WHAT OUR STUDENTS TELL US
The M.A. FAQs The Department of English Carnegie Mellon University
When you are looking at the top Rhetoric programs in the country, finding the best program is often a matter of finding the best personal fit for your and your aspirations. So to help you make the best decision for you, we asked our recent MAs: Why did you decide to come to CMU? What did you find? And what does it take to be successful? This sample can’t capture the diversity of people or the reasons they choose a Rhetoric MA, but these students offer some good insight into what mattered.
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Why did you choose to attend CMU?
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What did you actually find when you got here?
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What does it take to be successful at CMU?
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Recent examples of student work
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From our M.A. Profiles: What our graduates say
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO ATTEND CMU? The Top Ten Reasons
1 It is a one-year program. 2 No teaching or thesis requirement—students can focus on coursework/research. 3 CMU offers a partial tuition scholarship for the MA. 4 This program offers a multi-disciplinary focus on “Rhetoric” (vs. “rhetoric and composition,” “professional communication,” etc.). 5 Its different approaches are a good prep for a PhD—for exploring options and finding your own path. 6 Its diversity offers a real “tool kit” for many different careers. 7 Its faculty were names I had heard of or read in undergraduate courses 8 People reached out to me. Cared about my interests. 9 The prestige of the University—CMU’s name opens doors. 10 10 Pittsburgh—it’s walkable, bikeable, green. A big
city—but has a ‘small-town vibe.’
WHAT DID YOU ACTUALLY FIND WHEN YOU GOT HERE?
CMU has a multifaceted approach to rhetoric. Many entering students didn’t get to take rhetoric courses as an undergraduate. They tell us, “my conception of Rhetoric as a discipline was a little vague.” So they are often surprised to discover all the different ways people at CMU do rhetoric. For example: THEORY
METHODS
EXPLORATION
Some classes focus on theoretical issues and frameworks such as
Some classes teach you methods for doing research and analysis such as
Some classes use rhetoric to explore live issues, areas, or activities
Narrative theory Argument Classical rhetoric Contemporary rhetorical theory The public sphere Discourse studies Intertextuality Teaching and Learning Visual and verbal design Multimodal rhetoric
Discourse analysis shaped by/shaping contexts, texts, and purposes Rhetorical analysis based on major theorists (Aristotle, to Burke, Perlman or Foucault) or developed around one’s own research questions Sociolinguistic and ethnographic inquiry Corpus analysis digital methods for large bodies of text Cognitive process tracing in reading and writing Activity analysis of deliberative, public performances
Digital humanities Discourse communities Legal, medical, disability discourse Environmental debate and action Citizen science Research-based pedagogy Cross-disciplinary Writing Centers Problem-solving processes in writing Collaborative writing Non-native speakers/writers Communicating expert knowledge Political rhetoric and the media Transnationalism Narrative and identity Gender and communication
Students found the freedom to pursue a diversity of research topics. “There’s a unifying thread [in the department] in that they’re all studying language and how it’s used, but also, you have a person doing environmental rhetoric, a person doing science, a person doing war.”
Many students found things that rather surprised them. Rhetoric is “action-oriented, interested in social change;” rhetoric lets you focus on the “art” of persuasion compared to some other kinds of writing: “it is artistically and intellectually stimulating;” rhetoric is about how to “direct a dialogue;”“avoiding the easy answers;” “projects you are passionate about.”
What Our Students Tell Us: The M.A. FAQs | Master of Arts in Rhetoric | Carnegie Mellon University
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Some expectations got scuttled—including ones about student/professor relationships. “One of the rumors I heard when applying to grad schools is that Master’s students basically get the short end of the stick in terms of communicating with professors and getting their time. . . . That was the expectation I was coming in with, and I don’t think it’s really held up. I’m on good terms with folks in the PhD. program, our lounge is nicer than theirs (*laughs*), the folks on the administrative end are super friendly and always willing to help, and I’ve never had trouble making an appointment [with a faculty member]. I’ve talked more with my professors in the past two months [in the MA program] than I did through three and a half years at [my undergraduate alma mater].” “Everybody’s talking to everybody else, it seems. I don’t feel limited in the areas I’m allowed to explore . . . For example, I feel like I could approach – and I’m actually planning on approaching – someone in the LTI (Language Technology Institute) for help with a rhetoric project.” “In [my past experience as an international student], the relationship between student and professor is not as close [as it is at CMU]. We don’t get to talk to the professors much [back home]. But here, professors give immediate feedback, and that’s very helpful.”
