Factors to consider when committing to a program

[bumbleblu]

This is a very good point, @bpilgrim89, and not something I had thought to consider.

[DKScully]

13 hours ago, bumbleblu said:

Should I put any kind of importance on the type/name of the degree (e.g. PhD in English vs PhD in Rhet/Comp)? I feel like at some point in time I was told that when it comes to the job market, it can be easier to get hired if you have a degree in rhet/comp, or in English rather than an interdisciplinary degree. Is there any truth in that at all? Obviously there are about a hundred other factors that go into getting a job, and the things you do in a program is more important than what a piece of paper says, but I am still curious. 

 

This information has been circulating on the WPA listserve comparing the Survey of Earned Doctorates for the 2016 calendar year and MLA’s report on the Job Information List for 2015-2016. Just on sheer numbers, it is much easier to get hired with a rhet/comp PhD... at least for now. And what the piece of paper says will actually matter a great deal on the job market. I would go as far as to wager that almost none of those tenure track RhetComp positions will interview someone with a PhD in English literature, regardless of their research focus. Interdisciplinary degrees are challenging for the same reason -- committees will often use the name of a degree to weed candidates out from that pile of 400+ applications. There's more flexibility with the NTT jobs, but I have a number of colleagues with PhD's in Rhetcomp who took NTT lectureships (many are good pay and good teaching loads so they are quite competitive). These things change; rhet/comp continues to be a more competitive job market every year. But I thought I'd share the numbers, in case they help with your decision-making.

Doctorates Earned
America Lit  342
British Lit  414
RhetComp  212

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Am Lit  107 tenure track  (184 total)
Brit Lit  120 tenure track  (197 total)
RhetComp  159 tenure track, (249 total)

Technical Writing   49 tenure track (90 total)

[CulturalCriminal]

My question with those numbers is how many of those rhet/comp folks are hired as tenure-track professors? There seems to be this common knowledge that a rhet/comp degree is marketable, but there might be a failure of communication as to why. Is the demand for established professors who’ll teach special topics on rhet/comp, or is it to snag experienced lecturers or non-tenure profs for writing center posts and first-year rhet/comp classes? 

At the end of the day, I don’t know how you could get through an MA (much less PhD) in an area that isn’t your primary interest. If career stability is dictating which program, go into admin or a career that is actually stable. Grad level course work and teaching is exhausting, with the only rewards being enjoying teaching and getting to explore the ideas that fascinate or haunt you. If you chose a discipline (or go to a poorly fit program) that doesn’t actually capture your interests, all you have left is the joy of teaching. You don’t need a PhD for that, or even an MA if teaching high school.

All this is to say that, while rhet/comp seems to be expanding well, you shouldn't go for certain PhD degrees on the basis of job security. There is no real job security, just slightly less awful placement numbers. Even if the numbers continue to grow for rhet/comp, you’ll struggle to finish a dissertation and put out research, if you aren’t especially interested in it beyond the level of interests most lit folks have. Go to a program that will match the interests that will drive you to pump out book after book, article after article. Even with interdisciplinary programs, if the fit and reputation is there and it’ll best suit your interests, I vote go for it (though having a discipline focused MA or postdoc in addition to an interdisciplinary PhD can arguably be an asset in finding jobs in discipline focused departments).