Math Major turning to Rhetoric-- Do I stand a chance?

[Niteonites]

Obviously, or perhaps superficially, mathematics is not necessarily the best undergraduate major to have when applying to graduate programs for Rhetoric and Communications. However, this is a disciplines I strongly wish to pursue.

My GPA is 3.54 cumulative, which isn't bad for a math major, with a non major GPA of about 3.8

My GRE General test scores are Q: 770 V: 700 AW: 4.5

I have letters of recommendation from a Rhetoric and Communications professor, a Philosophy professor, and a Mathematics professor (May as well work the interdisciplinary angle)

Some disadvantages are pretty clear. I don't have a pool of writing samples, and I am certainly not as polished as someone from a Communications or English background.

Do I stand a snowball's chance in Maui of getting into a respectable program? As funding is a necessity, I will focus on PhD programs, and I am strongly interested in technologically mediated communication, though I would love to do some work that relates rhetoric and mathematics.

Thank you for your time.

[Queequeg]

I can hardly claim to speak with any authority, but from what information you've given us here, there's no reason you should resign yourself to the snowball's fate. Your numbers are good, pushing the interdisciplinary angle is a wise strategy. And coming to rhetoric from math and philosophy is not like coming to rhetoric from modern dance and business management. Your burden will be answering the questions "Why English?" and "Why now?" (I'm in a somewhat similar spot and this is what I've been told by professors I've emailed with). Make sure in your statement of purpose explains clearly why you want to pursue a Ph.D in English, given your non-English background.

It's likely you won't be tossed out, as long as your writing sample is of good quality. If your pool of samples is small, that may not matter. You (usually) only need one very good sample. And don't worry if it's not closely related to what you plan to study. The sample is still important as evidence of your type of approach, style, argumentative and analytical skills, and all sorts of things that give the committee a general idea of how you think about rhetoric.

Good Luck!

[bck203]

One of my best literature profs in college earned a master's in Chemistry before switching to English. An unusual path to be sure, but he made it work for him (and got his Phd from a top program). I actually kind of noticed it in his teaching--he had a very meticulous, evidence-based approach to literary analysis.