RMPC Home | Program | Faculty | Courses | Declaring your English major
Welcome to the Rhetoric, Media, and Professional Communication (RMPC) program page. The English-RMPC degree is a versatile, flexible program that allows you to study and create a broad range of texts for the workplace, on the web, and in the media. In addition, you’ll also be given a solid grounding in literature and criticism.
RMPC is one of four majors offered by the English department.
Note: Prior to 2016, this program was named Rhetoric and Professional Writing (RPW).
Degree Options
Students can pursue their RMPC major via a four-year honours degree, a four-year general degree, or a three-year general degree. See the RMPC program page for more information on the degrees and their requirements.
Elements of the Degree
In the RMPC degree you will study and work within a variety of core fields, each of which reinforces the others.
Rhetoric
Rhetoric examines how people’s ideas, feelings, and actions are influenced by texts or images. Speeches, articles, websites, and advertisements all try to catch your attention and persuade you to think or act in particular ways. A knowledge of rhetoric gives you the tools to influence others and to better understand how others are influencing you.
Media
The media element of the RMPC program allows you explore all aspects of digital communication. You'll examine the cultural, social, and political significance of digital media and develop skills that will enable you to write for social media and design websites and online documents.
Professional Communication
Professional communication examines how to communicate effectively in a variety of professional and workplace contexts, using a range of media. You’ll have opportunities to study writing in a number of areas, including the following:
- Business writing
- Grant writing
- Technical communication
- Journalism
- Creative writing
- Science writing
- Public relations
Co-op
You can enrich your RMPC degree through co-op experiences. UWaterloo has the world’s largest co-op program. In their study terms, English co-op students can pursue their interests and develop their skills; on their co-op terms, they can gain employment experience that will make them stand out in the job market.
What you can do with an RMPC degree
At the conclusion of your degree, you'll be prepared for graduate studies in several fields, including literature, language, communications, and composition studies, or for a career in business, industry, government, teaching, or communications—in any field, in other words, that values a well-educated person capable of analytical, critical, and creative thinking, writing, and speaking.
Listen to some English graduates talk about how their degrees opened up possibilities for them:
Want more information?
Contact our undergraduate administrator, Jenny Conroy, or our undergraduate chair, Heather Smyth.
The English undergraduate office is located in Hagey Hall room 222.