ComeBackZinc

I think I agree with most all of that. And yet, still, your day to day existence can be truly lovely. Truly. But you've got to actually want the things that you've said you want throughout the process of applying.

Bump!

I agree with all of this. I would just caution against confusing the importance of the SOP and writing sample with the impression that they can guarantee you acceptance. The mantra "it's all about fit" means, in part, that you can do your absolute best on the SOP and writing sample and still not be accepted. Not trying to be a discouraging; just trying to point out that the emphasis on fit takes a lot of this process out of your control.

Now, your dissertation could certainly end up being about his work. But as has been said, you couldn't possibly get a job saying you were just specializing in this one person, couldn't credibly assemble a committee or comprehensive exams on him, etc.

I've mentioned here before, but I think that the process makes a certain hollowness inevitable. Manic effort, then nothing but waiting and hoping and stressing. Then, you choose. And even if its the absolute perfect school, choosing means that all that limitless possibility is now just your life.

You're fine! Just be honest about your interests. The SOPs a delicate dance and nobody could every blame you for being being anxious about it. I'm a PhD student. I happen to adore it here. Let me know if you have any questions, about Purdue or whatever.

So sorry lolo. I was really hoping you'd be joining me in West Lafayette next fall

For myself, my MA SOP was naturally less specific than my PhD SOP, but in both cases I indicated broad areas of interest (for me, the vertical integration between secondary and postsecondary writing pedagogy).

The point of an SOP-- in rhet/comp and elsewhere-- is not to decide what you're going to spend a career studying (because nobody knows that yet and it will change) but to demonstrate that you know what an academic project entails. It's a signalling mechanism, and what is signaled is not "I already know who I am as an intellect and scholar" but rather "I know what academics do, I know what an academic career is like, and I'm someone who will one day responsibly make knowledge in the field." I would suggest that there is perhaps an added impulse in rhet/comp. As a young field, one that had to fight to achieve disciplinary recognition, and one whose worth is still contested, it's important to demonstrate that you have an idea of what rhet/comp is and what we value. That doesn't mean trying to show off; we're all learning what the field is, and defining it still. It does mean demonstrating why rhet/comp is a separate field from literature, without being disrespectful towards literature. Also-- and I'm not scolding, at all-- I would be careful about saying things like " I'm not sure what I want to do for a dissertation quite yet, and because there are very few undergrad and MA programs in Comp/Rhet, I think many of the PhD applicants probably aren't 100% sure either." It's true that applicants don't know what their dissertations will be yet. I certainly don't! But that's because you spend your grad years figuring that out, not because of rhet/comps relative size. Hope that's helpful.

Another from the "just my 2 cents" file-- I actually wish more programs would be candid in the way that UIC was about your research interests. Could save a lot of heartache.

No insider info, sorry. I do know that people are still coming to visit, which means that they could turn down their offers and open up funding lines. Considering what happens to unclaimed lines, I imagine this period is as stressful for the department as it is for applicants.

I almost worry that you'll want Rutgers more because you've waited on the acceptance so long. Sort of like, you'll be so relieved they finally told you yes, it'll seem natural to go in that direction. Whatever the case, CUNY is an acceptance that thousands of people out there would kill for.

Both are wonderful schools and great, great departments. However, everyone associated with IU is an ignorant savage, so....

Even if you're not interested in rhet/comp, see if you can take a class with Sid Dobrin. Brilliant, interesting guy, and his work has a lot of relevance to people interested in critical theory or ecocriticism/environmental writing.

Sometimes I want to go hang out on Columbia's campus and pretend I'm gonna run into the Ghostbusters.

One good place to start would be to take your SOP or writing sample to your campus writing center or writing lab. Often, people think of those places as only for remediation, but that's not the case. Most are happy to review more advanced writing. Plus, many or most writing centers are staffed by graduate students who have been through the process and know something about applying to grad.

I don't mean to scold. But I have to confess that the Ivy-centrism (and I guess near-Ivy centrism, considering UofC isn't one) is a bit grating. There are quite a few Ivy English departments that I would rank well below Rutgers, in my own little estimation. And for Victorian, I mean....

Speaking as someone with student loan debt from my undergrad days... not having to take any more on is just such a blessing.

To not take on a funded PhD offer from a department of Rutgers' caliber, in order to take on debt at a master's program that (fairly or not, I'm not making any judgment myself) has a contested reputation the way that MAPH does... seems a little crazy to me. Go to Rutgers.

Part of the reason the GRE hot potato gets tossed around so much is the simple fact that individual schools and departments vary so much. You just can't say for sure.

I think you guys are seriously overextrapolating, here. The average age of a humanities PhD student is in the early 30's. Going straight through a PhD without stopping for a break after undergrad or your MA is quite rare. I'm sure many or most of your professors didn't go straight through.

I'm afraid the general rankings are essentially useless for choosing between rhetoric and composition programs, and there isn't a subheading in rhet/comp in the US News rankings. Not that I take those rankings seriously even for what they do rank. Edit: whoops didn't see how old the original query was.

Just speaking for myself, the four years or so I spent out of school were really important for my development as a student and as a researcher.

One thing that I simultaneously often want to say, and feel like a hypocrite if I do say, is related to what you're talking about, saecla vincere. Your existential quandary is itself rather optimistic in that it assumes that you will have the opportunity to spend your life in that perfect closeted world. And the numbers say you likely won't, just as they do for me. I bring this up halfheartedly around here sometimes, but it bears repeating: the overwhelming odds are that some significant majority of the people who post here will finish their PhDs and never find a tenure track position. That's just the numbers. The best programs in the world graduate PhDs who never get hired. Happens all the time. To people from Harvard and from Yale and from Berkeley and Oxford and wherever else. That's reality. So while I admire the fact that you are thinking deeply about the issues you've identified, you've also got to struggle with the fact that you are likely to find those issues preempted away. Not that I identify your odds as an better or any worse, just that the numbers are so overwhelmingly bad that any individual candidate can't feel comfortable in his or her odds of getting a job. That consideration should probably come first.