empress-marmot Posted February 20, 2015 Posted February 20, 2015 Congratulations, errantscribe! I've heard really awesome things about Louisville. I hope you get in!
foucyeah Posted February 20, 2015 Posted February 20, 2015 Hello everyone! I'm a 2015 PhD applicant heading to Texas in the fall, and also a lurker coming out of the woodwork to introduce themselves--super excited to see a rhet/comp board
mmmscience Posted February 20, 2015 Posted February 20, 2015 Congratulations, foucyeah! What's your research interest?
foucyeah Posted February 20, 2015 Posted February 20, 2015 Congratulations, foucyeah! What's your research interest? Thank you! I'm a little all over the place to be honest, but mainly interested in researching how civic discourse and epistemology operate within virtual communities. forever_jung 1
empress-marmot Posted February 21, 2015 Posted February 21, 2015 Thank you! I'm a little all over the place to be honest, but mainly interested in researching how civic discourse and epistemology operate within virtual communities. Could you give me an example of this? It sounds interesting! And congratulations on your acceptance!
LCB Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 I'll introduce myself as well! I'm really undecided on where I'm going to end up at the moment (insight/advice/whatever is certainly welcome). But I never really said anything on this thread, so I might as well now.
foucyeah Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 Could you give me an example of this? It sounds interesting! And congratulations on your acceptance! Thank you, and for sure! The big one on my mind right now is my thesis work, which is focused on rhetorical maneuvers/the potential for public argument using hashtag composition (specifically movements like #NotAllMen -> #YesAllWomen). empress-marmot 1
foucyeah Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 I'll introduce myself as well! I'm really undecided on where I'm going to end up at the moment (insight/advice/whatever is certainly welcome). But I never really said anything on this thread, so I might as well now. Nice to meet you, and congrats on your acceptances! Those all look like amazing programs.
empress-marmot Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 Thank you, and for sure! The big one on my mind right now is my thesis work, which is focused on rhetorical maneuvers/the potential for public argument using hashtag composition (specifically movements like #NotAllMen -> #YesAllWomen). I was just thinking about that the other day! I was exploring a hashtag campaign, and remarking to myself that social media crazes would be a cool topic to analyze. (Though I shuddered to think about what corporations would do with my research.) Good luck on your thesis! foucyeah 1
forever_jung Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 I'll introduce myself as well! I'm really undecided on where I'm going to end up at the moment (insight/advice/whatever is certainly welcome). But I never really said anything on this thread, so I might as well now. LCB, are you going to the Louisville visit day next week? If so, I'll see you there!
bhr Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 I'll introduce myself as well! I'm really undecided on where I'm going to end up at the moment (insight/advice/whatever is certainly welcome). But I never really said anything on this thread, so I might as well now. Welcome, and, going by the acceptances you list, I guess I'll see you in Lansing this week. iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns 1
LCB Posted February 22, 2015 Posted February 22, 2015 LCB, are you going to the Louisville visit day next week? If so, I'll see you there! Welcome, and, going by the acceptances you list, I guess I'll see you in Lansing this week. So the Louisville and Michigan State visits are the same weekend (boo!). I'm actually going to the MSU one for a few reasons. The primary is that I found out about that acceptance first and had my trip planned before I knew about the Louisville acceptance. But I also went to Watson last year and met a lot of the students/faculty while I was there, so I feel like I've at least been to UofL before and want to make sure to visit a campus I haven't been to yet. The DGS at Louisville was kind enough to offer to send me out another weekend if I can schedule it, however. Also, foucyeah - your research sounds awesome! My secondary area is in political activism and new media, so it seems like you and I might have some interests in common (though I've never looked at hashtag compositions specifically, so that's an awesome one to think about). It's a fascinating (and ever-changing!) area.
iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I just love all the happy vibes in this thread! empress-marmot 1
bhr Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 rhet comp people are always happy. There are jobs at the end of our rainbow (we expect). empress-marmot, Hannalore and forever_jung 2 1
empress-marmot Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I just love all the happy vibes in this thread! rhet comp people are always happy. Becoming a rhet/comp person made me see more possibilities for my research, and that's how I knew it was the right specialization for me. How did you all decide to be Rhet/Comp-y folks? iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns 1
LCB Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 Becoming a rhet/comp person made me see more possibilities for my research, and that's how I knew it was the right specialization for me. How did you all decide to be Rhet/Comp-y folks? I have degrees from the social sciences (psych and polisci) and originally came to English to do literary theory. When I got here, I was just really frustrated by (1) the need in literary studies to declare a specific time period (especially when I wanted to do theory); and (2) the general disdain/misunderstanding of different methods/methodologies that happens often in literary studies (this isn't universally true; there's really awesome people doing stuff with digital mapping and literature, for example, but I just noticed that my background was often treated more with suspicion than excitement). On the other hand, the comp/rhet people were more open to interdisciplinary approaches and I felt like I could bring more of what I knew about from other fields with me if I did comp/rhet. Plus, I just found that I was much more invested in pedagogy than I expected to be. I really connected with the teaching side of stuff, and I really enjoy administrative work (I'm in writing program administration now, and I love it). There is much more discussion of that on the comp/rhet side of things, since there tends to be much more research on pedagogy and a concern about the application of the research to the classroom. mmmscience 1
ComeBackZinc Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I just really cared about writing and teaching, for one. I also was interested in empiricism, and I have become, somehow, a quant, having taken a ton of classes in research methods, psychometrics, and stats. Now, I've learned that the field's return to its empiricist roots is more theoretical than actual-- empirical stuff is still not getting regularly published in the major R/C journals. But I'm happy enough with where I am, if I've grown more disillusioned by the field. LCB 1
mmmscience Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I, too, started in science (physics and science journalism). I originally came to English in hopes of doing a creative nonfiction specialization to hone my feature writing skills. And in my MA's intro research methods course I discovered discourse analysis and never ever looked back. Like LCB said, I love the interdisciplinary nature of R/C. I can be both science minded and humanities minded, which just fills my split-brained personality with a lot of joy. I also do love teaching and pedagogy -- which is another reason I like R/C. I feel like I am fully encouraged to do my own science literacy research AND pedagogy research. It's a lot of both/and and not so much either/or. Also, R/C people are amazing! LCB 1
bhr Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I'm a non-trad and basically came back to school for the degree/PW stuff. I wound up helping to host a conference, meeting a bunch of awesome r/c (well, mostly TC/CW) folks, and decided that was the place for me. Honestly, the time between learning that the field existed and applying to grad school was probably <3 months.
ProfLorax Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I did my BA and MA in literature, and I loved studying literature. But I realized I wanted to research and write about texts outside of the literary canon, the writing of everyday, ordinary people. I became increasingly more interested in how people rhetorically construct arguments on Twitter, in zines, on protest signs, and with bodies than in canonical poetry and novels. Then, I taught writing and reading at a community college in California. God I loved it. My students were amazing-- they had overcome and still were overcoming so many obstacles to write their stories and their perspectives. While many teachers with lit MAs bemoaned the "tragic" state of our students' grammar, I found the writing to be exciting, authentic, and original. Rhetoric and Compostion as a field finds value in and celebrates these students, as well as texts crafted and delivered outside traditional publication. Ultimately, I felt I could better incorporate my commitment to social justice in my research, writing, and teaching within the field of rhet/comp, way better than I could in other English fields. So far, I haven't been disappointed. LCB, ComeBackZinc, heja0805 and 2 others 5
heja0805 Posted February 25, 2015 Author Posted February 25, 2015 I'm a non-trad and basically came back to school for the degree/PW stuff. I wound up helping to host a conference, meeting a bunch of awesome r/c (well, mostly TC/CW) folks, and decided that was the place for me. Honestly, the time between learning that the field existed and applying to grad school was probably <3 months. I'm just going to believe that you sent us all a heart <3 ComeBackZinc and iExcelAtMicrosoftPuns 2
Jarndyce Posted February 26, 2015 Posted February 26, 2015 So this might be a silly question, being that so many of you came from different fields...But I'm planning on starting my MA in English literature this fall, and then moving on to a PhD program. It wasn't until very recently (I.e., about two days ago) that I realized how interesting the rhet/comp field is, and that I might like to pursue a PhD in that, rather than literature. Will applying to Rhet/Comp PhDs with a master's in literature put me at a major disadvantage to those who already have rhet/comp degrees?
ProfLorax Posted February 26, 2015 Posted February 26, 2015 Hey Jarndyce! As I mentioned just a few posts above yours, my BA and MA are both in literature. My experience is that many PhD students in rhet/comp have their MA's in literature or even other fields. I do suggest taking at least one rhet/comp class in your MA experience, so that you may have a writing sample to submit (though mine was from a lit seminar and strangely related to writing studies!). mmmscience 1
Jarndyce Posted February 26, 2015 Posted February 26, 2015 Good to know! I will have to take teaching composition, but I also get one other elective, so I'm definitely going to try to make that a rhetoric course. I'm glad to hear that the transition is feasible, because I still feel very green to all of this, and I really just want some time to get my feet wet and really figure out what I want to do. I have this general fear in various areas of life that I'm going to make decisions today that will situate me in a position where I'm painted into a corner ten years from now that I don't want to be in. It's helpful to hear from experienced people that that's not quite where I'm headed.
sighborg Posted February 26, 2015 Posted February 26, 2015 short-time lurker here, but I really love hearing folks talk about how they came to comp/rhet. I came from creative writing, and even though I've been doing this for ~2 years during my MFA, I still feel green. I wonder sometimes if that's the nature of comp/rhet: greenness, wide-eyed curiosity, all of us (many from different fields) coming to the table without ego or preconceptions. at my current institution, comp/rhet classes usually involve a rotating food schedule (the program is very small and tight-knit), so in all honesty, I came to comp/rhet because of the food. rhetoricus aesalon, foucyeah and ProfLorax 3
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