College Life

Private Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• Hofstra University
• Oberlin College (rhetoric minor only)
• Bates College
• Whitman College
• DePaul University

State Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• University of California, Berkeley
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Iowa (rhetoric minor only)
• University of Central Florida

Classes in the Major

Classical Studies. You mean you have to study classical rhetorical theory when you major in rhetoric? Who'da thunk it?! At least this subject has its spiffy moments. Rhetoric has ancient roots, so there's no shortage of material here.

And the cast of characters is your expected set of dead white dudes: Plato, Aristotle, Longinus, Plato, Augustine, Cicero…did we mention Plato? He and his cohorts fancied themselves quite the persuasive speakers way back in the day. And that day, as it turns out, is precisely the day when rhetorical study began.

This field is as old as Plato himself. You know, if he were still alive and all.

Philosophy. There's more to rhetoric than knowing how to build an airtight argument. It's also important to really understand how that one itty bitty argument fits into entire schools of thought, or ways of looking at the world.

Like, it's one thing to explain to someone that we're all born blank slates (if that's what you believe…). But how does that argument measure up against competing perspectives? When and where did that argument get its beginnings, in which school of thought or with which philosopher(s)?

Look at it this way: if building a strong argument is the verbal equivalent to slapping your opponent across the face, then understanding its philosophical stakes is the metaphorical K-O . Philosophy is what rhetoricians turn to in order to defend and support their claims.

So get ready to hone your philosophical chops on Foucault, Freud, Nietzsche, Hegel, Heidegger, and more.

Semiotics. The classics will teach you how to argue. The philosophers will give you context and history in which to ground your arguments. But the semioticians will both astound and confound.

Semioticians tend to believe that everything is an argument. In fact, we're trapped in a world filled with signs, right at this very moment. It's a whole new world…of meaning.

The only thing that's true for semioticians is that nothing is true. Are you face-palming in frustration yet? No? Then rhetoric might really be the right major for you. Put on the biggest thinking cap you can find, grab a wagonload of snacks, and get ready to re-read sentences over and over again as you dive into Derrida, Saussure, McLuhan, and others.

Performance Studies. Rhetoric studies can be your golden ticket to law school. But it can also set you up to pursue cultural criticism. People who work in performance studies critique our everyday lives with this essential claim: society makes us who we are. We're not born in any particular way; we are, in short, performing. All the time.

Judith Butler is pretty much the queen of this line of thinking, If dead white dudes fill your syllabi in prior class categories, in performance studies, they're decidedly less dominant.

Here, queer theory comes into play, as well as gender, ethnic, and postcolonial studies. Get ready to read Samuel Delany, Frantz Fanon, and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (to name a few), and to spend a whole lot of time deconstructing everything you've ever thought you knew to be true in the world.

On the flip side, you'll also probably become super aware of the messages you send the world through subtle things like dress and body language. With that knowledge in your pocket, you can more mindfully manipulate what other people think of you. Now, who's ready for a makeover?

History. Ever heard the saying history is written by the victors? If you pursue rhetoric, get ready to hear it pretty much every day. The writing of history is an argument, after all. And the writing of history is a performance with very real goals and implications. So history courses will really force you to flex all that you've learned in your major classes.

After a history course or two in the Rhetoric Department, it's safe to say that you'll never look at war, law, policy, or a history textbook the same way again.