Understanding the Ideological Force of Graduate Application Materials: A Rhetorical Genre Study of Personal Statement Prompts

Abstract

This study draws on Rhetorical Genre Studies (RGS) to examine the role of personal statement prompts in promoting or hindering the effectiveness of holistic review in graduate applications. Our analysis reveals that the content articulated in the personal statement prompts help to reify four ideological values held by the discipline. Through the framing of these ideological values, users are positioned into two major social roles: disciplinary expert and expert-in-training. We argue that, for holistic review to be effective, graduate programs must reconcile the tension between personal statement prompts that demand the writer take on contradictory social roles.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The authors wish to thank RR reviewers Crystal Fodrey and Annie Mendenhall for their helpful feedback on this essay.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Olalekan T. Adepoju

Olalekan Adepoju, PhD is a college professor who teaches courses in writing and rhetoric at the College of Staten Island, New York. His research interests lie in the intersections of rhetoric, transnational writing, empathy, and social justice. He has authored various articles, each contributing valuable insights to the field of English language, Rhetoric and Composition.

Joseph E. Sharp

Joseph Sharp, PhD is an Assistant Professor of English at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia where he teaches courses in British literature and professional and technical writing. His research has been published in the Journal for the History of Rhetoric and the Routledge Companion to Global Chaucer.