FAQ: Graduate Program in English

Prospective applicants have recently asked these questions.  

For more information about the department or about graduate work in literary studies: Michael Johnston, Director of Graduate Studies: mjohnst@purdue.edu  

For more information specific to rhetoric & composition: 
Bradley Dilger, Director of Writing Programs: dilger@purdue.edu, https://calendly.com/cbdilger  

What graduate programs do you offer? 

We have two Ph.D. programs in our department: Rhetoric and Composition (RC) and Literary, Theory and Cultural Studies (LTC). 

Our application deadline will be Friday, December 11, 2026. This deadline will not be extended. Your application must be complete by this date, including all letters of recommendation and transcripts, as well as all fees paid, or it cannot be considered. 

Can Purdue waive my application fee? 

Students who participate in recruitment programs can have their fee waived one time. Students who are US citizens or permanent residents can seek a waiver. 

See https://www.purdue.edu/academics/ogsps/admissions/how-to-apply/ for details. 

I am an international student, but proficient in English. Do I still have to take the language placement examination when applying?  

Students with a previous degree in a university where the language of instruction was English can be exempted from this requirement. Simply provide documentation at the time of your application.  

See more on the application process: https://www.purdue.edu/academics/ogsps/admissions/how-to-apply/  

What funding opportunities are available?  

Our funding is described here:  
https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/gradstudies/financial1/index.html  

And also in our graduate manual:
https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/gradstudies/grad-student-manual25-26.docx  

We only admit students we can fund. Students get five years of funding. We expect the stipend of $28,500 for AY26–27. Students in good standing can get about $5,800 more by teaching in summer 2027, though this is not required and is not always available. 

We are also very good at helping students earn university-level or external fellowships. For example, all three rhetoric & composition PhD candidates who applied for dissertation fellowships in 2024–25 were on 100% release from teaching for 2025–26 (American Association of University Women (external); Bilsland (Purdue); Biggs & Crews (Dept of English). 

All Ph.D. students can compete for internal department fellowships, as well as annual fellowships offered at the college- and university-level. 

Is there a remote option for completing the PhD? 

Our doctoral program is fully residential. Both coursework and assistantships require in-person engagement on the West Lafayette campus.  

How do graduate assistantships work? 

The standard teaching load is 1:1 in the first year and 2:1 in years following. Some students are placed in the Writing Lab. Some students teach introductory courses in composition, professional writing, and other areas. More advanced students may be able to teach courses focused on majors (e.g. RC students interested in professional writing, writing centers, or games studies often teach in those areas, while students in LTC often teach introductory courses in literary study). 

We have many research assistant opportunities that require no teaching but instead require 20 hours of work per week (0.5 FTE). RA-ships offer opportunities to build on teaching — first year fellowships, dissertation fellowships, assistance with editing Modern Fiction Studies or administrative work with the writing programs or our Writing Lab. We seek to offer students experiences across all of these areas. 

Every year, graduate students rank their preferences, and the Director of Writing consults with students and faculty to assign duties for the academic year based on those preferences and program needs, and with the goal of giving students diverse experiences that support their research and teaching professional goals.  

What about travel and research support?  

Travel and research support funding is provided by the College of Liberal Arts through the PROMISE program (up to $2,000 annually). Many supplemental opportunities are available through the Department, such as the Sullivan, Lauer, and Crouse scholarships (for RC students) and the Oreovicz and Lowell scholarships (for LTC students).  

As with fellowships, we are very attuned to supporting students in pursuing funding for their academic work.  

How many students will be admitted?  

We expect to admit about twelve students for Fall 2027. We will admit students in both RC and LTC. All of those admitted will have research interests in Cultural, Literary and Rhetorical AI Studies. For more information, see our Graduate Studies page. 

Do I need to arrange for a supervising professor before applying? 

It is not required. However, you should review our faculty research interests and ensure someone at Purdue looks like a good fit. We will be doing the same as part of the application process.  

Please note that Prof. Johnson-Sheehan will be retiring in May 2028. 

Learn more about our faculty’s research areas. 

How does the program mentor students in teaching and publishing?  

Every time a student teaches a new course, we develop structured mentoring experiences, usually courses, that create cohorts of students working together with experienced faculty to share resources, learn from each other, and team teach if desired. 

In RC, our preliminary examination structure is geared toward publication, encouraging students to draw from coursework to develop scholarly articles, writing for the web intended for practitioners, and/or media-rich publications such as screencasts or YouTube channels. In LTC, professors regularly help students in turning seminar papers or dissertation chapters into publishable work.  Most summers, we also run a graduate seminar on scholarly publishing, which attracts students from RC and LTC. 

What are your facilities?  

Our offices are in Stanley Coulter Hall, which we share with the School of Languages & Cultures, in the heart of the academic side of campus. The Writing Lab is in Krach Hall, surrounded by residence halls and other student services buildings.  

Graduate students have offices in “Grad Hubs” in the ground floor of Stanley Coulter. Many work day to day in our lab spaces, the professional writing & gaming lab (SC 279), or the writing programs & research lab (SC 246).  

How does the program support intellectual risk-taking or interdisciplinary research that doesn’t fit neatly into traditional categories? 

We work very well with other departments and programs at Purdue — the School of Languages & Cultures, Interdisciplinary Studies, Education, and the Polytechnic Institute, among others. Graduate students are allowed to apply courses from other departments to their degree plans and can pursue certificates in other departments as well (e.g. Digital Humanities). 

Our courses follow faculty interests and we try to accommodate students as well. At this time we have multiple courses which engage artificial intelligence, from both the RC and LTC side. Beginning in Fall 2027, we plan to offer a graduate-level seminar on a topic related to AI every semester.

See our core curricula for RC and LTC here: 
https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/gradstudies/rhetcomp/phdmaprograms.html   

https://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/gradstudies/ltc/index.html  

How has the law concerning the cutting and/or consolidation of graduate programs by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education impact the department? What changes do you anticipate will unfold over the next five years?  

We have not seen extensive impacts from the law. Only a handful of Purdue programs were impacted, and most of those had no students. The department leadership is keeping track of the numbers diligently and we are seeking ways to combine programs if that can be done without losing intellectually.  

Unfortunately, predicting the future is simply not possible; things are too unstable now in American higher education.