It’s not all roses. ”The transit system is okay, but not nearly as good as in Japan. And it’s cold.” For all the support, another said: “the volume of work was still a big shock.” Or, “I came thinking I wanted to do a PhD, and that has completely changed [good]. And people were “willing to meet me halfway and hold my hand” developing my corporate career interests [also good]. So [the challenge is] you have to make that extra effort to make the material click for you.”
What Our Students Tell Us: The M.A. FAQs | Master of Arts in Rhetoric | Carnegie Mellon University
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WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT CMU?
People seem to agree: it starts with open-mindedness—and depends on selfmotivation and determination. “Naming that quality? … maybe intellectual curiosity…. an awareness that I didn’t know a lot about [rhetoric], and a willingness to dive in without acting like ‘I already know what it is or what I want to research.” “From what I’ve observed, the people who do well become aware of what they don’t know…. they’re willing to explore some different things, different styles. I think it’s an advantage that our faculty have a lot of different styles—you can try some of those out. It’s a good to have some ideas of what you want to research . . . but one of the advantages of this program is that you can actually explore a few and figure out what it is that you want to do.” Successful students, they tell us, have the ability to establish relationships with faculty and other students quickly, to take criticism, and seek out help when you need it. They have the drive (and develop the ability) to formulate a path and execute a research agenda. And in this community-oriented department, they reach out to faculty, rely on PhD students, and find the people they can network with. “To get a lot out of the program, you want to take advantage of multiple opportunities and try to explore what rhetoric is in a lot of different ways.”
What Our Students Tell Us: The M.A. FAQs | Master of Arts in Rhetoric | Carnegie Mellon University
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RECENT EXAMPLES OF STUDENT WORK
So here is just a sample of the range of issues students were raising and theories they were engaging in papers they wrote in their MA courses. Mythologizing the Past: Folklore and the Role of Truth in Identity-Constituting Narratives. J.M. What’s that?: Definition, Narrative, and Disability. M.G. Representing the Culprit in Greenpeace: The Role of Identification in Campaign Design. A. M. Habitual Shamming or Pedagogical Technique? A Rhetorical History of Socratic Irony. C.C. Deconstructing the Urban Frontier: An Analysis of the Role of Media Discourse in the Revitalization of Braddock, PA. A.T. How Websites Participate In Identity Construction: The Case Of Facebook’s User Interface Design Changes. W.P. Looking @ Live Chat: The Value of Challenge and Debate for eDemocracy. C. W. Picturing Prisms: The Visual Rhetoric of Newton’s Opticks. C.C. Argumentative Aspects Of The Creation And Deployment Of Scientific Terminology. W.P. Disability Identity in Legal Discourse: Rowley Revisited Again. M.G Creating Presence in Verbal/Visual Argumentation: An Analysis of the “My American Story” Public Service Announcements. A.T. Escaping the Deductive Cage: the Development of the Modern Sentence and Paragraph. C. C. Is Literacy Liberating?: A Critical Inquiry. M.G. Leading a Sinking Ship: Rhetorical Leadership in Crisis Situations. J. M. Jovenes sin Nombres: A Study of the Activities of a Counterpublic. D.T. Performing “Service”: An Inquiry into the Literacy Practices of Restaurant Servers. E.F. “I think you could use a gay dad:” A Multi-Voiced Inquiry into the Practice of HIV Rapid Testing. R. M. Medical Discourses in Public: An Intertextual Analysis of the Role of the Medical Model of Disability in a Public Forum. E.F. Constructing Global Community through Appeals to Sympathy: A Multimodal Analysis Of The Role Of Pathos In The Rhetoric Of The Humanitarian NGO, Every Mother Counts. A. T. Rogue Dialogue in a Setting that Discourages Dialogue. S. C. Dangerous Discourses: Cognitive Metaphor and the Negotiation of HIV Stigma in the Gay Community. R. M. Finding Common Ground over Cultural Cuisine: An Inquiry into the Potential for Negotiated Meaning Making in Pittsburgh’s Conflict Kitchen. A. T. City and Symbol: Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena. J. M.
