask why I was rejected, so it may be that the GRE wasn't the reason.) At any rate, I'd definitely recommend you make sure you apply to a range of schools. You might also speak to your recommenders—ask them to specifically address your capacity for graduate-level work (the outcome the GRE supposedly measures).

Yes, MBP upgraded to the i5 processor at the very end of February (I bought one about two days after they were released, hah). Personally, I think that waiting for the next processor upgrade might be even wiser than waiting on just the OS upgrade to Lion. I hadn't heard those rumors about MBs. Wow. That's currently what they heavily market to college freshmen, etc. I wonder what will take its place, the Air?

I could see it potentially impacting socialization opportunities, if your department ends up being as social as mine or your experience at all analogous to mine. While a handful of parties are announced more formally via student listserv channels in advance, most of my socialization consists of informal (which may or may not mean, last-minute) bar outings or apartment hangouts. When I only lived a 10-minute commute away, I sometimes found it difficult to rouse myself from my very comfy couch on Friday nights during the winter to go out and socialize (most hangouts seemed to be in the neighborhood a mile off campus where many grads live). I've had a much easier time of it living in walking distance of campus in the neighborhood that most other grads live. This isn't to say that your commute has to detract from your social life. And, in fact, it could be that your grad community lives in a more stratified way that mine does, considering the cost of living you've mentioned. But if missing out on social opportunities is something you're worried about, consider whether you'd be willing to drive back to the university neighborhood at 8 or 9 on a Friday night to take part in a casual bar outing, or whether you'd be willing to jump in your car at the last minute to take part in a social opportunity. If the answer is yes, then you'll be fine (albeit maybe inconvenienced). If the answer is no, then consider whether it's more important for you to have those social opportunities or the financial peace of mind and optimal living situation the outlying areas afford.

If a little research would also help set your mind at ease, sometimes professional organizations within fields publish job numbers and statistics. The MLA does such things for English. Anecdotally, the job market is pretty awful for humanities (as it has been for years), but the exiting PhDs in my program seem to have fared better than in previous years, this spring.

Maybe this is weird; but does anyone have a method for keeping track of CFPs? I get a ton of emails with promising calls for papers for conferences and publications, but I find that I often forget about them, as they get lost in the email shuffle. I also never know what to do with calls I come across online; create a bookmark folder? I'd rather have a central place to keep track of them all. So for now I use email folders and bookmark folders, but I'm rather dissatisfied with this approach. Any wise gradecafe-rs have creative, brilliant ways of keeping track of such things that would be less disparate and less likely to collect digital cobwebs?

In English we have a large flagship organization (the MLA) for the field as a whole, as well as a flagship organization for my subfield (CCC). The MLA I joined because I attended the conference and because, when I go on the job market, they have a large career fair where most schools do employment interviews (thus I'll definitely need to attend its conference again when I'm on the market). I joined CCC for the conference, the journal, and the importance of having it listed on my CV because of its name/brand value. There may be similar benefits to the APA, or other large organizations in psychology. (I'll leave specific recs to those here who are actually in your field, though!)

Hi there Two Espressos, I think I remember suggesting you take a look at rhet/comp in your first thread, actually. You mentioned that you were more interested in what theories do, and this is very much the work of rhetorical studies. It seems like it could potentially fit some of your existing interests. There's probably room for crossover with philosophy, though note that sometimes the two fields take different approaches to similar areas of research. (For instance, a friend of mine took a philosophy of emotions class because her dissertation will involve emotion/affect studies, and she told me that they approached affect theory in a different way than we did in English.) Aesthetics is what I'm less sure about; rhetoric is very much about what texts do, not necessarily aesthetic concerns. But if anyone can contradict this, please jump in. Focuses within rhet/comp can vary widely. Some people focus more on rhetorical studies, others on the writing pedagogy and writing theories aspect; there have been lively arguments even (referenced within some of the sources I recommend at the end of my post) as to whether or not rhetoric and composition can be separated from each other. Most commonly, people incorporate at least a bit of both into their research and thinking; I for one believe that both inform the other. In general, in fact, I'd characterize the field as truly committed to critical, scholarly approaches to pedagogy, which is one of the reasons I fell in love with it during my master's degree. Research interests can range from classical rhetoric (Aristotle, Cicero, Plato, Quintillian, etc.) to modern rhetorics, which can involve embodiment, materiality, affect, and cultural lenses. Public rhetorics are also something I've found really rewarding (some of the theorists I read in a class on publics include Michael Warner, Nancy Fraser, Jurgen Habermas, Lauren Berlant, Hannah Arendt...). Some people take digital approaches, some people work in archives with an historical approach, and some take up feminist, gender studies, or queer studies lenses. Cultural rhetorics still seems to be fairly popular. It's also common to study writing program administration, writing center studies, or the history of composition pedagogy. You might try reading over the program from previous CCCCs (Conference on College Composition and Communication), aka "4 Cs," the flagship conference of the field. They're available online, and it's a good snapshot of how varied different focuses within rhet/comp can get. The sponsoring organization of the conference, CCC, also produces one of the most prominent journals in rhet/comp, with some good book reviews. Reading through the reviews in CCCs might be a less overwhelming way to dive into the journal. Also, if you really get into it, here is a list of four texts my mentor suggested I read last summer in preparation for my PhD applications, to give me a clearer sense of the field's identity and trajectory: The Politics of Writing Instruction: Postsecondary, eds. Bullock, Trimbur, and SchusterRhetoric and Composition as Intellectual Work, ed. Gary A. OlsonThe Writing Teacher's Sourcebook (4th ed.), eds. Corbett, Myers, and TateComposition Studies in the New Millennium: Rereading the Past, Rewriting the Future, eds. Bloom, Daiker, and White Hope this helps. There's a lot that I find truly satisfying and rewarding about this field!

It's going to vary by field and your specific program—your best bet is to talk to current grads in the program. For instance, when I was an MA student, we MAs had the exact same responsibilities as the PhD students in my program. I taught my own class of 23 students, and was responsible for creating my own syllabus. The department outlined the major assignments I was to have them complete (students wrote three major essays), but I was responsible for coming up with daily lesson plans, homework, etc. But if your situation ends up being like mine, don't panic; we had a lot of support. It was a little like jumping into the deep end of the pool, but also not. We had a long orientation to familiarize ourselves with the curriculum and teaching in general. We had sample syllabi to crib from, and most of us took the strategy of only giving out two or three weeks worth of assignments at a time to our students, so that we wouldn't have to come up with an entire term's syllabus the week before our very first teaching gig.

+1, Strangefox. Any chance mods can pin this post?

Anecdotally: I'm an awful standardized test taker (or at least that's what I'm telling myself, hah). I had two schools actively courting me with acceptances last application cycle, but my GRE scores were actually below the official cutoff for both programs. My highest score was a 570. It's possible my scores hurt me—I had only three acceptances out of 10 apps—and I didn't apply to super elite programs. I also had a decent analytical writing score, which could have helped overcome my low score. But honestly, the GRE is the last part of the application I'd spend time on if I was on a time budget. If you have the spare time (and cash!) to study up and retake, by all means, do everything you can to improve your application. But while I wonder if my scores would have improved had I tried re-taking after I'd finished my master's degree, I'm rather cynical about the GRE and chances of improving scores. As someone mentioned earlier, polishing up your SoP and writing sample (which are much, much more important portions of your application anyway) is the most important thing you can do for your application packet.