Specializing for a Ph.D.

[HappyCat]

Hi all!

I'm applying for Ph.D. programs this fall and was wondering about specializing. There's a long story involved (well, long-ish) just to warn you.

I'm currently working on an MA because I had a rough start in my undergrad due to some personal issues. This extra time pursuing the MA has helped me really establish myself, but I feel I'm being torn in two completely different directions (partially due to professors pressuring me). I have a lot of experience in the Comp. and Rhet. field: I worked at my college's Writing Center as a tutor for a few years and am now a supervisor, I grade ESL placement exams, I presented on authoritative blogging at 2010's CCCC, and I will be teaching College Composition this fall. I've submitted proposals for CCCC again (as part of a gaming and writing workshop) and AWP (discussing using creative non-fiction content to engage students in writing based courses).

When I thought of applying for Comp. and Rhet., I always thought I could focus more on rhetoric--rhetorical theory, history, etc. As such, my MA thesis will be on the rhetorical styling of Jonathan Swift, and I'm absolutely thrilled with my topic. However, a professor who has taken me under his/her wing mentioned that my topic may not be appropriate for a Comp. and Rhet. focus. He/She suggested I write about technology and writing pedagogy. I stuck to my guns, though, and am not changing my topic.

Now, I'm also a bit of a techie (hence why he/she suggested a tech focus in my thesis). I have a lot of--renown, I guess I'll call it--on my campus due to a website I made which gives writing/grammar advice. As such, this professor, again, decided that he/she should suggest that I make my thesis into a website, etc. etc. to really emphasize my technological background because it will make my application tighter. Again, I'm sticking to my guns: I'm not making my thesis web-based.

I'm incredibly torn now--perhaps I was mistaken about the possibility of studying rhetorical theory and history. When I imagine my future, I don't want to study theories of writing pedagogy forever (Elbow, Selfe, etc.). I appreciate everything they do immensely because I feel I can apply their theories to my classroom. Yet when I imagine my studies, I always picture literature, predominantly the Scriblerians. And it's not as simple as having multiple literary interests (I also love medieval, and oddly enough, I find most medievalists enjoy the long 18th and vice versa), since these are two entirely different programs in many cases.

I have been thinking about applying to some Comp. and Rhet. programs and some "literature" programs. But this causes a couple issues--(1) I'll have to decide whether to go Comp./Rhet or English for some programs (such as CUNY Grad Center), (2) It may become difficult for the professors who will be writing my LoR.

Is it impossible to study 18th century literature in a rhetorical light? Should I be applying for literature programs instead? Will my strong background in composition reflect poorly on my literature applications?

Unfortunately, I missed the deadlines for the conferences covering the long Eighteenth, so I can't build more of an 18th century focus at this point.

[GK Chesterton]

Hi all!

I'm applying for Ph.D. programs this fall and was wondering about specializing. There's a long story involved (well, long-ish) just to warn you.

I'm currently working on an MA because I had a rough start in my undergrad due to some personal issues. This extra time pursuing the MA has helped me really establish myself, but I feel I'm being torn in two completely different directions (partially due to professors pressuring me). I have a lot of experience in the Comp. and Rhet. field: I worked at my college's Writing Center as a tutor for a few years and am now a supervisor, I grade ESL placement exams, I presented on authoritative blogging at 2010's CCCC, and I will be teaching College Composition this fall. I've submitted proposals for CCCC again (as part of a gaming and writing workshop) and AWP (discussing using creative non-fiction content to engage students in writing based courses).

When I thought of applying for Comp. and Rhet., I always thought I could focus more on rhetoric--rhetorical theory, history, etc. As such, my MA thesis will be on the rhetorical styling of Jonathan Swift, and I'm absolutely thrilled with my topic. However, a professor who has taken me under his/her wing mentioned that my topic may not be appropriate for a Comp. and Rhet. focus. He/She suggested I write about technology and writing pedagogy. I stuck to my guns, though, and am not changing my topic.

Now, I'm also a bit of a techie (hence why he/she suggested a tech focus in my thesis). I have a lot of--renown, I guess I'll call it--on my campus due to a website I made which gives writing/grammar advice. As such, this professor, again, decided that he/she should suggest that I make my thesis into a website, etc. etc. to really emphasize my technological background because it will make my application tighter. Again, I'm sticking to my guns: I'm not making my thesis web-based.