Special thanks to Carolyn Commer, Sylvia Cohen, Emily Ferris, Mary Glavan, Justin Mando, Angela Moore, Ryan Mitchell, Will Penman, Amanda Tennant, David Tucker, Chris Ward
What Our Students Tell Us: The M.A. FAQs | Master of Arts in Rhetoric | Carnegie Mellon University
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FROM THE M.A. PROFILES: WHAT OUR GRADUATES SAY The Directory of CMU Rhetoric MAs lets friends and colleagues from past year keep in touch. These recent Profiles offer some fascinating insights into what studying Rhetoric at CMU gave them, what they did with it, and what advice they could offer a new student.
How can this MA help you find your own path? How does it prepare you, for example, for an academic career? I’d say that courses and relationships from my MA year (especially with faculty, but also with colleagues) have helped me the most. Amongst other things, they’ve helped me figure out who I am as a scholar and teacher. K.T. CMU introduced me to the field of Rhetoric in a way I’m not sure other programs would have been able to. Because of the program’s length and the number of classes we took each semester, students were able to focus on developing research interests and finding ways to contribute to the field. M.G. I was able to experiment with methods of research that other programs would not have been able to support (discourse analysis, Community Think Tanks, corpus analysis, etc.) [This] class helped me to see why it was worth studying rhetoric in the first place: that it could change things outside of the classroom. This sounds trite, but it’s true! I had a very stuffy image of academic work and it was so important that that image be challenged right away. My faculty contacts not only supported me during my Ph.D. application process; they inspired me to even want to pursue a Ph.D. in the first place. M.M. They’ve helped me succeed as a graduate student by showing how my work could interest the broader field. My RAship working with a class was a terrific experience and I used it to make an argument in my PhD apps that I had what it takes to be a good teacher. Now I see that many PhD programs didn’t seem at all perturbed by my lack of classroom experience. But …I saw that good teaching didn’t mean knowing everything or having the answers or having total control over everything happening in the classroom. That RAship opened me up to the idea that teaching is, in part, about creating an environment in which students can interact with ideas—and each other—in particular ways.
What Our Students Tell Us: The M.A. FAQs | Master of Arts in Rhetoric | Carnegie Mellon University
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What does studying Rhetoric do for you in the working world—in a career path you are creating? I use the basic principles of Rhetoric all the time—understanding my audience and gauging how to reach my audience. My job [with a software company in Edinburg U.K) includes a lot of additional responsibilities. For example, my experience in teaching coupled with my degree prompted my boss to suggest me to develop courses for the new hires in our company. S.C. Experienced a lot of great pedagogical theory enacted in the classroom at CMU. I use my MA degree experience on the job every day [as an Employment Team Coordinator for a California non-profit]. I learned to be sensitive to what it means when someone is asking me a tough question…. Rhetoric is about avoiding the easy answers. . . how to direct conversation or a dialogue to arrive at that outcome. A.L. Courses like rhetorical analysis and especially rhetorical leadership have helped me have a critical eye. They have helped me, as a Communications Specialist, consume information faster and critique it, as well as ask better questions—the question behind the question if you will. I think what I really gained from CMU was the ability to ask questions to quickly construct a sense of the complex business problems I’m trying to understand. A.F. As a Director of web strategy for a digital agency in Austin, TX. I play guitar, write songs and play shows every now and then, …but am still focused on forming and delivering persuasive arguments. C.W. Everything about my degree from CMU helped me to grow in some way. Whether it is better analysis, looking at a project from different angles other than just design, or improving my writing skills. I think I have succeeded in combining Rhetoric and Design in my own unique way. M.H. As Research Analyst at an industrial forensics laboratory, I collaborate with senior scientists to write peer-reviewed, trade, and blog content at the intersection of science, industry, and policy. I have drawn from what I leaned in argument, pedagogy, leadership, and literacy courses to improve communication at my company and with clients. E. W.
