Rhet/Comp 2018

[klader]

On 3/26/2018 at 12:45 PM, bigfluffybearcat said:

Penn State has made sure that they’re not giving me anything (they really made sure I understood this no-chance-for-funding situation lol). I’m on a waitlist for funding at UW, and they seem more open to giving me funding later if not now, perhaps on the second or third year. I have funding until my third year, so UW’s prospect is sensible enough for me.

As for professors, both have at least 2 professors I’d be happy to work with. Penn State has better coursework and overall better support (at lease that’s what it seems like). UW has the more preferred location by a huge margin, plus, they guarantee me a spot all the way to the PhD. However, I’m not sure about their strength in the rhet/comp field. Penn State seems like a better bet academically (but not in everything else).

I’m definitely overthinking everything lol. 

This is tough :/ I echo what others have said about being happy. Having money and being able to afford stuff makes you happy, and being stressed about loans and such can be a real burden/affect your work. So, there's really no chance for funding at Penn State? I'd take them off the table then, honestly. That's my outsider's perspective. You need to be supported by your institution, and finances is definitely included in that. 

But I totally get it because I over think everything, too!!!!

I've officially reached analysis paralysis where any more thinking or talking with people would just get me nowhere. I'm choosing between Purdue and Miami. Both are excellent fits, and both have people I want to work with both can support me financially, etc., so it's really just a matter of which one is BETTER for me. So, I'd do well at both, but which one can give me more of what I want? (I think Purdue) 

[klader]

On 3/26/2018 at 10:37 AM, bumbleblu said:

Hanging in there! I'm still awaiting news of waitlist movement before I make any final decisions, and it's starting to feel like I will never be done waiting. 

The wooorst hang in there! And take your time. Seriously. Everyone's got until April 15, and if you're still waiting on schools you'd really like to attend, then it's worth waiting. But I get it if you want to just make a decision and move on. 

And congrats, @Wabbajack !!! And I'm sorry, @katie64

[ancientqueen]

Hey, fellow Rhet/Comp people! 

It's hard to keep track of R/C in the Decisions thread, so I wanted to ask here if anyone has officially accepted anywhere yet! Especially interested to see whether or not anyone will be joining me at Syracuse in the Fall.

 

 

[bigfluffybearcat]

18 hours ago, klader said:

This is tough :/ I echo what others have said about being happy. Having money and being able to afford stuff makes you happy, and being stressed about loans and such can be a real burden/affect your work. So, there's really no chance for funding at Penn State? I'd take them off the table then, honestly. That's my outsider's perspective. You need to be supported by your institution, and finances is definitely included in that. 

But I totally get it because I over think everything, too!!!!

I've officially reached analysis paralysis where any more thinking or talking with people would just get me nowhere. I'm choosing between Purdue and Miami. Both are excellent fits, and both have people I want to work with both can support me financially, etc., so it's really just a matter of which one is BETTER for me. So, I'd do well at both, but which one can give me more of what I want? (I think Purdue) 

I actually have funding from my government (I’m an international student) for the MA level. It covers everything from tuition to plane tickets and insurance, so even though Penn State doesn’t give funding for the MA level, I can live with the money from my govt, and then transition to Penn State’s funding for the PhD stage (they will fund the PhD for 4 years if I’m allowed to proceed). 

UW, however, is trickier. If I don’t escape the waitlist for their funding, I’m not sure the monthly allowance from my govt funding ($1,500 per month, for 24 months of the MA) will be enough to live comfortably in Seattle, though I think I can make it work. 

Aside from those details on funding, I’m also worried about the social scene of each place (if people are friendly esp to foreigners, etc.), which again I have no way to know for sure because I’ll never get to visit them before actually starting my study. 