I'm incredibly torn now--perhaps I was mistaken about the possibility of studying rhetorical theory and history. When I imagine my future, I don't want to study theories of writing pedagogy forever (Elbow, Selfe, etc.). I appreciate everything they do immensely because I feel I can apply their theories to my classroom. Yet when I imagine my studies, I always picture literature, predominantly the Scriblerians. And it's not as simple as having multiple literary interests (I also love medieval, and oddly enough, I find most medievalists enjoy the long 18th and vice versa), since these are two entirely different programs in many cases.

I have been thinking about applying to some Comp. and Rhet. programs and some "literature" programs. But this causes a couple issues--(1) I'll have to decide whether to go Comp./Rhet or English for some programs (such as CUNY Grad Center), (2) It may become difficult for the professors who will be writing my LoR.

Is it impossible to study 18th century literature in a rhetorical light? Should I be applying for literature programs instead? Will my strong background in composition reflect poorly on my literature applications?

Unfortunately, I missed the deadlines for the conferences covering the long Eighteenth, so I can't build more of an 18th century focus at this point.

I would suggest reframing rejecting your professor's advice as "Sticking to your guns" and have an open discussion with this person about your desire to one day study literature, and ask if that's compatible with the suggestions he or she gave you. If so, do what they said. What may seem brave or obvious to you comes across as a little foolhardy when you are flat-out rejecting major pieces of advice from a professor like that.

[HappyCat]

I would suggest reframing rejecting your professor's advice as "Sticking to your guns" and have an open discussion with this person about your desire to one day study literature, and ask if that's compatible with the suggestions he or she gave you. If so, do what they said. What may seem brave or obvious to you comes across as a little foolhardy when you are flat-out rejecting major pieces of advice from a professor like that.

I'm sorry; I mislead you. The reason I vocalize it so vehemently is because this has been a discussion that has come up over, and over, and over again. I feel he/she doesn't quite understand my perspective and desires and is rather trying to push me into his/her field. I've discussed this already with a mentor and my thesis adviser (both 18th century specialists), and they both suggested I do not make a web-based thesis. Mind you, this professor who suggested it is not in any way my adviser, he/she has opted to take me under his/her wing.

You're right in that I should have reframed it--I'm just becoming very frustrated and disheartened in the situation. It's a bit like being between a rock and a hard place.

[diehtc0ke]

Well, now that I know who you are, I'm going to preface this by saying you, me and aforementioned MFA student should go get some coffee and discuss things.

I'm also going to start off by saying (and I'm sure you know this already) I believe that the field of rhetoric/composition still has better job prospects for what it's worth, but that margin between rhet/comp openings and literature openings is nowhere near what it used to be. You might want to remain cognizant of this as you try to figure out how you go about this process. I also wouldn't worry about our professors. Most, if not all, are more than pleased to help students get into PhD candidates in any way possible and I don't think having to make two related letters of recommendation counts as an overwhelming burden. With that being said, I (perhaps, personally) want you to go into literature. Quite honestly, if you can't see yourself doing that kind of historically based rhetoric research for much longer, there isn't much point in marketing yourself as a candidate who can. No one is going to hold you to the intentions you lay out in your personal statement but, like you say, some places have rhet/comp programs outside of their institution's English department and it might come as somewhat of a hassle to switch departments (not speaking from experience, of course). You'd also probably have to end up with two writing samples: one would (possibly) be that master's thesis you've already discussed for the rhet/comp programs and another would have to be more lit based unless you can find a way to make one sample straddle both lines. It really comes down to the kind of research you DO foresee yourself wanting to do for a long period of time. If you really want to go into rhet/comp, don't let LORs or having to send two applications to two different departments at the same institution keep you from going that route. I think you can do wonders with taking that rhet/comp background and applying them to lit classes but I've never wanted to do rhet/comp so I may be slightly biased.

I really can't tell you whether your (rather impressive) rhetoric background will hurt your application to lit programs at all because I have no idea. I gather that you'd take the research you've done so far and apply it to a more literature-based track, which I would think would be more than fine as long as you promote that as being the case. You definitely don't want to come off as someone who's whimsically changing fields. This isn't to say that that is how it's coming across in the post but I can see how someone might interpret what you're doing as such. Just be mindful of it. Long story short, I did not apply to rhetoric/composition programs so all of my advice might be invalid. Be mindful of that too.

PS. I'm kind of intrigued as to who your adviser is.