Rhetoric/Composition 2014 hopefuls

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

Proflorax...

the 13th is a week away.

Please, y'all. No advice about being cool and calm. I can self regulate  (besides I'm busy as hell so I don't have time to be wired up)

buuuuuuut - I can feel it. We're nearly there - nearly teetering on the edge. Lets hope this roller coaster ends well. 

[bhr]

Well, I got my first two responses this week. One MA acceptance, one PhD rejection (with the caveat that they will consider me for the MA there as well.)

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

Well, I got my first two responses this week. One MA acceptance, one PhD rejection (with the caveat that they will consider me for the MA there as well.)

Shucks!

Here I was focusing on myself.

but GUYYYYS! I wanna play too!

[bhr]

Ya, that was a little me-centric, sorry. What kills me are the pair of applications I have that are just still in "submitted" status. What am I supposed to do with that? At least out to department ones I know are being considered (eventually).

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

No need to apologize - I was teasing on myself.

So I'm leaning towards: quiet and busy weekend leading into a wild and very busy week.

 

and some results - good or bad.

Sigh.

I'm not going to say that the angst from the "Applications 2014" thread has rubbed off on me... but, I'm feeling just a little bit nervous.

[ProfLorax]

BowTiesAreCool, here is my remedy to the angst. Hope it helps. (Can you tell I have a cold, and am therefore avoiding doing all and any work right now?)

 

GRAD SCHOOL APPLICATIONS: As told by puppies.

 

You started this cycle by throwing yourself into your applications, reaching for the dream of an acceptance letter.

 

 

Applications took everything you had, leaving you in a dazed state. 

 

 

Now, you are on the waiting period, moving frantically with no destination in sight...

 

 

Trying to find ways to distract yourself from your email...

 

 

And attacking any friend or family member who claims confidently, "You're gonna get into all the schools!"

 

 

But eventually you'll hear some good news, and you will love the DGS more than you've ever loved anyone before.

 

 

It's pretty much the greatest feeling, the feeling of being wanted.

 

 

Then, in a few months time, you'll be starting the PhD student journey alongside new friends who are nervous, thrilled, and curious, just like you.

 

 

And if it doesn't happen this year, it will happen when it's time. Lots of us here had multiple rounds before ending up where we wanted.

 

 

Until then, here are a bunch of puppies to make the waiting easier.

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

BowTiesAreCool, here is my remedy to the angst. Hope it helps. (Can you tell I have a cold, and am therefore avoiding doing all and any work right now?)

 

GRAD SCHOOL APPLICATIONS: As told by puppies.

 

You started this cycle by throwing yourself into your applications, reaching for the dream of an acceptance letter.

 

 

Applications took everything you had, leaving you in a dazed state. 

 

 

Now, you are on the waiting period, moving frantically with no destination in sight...

 

 

Trying to find ways to distract yourself from your email...

 

 

And attacking any friend or family member who claims confidently, "You're gonna get into all the schools!"

 

 

But eventually you'll hear some good news, and you will love the DGS more than you've ever loved anyone before.

 

 

It's pretty much the greatest feeling, the feeling of being wanted.

 

 

Then, in a few months time, you'll be starting the PhD student journey alongside new friends who are nervous, thrilled, and curious, just like you.

 

 

And if it doesn't happen this year, it will happen when it's time. Lots of us here had multiple rounds before ending up where we wanted.

 

 

Until then, here are a bunch of puppies to make the waiting easier.

This is wonderful!

(I hesitated to use" This. Is. Wonderful")

I'm blogging this so everyone sees it.  I'll attribute you!

[ProfLorax]

Ah, thank you! Glad to add some levity to the boards. Puppies make everything better! 

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

Cheers to the Knoxville Admit!

I was thiiiiiiis close to applying there. 

I hope you get everything you want out of your admission!

[bhr]

Me too! It will be my first time at Computers and Writing, and I'm seriously stoked. STOKED! See you there! 

CW was a blast last year, and that was in the middle of nowhere. Definitely bring drinking money.

[bhr]

So, I may as well ask here. Is there a consensus "top tier" for Comp/Rhet like there seems to be for Lit/English over on the other thread? I applied to programs that had stuff I wanted to learn more than anything, and am worried a bit that I didn't apply aggressively enough. Of course, I'm also worried that I overreached with my 2.something GPA. 

[ComeBackZinc]

Tough question to answer. Every time I try I worry that I have insulted somebody. One thing I like to say is that you need to worry about the history of a program, because rhet/comp programs tend to be quite small in terms of faculty and can, at times, just disappear. I remember that when I first started putting my application together my advisor was afraid that Ohio State might not have a program much longer, as they were facing some high-profile defections. But flash forward four years or so  and they've still got a stellar program. You have to think about this stuff with programs that are so small. 

 

With the caveat that I will inevitably leave programs off that I shouldn't, I would name my own department, because of its history and pedigree, and particularly because of its extremely large network in the field, which certainly matters on the job market; Michigan State, for a dynamic and tech-heavy program; Michigan's joint program in English and education, particularly if you're into more pedagogy and quantitative research; Illinois-Urbana/Champaign; Texas at Austin; Penn State; Syracuse....