Anyway, congrats to you for almost making a decision! Purdue sounds awesome! I regret not applying there too. I guess if we’ve reached our peak indecisiveness we can take comfort in the knowledge that either option is great anyway

[renea]

So I officially accepted my offer at Texas Christian University. For future rhet/comp ppl who are lurking or applying for their PhD next year, if you are interested in New Media studies, multimodal work, or food rhetorics I would highly recommend the program. I just visited last week and found the department to be very welcoming and the stipend is very competitive to the other offers I received.

For anyone waitlisted, I'm declining offers today at Miami University, Virginia Tech, Georgia State, and Florida State. Hope this helps someone out! 

[klader]

4 hours ago, renea said:

So I officially accepted my offer at Texas Christian University. For future rhet/comp ppl who are lurking or applying for their PhD next year, if you are interested in New Media studies, multimodal work, or food rhetorics I would highly recommend the program. I just visited last week and found the department to be very welcoming and the stipend is very competitive to the other offers I received.

For anyone waitlisted, I'm declining offers today at Miami University, Virginia Tech, Georgia State, and Florida State. Hope this helps someone out! 

Congrats!! Sounds like a great fit for you. I'm glad you found a program that will work with your interests and that has a good financial package

[Isocrates2.o]

CLEMSON VS. NC STATE. I'm torn. My research interests are in rhetorical theory, digital media and web social activism. My far-too-simple analysis of these two programs, which are my finalists and are both offering similar funding packages, is that Clemson RCID focuses more on rhetorical theory, while NC State CRDM focuses more on communication, media theory and social media. I can't really go wrong with either-- both boast nearly 100% job placement rates. 

For anyone with inside knowledge of the programs, could you perhaps give me some advice on how they differ/which better sets up someone who'd like to one day publish in Kairos, Computers & Composition, and Philosphy & Rhetoric? 

My gut inclination as of now is to head to Raleigh and commit to NC State based on the faculty, the cohort, the awesome city, the location, the focus on media theory (which attracts me), and the overall level of comfortability. I haven't visited Clemson, so I haven't a clue what life would be like there. But they have big-name faculty and a history of excellence. 

Anyone have any inside knowledge on these programs? Thanks in advance!

[Wabbajack]

2 hours ago, Isocrates2.o said:

CLEMSON VS. NC STATE. I'm torn. My research interests are in rhetorical theory, digital media and web social activism. My far-too-simple analysis of these two programs, which are my finalists and are both offering similar funding packages, is that Clemson RCID focuses more on rhetorical theory, while NC State CRDM focuses more on communication, media theory and social media. I can't really go wrong with either-- both boast nearly 100% job placement rates. 

For anyone with inside knowledge of the programs, could you perhaps give me some advice on how they differ/which better sets up someone who'd like to one day publish in Kairos, Computers & Composition, and Philosphy & Rhetoric? 

My gut inclination as of now is to head to Raleigh and commit to NC State based on the faculty, the cohort, the awesome city, the location, the focus on media theory (which attracts me), and the overall level of comfortability. I haven't visited Clemson, so I haven't a clue what life would be like there. But they have big-name faculty and a history of excellence. 

Anyone have any inside knowledge on these programs? Thanks in advance!

Have fun reading my super long PM. If you still want more info, @mk-8 is a wealth of knowledge who helped me out a lot!

[mk-8]

2 hours ago, Isocrates2.o said:

CLEMSON VS. NC STATE. I'm torn. My research interests are in rhetorical theory, digital media and web social activism. My far-too-simple analysis of these two programs, which are my finalists and are both offering similar funding packages, is that Clemson RCID focuses more on rhetorical theory, while NC State CRDM focuses more on communication, media theory and social media. I can't really go wrong with either-- both boast nearly 100% job placement rates. 

For anyone with inside knowledge of the programs, could you perhaps give me some advice on how they differ/which better sets up someone who'd like to one day publish in Kairos, Computers & Composition, and Philosphy & Rhetoric? 

My gut inclination as of now is to head to Raleigh and commit to NC State based on the faculty, the cohort, the awesome city, the location, the focus on media theory (which attracts me), and the overall level of comfortability. I haven't visited Clemson, so I haven't a clue what life would be like there. But they have big-name faculty and a history of excellence. 