Why does CMU’s small program seem to make such a difference? Is it the relationships? My cohort was amazing and many of us still stay in contact. We bounce ideas off of each other, share teaching strategies, and provide emotional support and pep-talk when need be. [My current Ph.D program assigns] work published by my professors at CMU, and I find that it’s much easier to understand someone’s work when you’ve worked with them.… I could see myself turning to [them] for advice as I approach my dissertation-writing phase. The faculty I worked closely with during my MA helped me get into graduate programs, encouraged me to pursue a Ph.D., wrote letters of recommendation for me—and helped me get into my first academic conference.
What Our Students Tell Us: The M.A. FAQs | Master of Arts in Rhetoric | Carnegie Mellon University
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Many of the professors have continued to be mentor-like figures—writing letters, helping me apply to PhD programs, and in general providing guidance for steps I plan to take in the future. M.G. Connecting with everyone around you is extremely important as well as discussing ideas and readings. Having someone critique your work and ideas helps you see the potential of something hidden. M.H. I certainly did make lifelong, valuable contacts while at CMU -- in both faculty and friends. My faculty contacts not only supported me; they inspired me to even want to pursue a Ph.D., in the first place. M.M. I found great champions of my interests and passions while at CMU. I grew a lot as a student and thinker because of their support C.W.
So what advice do the Graduates have to offer? Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box when considering what to do with your degree. I was able to find a large variety of positions that fit my skills that I gained from the MA program. S.C. You gain skills that you can’t pinpoint, but you grow so much by the end without noticing. You almost just have to go through it to see the difference. It’s rigorous but rich. The other thing I recommend is really picking projects you are passionate about, and make them relate across courses. It’s always the Rhetoric of X. So be creative and tailor it to what you want to do in the future. Identify topics that are of interest to you and work with professors to understand how they can be appropriately explored within their courses. A. F. Use rhetoric to further your interests. C.W. Find your passion early and see how it gels with future options. While you are in the MA program, be sure to take time to learn from your peers. I really appreciate the collaborations I did with my classmates and still carry a lot of the great insight I’ve gained from doing so. S.C. Don’t segregate yourselves by program (Rhetoric, Literary and Cultural Studies, Professional Writing). You’ll learn a ton from each other and gain a wider understanding of our field. M. T. Try not to get too mesmerized by “grad school”—just do good work and be authentic with people. K.T. Get an RAship—it gives you great experiences working alongside an established researcher and academic. And take 800 level courses with current PhD students. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Make an effort to get to know your professors and search out and get to know the people in your cohort—they are a huge support system! M.G.
What Our Students Tell Us: The M.A. FAQs | Master of Arts in Rhetoric | Carnegie Mellon University
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My advice to new MA students is to take advantage of the various opportunities our small program has to offer (helping with conference or event planning, meeting with professors outside of class, signing up for a Ph.D. mentor, attending GSA events, taking part in reading groups, and even spending time in the graduate student lounge). These opportunities for conversation and collaboration really helped me in adjusting to the assignments and readings and to think about the field of rhetoric and where I saw myself within it. A. T. I encourage any M.A. student to savor the experience; those 9 months fly by! I also cannot emphasize enough how important and valuable it is to seek out the faculty and their perspectives. M.M. Get involved with the broader campus community (through attending student plays and concerts, sports, etc.). And leave campus sometimes. Pittsburgh’s a great city, with lots to do and great people to meet. K.T. Think critically and keep an active record of what you are learning. You will be blown away by how much of it applies to your everyday life after the program. Then again, maybe you already know the importance of rhetoric in our daily lives and that is why you are here. So, congratulations on joining the program and best wishes moving forward. A. L. We especially want to thank Sylvia Cohen, Alyssa Fogel, Miriam Hobeldin, Andrea Longini, Maggie Goss, Megan McGrath, Amanda Berardi Tennant, Mark Thompson, Kari Lungren Tremeryn, Christopher Ward and a number of anonymous contributors to this Profile.
What Our Students Tell Us: The M.A. FAQs | Master of Arts in Rhetoric | Carnegie Mellon University
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