Rafael Perez

I am currently taking English graduate classes at the University of Houston. My concentration is on rhetoric and composition. I would like to become an English university professor. In the meantime, I have applied to the PhD program in English. I am pretty confident I will be admitted as I have already taken a doctoral English course in rhetoric and composition this last fall and received a grade of "A." Further, the professor of my doctoral class is the chair of the admission committee for the English PhD program. I have always enjoyed writing since I was in high school where I was active in the journalism and yearbook club. My appreciation of written composition continued well onto college where I majored in journalism mass communications. While I was an undergraduate student, I was an English tutor and published articles for the college newspaper. I have a master's degree in advertising, and I am currently working towards my master's degree in English. Last summer, I took my English teacher certification test to teach English at the secondary level, and I am passed it on my first try, so I am certified to teach English grades 7-12 in Texas. I am also an English as a Second Language tutor and was a writing consultant at the writing and reading center last spring. In preparation for my doctoral program, I took my Graduate Record Exam (GRE), and I am proud to say that my writing score was in the 80% percentile. If all goes well, I plan to officially begin my PhD program this coming fall...and I am so excited! Finally, I have a blog in which I have posted responses and reviews concerning current theories and pedagogical practices in English composition. My blog can be found at http://95rperez.blogspot.com. My English graduate professor helped me find and create the blog. Best of all, it is free!