Anyone have any inside knowledge on these programs? Thanks in advance!

Congrats on narrowing it to 2! I know we talked a little already, so I'll try not to repeat myself much.

I think it kind of depends how important rhetorical theory is to you. I don't know a lot about NC State's program, but from what I've gathered, I think theory is more emphasized at Clemson and critical making is more emphasized at NCSU. Obviously we still have plenty of making going on here and there's theory there, but I think your "simple" analysis is pretty accurate. 

If you check out the latest issue of Kairos, you'll see both a Clemson and NSCU student published in it. The work the Clemson student published started in a class, I believe, and I think most professors here are really welcome to you customizing a project as much as you can to fit your own interests and publication. 

[mk-8]

Officially accepted my offer from UT Austin, y'all. Where should I buy my cowboy boots?

[CulturalCriminal]

1 hour ago, mk-8 said:

Officially accepted my offer from UT Austin, y'all. Where should I buy my cowboy boots?

Tom’s are the cowboy boots of Austin lol

[mk-8]

3 hours ago, CulturalCriminal said:

Tom’s are the cowboy boots of Austin lol

I already have plenty of those though!

[Kilos]

On 3/28/2018 at 2:58 PM, ancientqueen said:

Hey, fellow Rhet/Comp people! 

It's hard to keep track of R/C in the Decisions thread, so I wanted to ask here if anyone has officially accepted anywhere yet! Especially interested to see whether or not anyone will be joining me at Syracuse in the Fall.

 

 

Not me! I'm waitlisted for one funded Ph.D. (Rhet/Comp) program and accepted at a different funded M.A. (Rhet/Comp) program. I only applied to three schools, so it all comes down to this waitlist (which, as the cruel fates would have it, happens to be my top choice school).

These next two weeks are going to be the worst.

[woomdc]

Hi, new here! Is there a thread somewhere for writing samples that people submitted to PhD for Rhet-Comp programs? I'm many years out of undergrad, have my MFA, and would want to write something completely new (rather than something from undergrad or MFA school). Thanks! 

[klader]

On 5/23/2018 at 2:56 PM, woomdc said:

Hi, new here! Is there a thread somewhere for writing samples that people submitted to PhD for Rhet-Comp programs? I'm many years out of undergrad, have my MFA, and would want to write something completely new (rather than something from undergrad or MFA school). Thanks! 

Hello and welcome! 

I'm not sure off-hand about set threads talking about R/C writing samples (hopefully others can dig some up), but I can speak briefly here to my own experiences. Even though I had plenty of R/C writing from my BA and MA in the field, I decided to write a brand new writing sample in December, from a seminar paper I was writing. So, not a lot of time, and even though everything worked out for me, I wish I'd have had more time to think through my ideas. It's smart you are thinking about this early. 

I asked my professor, and she supported the idea because the paper represented something I was really interested in and that (admittedly) was pushing a few theories and movements. Conventional wisdom says you should try to pair your WS with your personal statement/established research agenda and identity, but I don't know if that's necessarily what you HAVE to do. Some programs really just want to see you carry an argument and demonstrate knowledge in your field, even if that argument is not linked to what you want to study. No one will EVER (or should ever) hold you to what you write about in your WS and personal statement anyway, so I'm generally a fan of submitting what you think is your best work/most interesting work/etc. 

For my MA, I submitted something that demonstrated my knowledge of rhetoric; for the PhD, it was all comp/WPA. This definitely might depend on which program you are applying to (some places may need more of a specific sub-field than others, or you may have more competition in one sub-field than others), but I feel like your WS helps the adcomm "brand" you in that way, too. For one school, I was literally put in the "WPA pile" bc of what I had written about in my WS. Part of me wonders if I still would have gotten in if I had, say, gone all in with rhetorical history or something. You just never know. 

Just a few thoughts I have about it! Again, hopefully someone can dig up the wealth of threads that are likely already in existence.