<p>Hey guys, im a prospective student interested in the Rhetoric major. My future plans are to go to law school, and im assuming that rhetoric will prepare you. Does anyone know anything about this major (difficulty, grade distribution, course contents)? Any information would really help guys. thnx a lot!</p>
<p>Yaaaaaayy yet another in our relatively obscure major!</p>
<p>I’ll break it down for you.</p>
<p>Difficulty: Middle ground in terms of the humanities. Easier than Philosophy, harder than Media Studies. It’s challenging, but not impossible by any means.</p>
<p>Grade Distribution: As with most humanities, the classes are not graded on a curve, and a high percentage of your grade will come from papers.</p>
<p>Course Contents: [Rhetoric</a> Department](<a href=“http://rhetoric.berkeley.edu/]Rhetoric”>http://rhetoric.berkeley.edu/) take a look through here. </p>
<p>I personally love it. It’s definitely difficult at times, but I find that the stuff we do is super interesting and I don’t feel pigeonholed as I think I would have felt had I been an English major.</p>
<p>thnx for the response! just curious, what would you say the average gpa of rhetoric majors are? and is rhetoric an ideal major for law school? ive heard that some majors like legal studies look bad when you’re applying… is rhetoric one of these majors that are frowned upon?</p>
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<p>No, it’s generally looked upon favorably. Rhetoric is great. As a political science major, I’ve taken five courses in the rhetoric department. These courses–mostly upperdivision–have had a lasting (and valuable) impact upon how I analyze and approach research in political science. My academic interest and research focus generally lies in political communication and its connection to representativeness–rhetoric has aided in the construction and identification of common tropes, motifs, narratives, *etc *in public discourse.</p>
<p>Why is legal studies looked down upon when you’re applying to law school?</p>
<p>ektaylor: thnx! just wondering, does rhetoric require ridiculous amounts of reading per week?</p>
<p>Legend: i dont know for sure but people told me that law schools want people from different backgrounds…</p>
<p>Yes, there’s a lot of reading (as in all humanities), but most of it is interesting.
Avg GPA is hard to say, but I’d say around a 3.3 is about right.
My goal is also law school, and a LOT of rhetoric majors are as well. It’s basically the “pre-law” major at Cal along with Legal Studies. As for the latter being looked down upon, that’s false, as both majors get great placements in law schools.
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/LegalStud.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/LegalStud.stm</a>
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Rhetoric.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Rhetoric.stm</a>
In the end though, don’t limit yourself to Rhetoric just because it “fits” the pre-law path. DO what you love, get a high GPA, and you can get to a great school. I just happened to end up loving it, so I guess I got lucky.</p>
<p>cool thnx for the info! is rhetoric somewhat related to the field of philosophy?</p>
<p>Rhetoric= English and Philosophy’s Sassy Baby.</p>
<p>It’s pretty on par with political science–about a book a week per class.</p>
<p>i see thats not horribly bad hahaha… just wondering though, is rhetoric perceived as an “easy” major? i dont want law schools tihnking that i took the easy way out…</p>
<p>As a science major I have a lot of respect for Rhetoric and IMO and also from a lot of people is regarded as not an “easy” major and is instead pretty demanding, abstract and interesting.</p>
<p>ahh thats a relief… would you say its on the same difficulty scale as philosophy (grade distribution-wise)? IM also strongly considering philosophy</p>
<p>I have never taken a rhetoric nor philosophy class, but I know people who are majoring in rhetoric. I think rhetoric is easier than philosophy, but you have to take into account that philosophy, well at Cal, is pretty damn hard. I know many people in philosophy classes and from what they say the classes are very time consuming and graded rather harshly. My friend who is a GWS and Rhetoric double has all As except for a B in a philosophy class (I think the God one). The grade distribution in philosophy classes are pretty crappy with much less As given out than rhetoric. I know somebody who took a cultures philosophy class and she said it was really hard and she had to work a lot in that class and she said her GSI had no mercy on her papers.</p>
<p>I would not recommend philosophy. It’s considered one of the hardest humanities majors, and its grade distribution is horrid.</p>
<p>All I can tell you is, you can ask us all you like, but it ultimately comes down to you. Take a Rhetoric class and take a Philosophy class too. For me, that solidified Rhetoric as my choice.</p>
<p>wow thnx for the heads up! do you think, on average, that rhetoric classes require more writing than philosophy classes?</p>