Bachelor in Rhetoric and Composition (Bachelor's)

Tuition is Tuition for the 2024-2025 academic year is $63,500 per year..

Students in this programme compose essays, memoirs, podcasts, and op-eds while analyzing how arguments function across different contexts and media. They study persuasive writing through courses in rhetoric, creative nonfiction, and multimodal communication. The programme emphasizes practical writing in real-world settings, including journalism and public advocacy. It is offered in partnership with Scripps College and includes a senior thesis and writing studio component.

Focus areas include Rhetorics of Sustainability, Social Action Writing and Rhetoric, Legal Storytelling and the Rule of Law, Political Journalism Writing, Podcasting, Prison Writing Center Praxis.

The major requires eight full course credits plus a senior thesis and Writing Studio. The curriculum includes foundational courses in histories of writing, creative nonfiction, and multimodal rhetoric, along with writing workshop and writing studies courses.

Graduates enter careers in journalism, public relations, legal writing, advocacy, and content creation.

Applicants must meet Pitzer College's general admission requirements. No specific prerequisites for the major are listed. Submission of a personal statement and academic transcripts is required.

On-campus, full-time, typical duration four years. For international students, tuition is well above the median for US programmes. The institution admits about 17% of applicants.

Students from across the nation and 39 countries contribute to Pitzer’s community in Claremont, California. International students make up 9.6% of the student population. Campus life includes four student-run spaces, a student senate with 54 representatives, and opportunities to influence academic policy, faculty hiring, building design and campus artworks. Every student completes a social responsibility praxis course with a service-learning component before graduation, while most complete more than 40 community engagement hours through that course. Six mixed-use residence halls include solar panels, green roofs, living walls, gray-water systems and water-efficient fixtures.

Since 1963, Pitzer has organized its education around social responsibility, interdisciplinary learning, environmental sustainability, intercultural understanding and student engagement. Students can choose from more than 60 majors and minors across the arts, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences and interdisciplinary studies, while more than 2,000 courses are available across Pitzer and The Claremont Colleges. A 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio supports close academic work. Faculty from different fields often influence one another’s work and co-teach, and students can create their own major. International and globally minded students can take part in study abroad programs; 53.1% of the Class of 2026 participated in study abroad. The college’s community includes students with connections from Los Angeles and New York to Nepal, and its programs connect academic study with community engagement.