BradS

Thanks for the inside scoop, ComeBackZinc. My advisor stated the same. While there is one professor working with the English department whose degree is not in English at my university, he is by far by the exception and not the rule.

That is a great question, proflorax. I am skyping with my advisor at 3:30 today, and plan on asking her about this. Hopefully, she can offer some insight. If she does, I'll be sure to post it here for you as well. Also, I guess I didn't need to initially quote this considering you're the only one who responded to my query, lol.

Bfat-- To beat a dead horse, I agree with everyone else here: I wouldn't give yourself an ulcer over the GRE. However, if you're bent on getting that top-notch score on the verbal, I would suggest purchasing Manhattan Prep's Reading Comprehension booklet (Naturally, buy from Amazon and not their website--cheaper). After taking practice tests in other prepatory guides, I noticed Manhattan Prep was far more challenging. Also, the book comes with six additional online reading comprehension practice tests that record your strengths, weaknesses, and track how long you spent on each question--for free. I would even state that it's geared more towards those perfectionist freaks (most of us, I assume) who expect near-flawless performances, hence why it attacks the trickier questions which kill the test-takers who rush the sections with little discipline without relying on a patient, critical eye. They also provide a host of different strategies that may reconceptualize how you approach the exam overall. Hope this helps

For anyone who can shed light on this topic, thank you tenfold. I have noticed that rhet/comp programs seem to be housed in either English or Communication departments. As an English major starting the grad-school process, this dichotomy simply adds a little more confusion/frustration. While my mentor advised me to seek out programs couched within english departments, I have noticed that the differences between the two seem, at times, somewhat negligible. However, as "fit" is king, I want to be certain that my interests conincide nicely with faculty members as well as the department's more unified vision (I have already e-mailed quite a few faculty members form various institutions). I am paritcularly interested in feminist and visual rhetorics. My current project merges both of these frameworks as I look at reality-"inspired" television programming (a particular network), and how, by reappropriating earlier critical discourse, they construct narratives of mother-blaming/shaming adapted to more contemporary audiences. Lastly, I wasn't going to give much attention to the quantitative portion of the GRE. I suck at math. Done. However, this was before I considered applying to rhet/comp programs within communcation departments. Do you suppose communciation departments will place much precedence on the quantitative section? For all your help, thank you!