 

But there I go again. If I list as many as I'd like, I'll end up providing you with little useful information. I may just be too much of a booster for the field to be good at answering this question. 

[driftlake]

Thanks, bhr, for asking the question that I've been thinking as I read this thread.

 

Interesting list, ComeBackZinc. Those are some of the programs I expected. Good to know I'm not wholly nuts.

[bhr]

Thanks for the feedback. Ohio State's program was one of my favorites, but I just ran out of application time last semester, which knocked them and Penn State out of the running. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has the perception that on the Comp/Rhet side it really does come down to what "niche" you are going for, rather than overall prestige.

 

It's funny to me, looking at the Lit thread, but I never considered an Ivy. The Big Ten seems to have so many solid programs, with great placement rates, funding and interesting research, that it never occured to me that somewhere like Harvard would be a better option.

[ComeBackZinc]

Oh, you couldn't possibly do a rhet comp focus at most Ivies. Dartmouth has a cool center for Writing and Rhetoric, but most (not all, but most) schools with prestige programs in lit range from uninterested to actively hostile towards comp/rhet/writing studies/etc. 

 

Generally speaking, rhet comp has traded forgoing a lot of prestige positions for (much) better hiring numbers overall. In part, this is just a numbers game, given how many lit PhDs programs churn out that they can't possibly place. In part, it's a reflection of the perception that rhet comp is more "practical"/pedagogical/whatever than lit, a viewpoint that you can see as a terrible betrayal of the humanities ideal or a pragmatic reflection of the political economy of the contemporary university or somewhere in between. The reality is that most rhet comp grads get jobs at teaching universities, and a majority of our graduates end up at teaching schools where they'll work 3/3 loads or similar. Not all, certainly; we've placed plenty of people at R1 universities, including places like Georgetown and Michigan State recently. But that's generally the deal. Which works for me fine-- I love to teach, that's why I got into this, and our program has a 100% effective TT placement rate. But you're just never going to be respected by a large number of people in English writ large, and you will never get a job at Harvard as a rhet comp person. But who cares?

[bhr]

I don't. I'm coming out of a small state school, and could see myself being happy in a similar situation down the road.

 

The other day I got taken down pretty harshly when I suggested that (based on a different comment) that I don't see why FYC has to support lit programs. Someone else was bemoaning the recent call for comp/rhet to split off of English, and take the "cash cow" of FYC with them. In my opinion, I would rather see schools spend the money hiring more dedicated comp folks, rather than use FYC to essentially subsidize underused English programs. Don't get me wrong, it's great that some schools can afford to have 3/2 lit folks thanks to having adjuncts teaching a couple sections of FYC, but I would rather see those positions go toward either FYC specialists or to support more tech and scientific writing.

Maybe it's my work experience that shades me that way. I spent a decade working before returning to undergrad, so I see a lot more value in comp/rhet than I do in the rest of the English department (I have been told to stop trying to talk sophomores out of creative writing.)

[bhr]

And there are a pair of posts from Michigan Tech.

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

Ya know. It sucked watching all the UT Austin spots fill up... but it wasn't that bad.  I watched from the sidelines in years past and I always thought it must be a terrible experience.

It's over now. and I'm alive. Perhaps I'll land on a wait-list. Perhaps they'll forward me a rejection. 

I  survived.

[rhetoricus aesalon]

Just got my UT rejection! It may be a blessing, though. I've heard that UT has a strong lit focus, which makes sense considering their prestige in that area. A great school, though, and congrats to those who made the cut!

[Tweedledumb]

Just got my UT rejection! It may be a blessing, though. I've heard that UT has a strong lit focus, which makes sense considering their prestige in that area. A great school, though, and congrats to those who made the cut!

I just got mine too -- oh well!

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

Y'all! I'm out too! Boo

[bhr]

Nothing quite as bad as seeing responses going up and not having a yes or no. I've gotten bounced now from all my PhD admits, but honestly, I think I prefer going MA first (assuming that I get funded).

[iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns]

Nothing quite as bad as seeing responses going up and not having a yes or no. I've gotten bounced now from all my PhD admits, but honestly, I think I prefer going MA first (assuming that I get funded).

It's not all that bad. 

I'm 27 - I'm a big boy. If I don't get in anywhere I'll take my talents to the circus. 

[WendyWonderland]

On 2/15/2014 at 8:29 PM, BowTiesAreCool said:

It's not all that bad.

I'm 27 - I'm a big boy. If I don't get in anywhere I'll take my talents to the circus.

I am also 27, getting 28 this year.

If I suck this year, I might reapply again.

If I don't get in again, pretty sure Chinese society would force me to get married.....no way!

[Graditude]

On 2/16/2014 at 12:24 AM, WendyWonderland said:

I am also 27, getting 28 this year.

If I suck this year, I might reapply again.

If I don't get in again, pretty sure Chinese society would force me to get married.....no way!

 

Don't let them walk you down the aisle yet!