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ScaredyCat

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  • Application Season
    2016 Fall

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  1. i said there are many factors to keep in mind. Never said it was impossible. I am not sure why you are sensitive to disagreement.
  2. While I think academia.edu hits may mean nothing I am not convinced of that. But, FWIW I had a hit from academia.edu from Nashville and I wasn't accepted to Vanderbilt. It may be me but I rarely get hits. I have only got them when I was going to a conference or something. It may be because I have a very rare name: I know only one other person with my first name and I am named after her! My last name and first name have different ethnic origins. I saw that article before but six years seems long enough time that the culture of admissions could have changed--younger professors will probably me likely to google applicants compared to the older full professors. There are however multiple contingencies to keep in mind.
  3. Wish I knew more. The only thing I know is that with international students whose first language is not English, they tend to discount the GRE scores.
  4. Not proving something unequivocally does not mean people need to remain neutral. Evidence can swing to one side or the other. The research on implicit bias is extensive and I accord my beliefs to evidence. So I do not think it is irresponsible to assert that people have negative implicit biases towards women and minorities and positive biases towards men and white people. Of course I should frame it differently in the future.
  5. Sorry. I won't say anymore on the subject matter.
  6. I know you said that you are bowing out, but I figured I will try to engage in your argument. First I will say that this is a topic that affects many of us. It is not something merely abstract but a lived experience for us women and us minorities so it will ignite passion in us. It has clearly ignited passion in you! So while I understand that you were trying to be sensitive I hope you understand that people like me, I am Latina, are suggested all the time that we only have something because of our minority status. We have earned none of what we have. Anyways, you begin by saying “In an application to any sort of university, the only relevant features of the applicant should be those over which he has some control. (And back off, determinists.) Being a female or black or Latino or whatever should mean absolutely nothing. But this is not the case.” This has never been the case that the only relevant feature is the application features. One of the most relevant features is something that none of us has any control over: fitness. The department needs people with varying interests that still fit into the department. I could have a better application, at least how you seem to define better, having better GRE scores but maybe I do not fit into the department. And fit is something not as easily determined by a quick online view of the program’s website as people believe. For example, maybe one of the professors who works in your AOI is leaving soon so will not be willing to take more students on, etc. These are things that only an admissions committee would know. Maybe one of these women’s specific topics of interests intersected with several professors. And there is nothing morally reprehensible about reviewing an application against the department's interests My second point merely mirrors what other people have pointed out: you cannot know if your application is better because you do not have knowledge of either of your recommendations. Of course you can guess at what your says but unless you read it you do not really know. From what I have read by professors on Leiter’s Report, that aspect is the only one that definitely sinks an application all by itself! Even a relativiely low GPA will not necessarily doom you. So you are missing one of the most important pieces of the puzzle and judging without it. Not to mention, you cannot know if your application is better because you do not know how the adcomm people judge “potential.” That is what they are looking for. Potential is not easily given by numbers though numbers do help. Potential is not merely based on academic merit. Maybe the person on the adcomm read the woman’s sample (the one with only a BA) and saw that while maybe her sample was not as polished, or whatever, that her ideas showed potential as a philosopher. You cannot know. Lastly, anecdotal evidence is not proof for anything. It takes a small sample size and extrapolates from it. If we trust anecdotal evidence then we would have to trust that merely being outside when it is cold will make you sick, seating too close to the television will damage your eyes. Also, it is fallacious reasoning (hasty generalization fallacy). The scientific research backs up that implicit bias happens. When people look at a resume/cv from someone name Maria Rodriguez and John Smith, and both have the same qualifications, they are more likely to judge the former more harshly. Mind you these are CVs in which they had the same credentials on both. That is only one example in the implicit bias literature. There are many more. These biases are against minorities and women when they apply to jobs, graduate programs, etc. There are some people who may give just a little bump to a woman or minority if they know the literature on implicit bias. However, it would not be used to give someone something they do not deserve. However, many people are against affirmative action and those policies are actually not enforced at many universities. Well, that is not completely true, the quota policy of legacies at universities are enforced at the Ivies for undergraduates. The evidence does not support that white men are being discriminated against. It supports that women and minorities are not welcomed in philosophy and are discriminated against. Only 30% of PhD's earned in philosophy are earned by women (http://www.newappsblog.com/2011/05/the-low-percentage-of-women-earning-phds-in-philosophy.html). I cannot find this other source but I remember being shocked by the percentage. Only approximately 2% of PhD's philosophy are given to Hispanics/Latinos. It is the same for Blacks. Thus it is not clear that minorities or women are being favored in the admissions process. There are not that many women or minorities in PhD programs in philosophy to support what you are saying Also you said that these girls are equal caliber to you (maybe lower). That means that they deserve the shot they have been given. By the way I am a Hispanic woman who has not been accepted into any programs. I think it is safe to say that it is not always the case that race/ethnicity and gender are major factors in admissions. You are right. The system is corrupt. However, it is not corrupt in the way you think it is.
  7. Thank you so much. Do you know if Vanderbilt has sent all their offers?
  8. Ugh. It really does suck. I have been trying to distract myself from this cruel process, but nothing works. I hope this week ends with a win for both of us.
  9. Ooh. I'm sorry. I have had similar experiences recently.
  10. Should I assume that I have been rejected from Vanderbilt since I have not heard anything?
  11. Can you contact Stony Brook? Contradictory information about their admissions decisions are going on. Thanks
  12. No problem ;). I hope my story teaches future applicants a thing or two. The story is long and short (I am a Hegelian after all). Short story: I failed the history comprehensive exam twice and twice is the maximum. Long story: I guess the long story may be more of a rationalization than anything else but I do think it is important. I went into a program that was not really compatible with my interests. I did not do as much research as I should have the first time around. The program is an analytic program (While I do recognize that the distinction between analytic and continental can be said to be a false one, all I really mean is that the program teaches thinkers that are associated with the analytic tradition such as Frege and Quine and ignores those that are associated with the continental tradition such as Husserl and Hegel). My interests are in German philosophy especially Hegel and feminism particularly French feminism. I got a masters from the New School and did my thesis on Hegelian recognition in The Second Sex. Anyways, since I had an MA I was expected to be ahead of the curve. But instead I fell behind learning a new canon essentially. Also I was not as interested in the material. Not that there is anything wrong with philosophy associated with the analytic tradition; most of it just does not intrigue me. So I did not do so well my first two semesters. Even got a C in a class which is failing in grad school. I did improve in time including my writing skills and learning more of the canon. By the way, I have always been the type of person to try to do things quickly. I got my high school diploma in three years and my BA in three years. The MA at the New School is expected to take 3 years; I did it in 2.5. So I felt like I was in a groove when my 2nd year rolled around. I became grad student rep, my TA responsibilities started, and took more classes than usual and I took the history exam early thinking I would pass because I read more of those works than my colleagues did. I mean they told me they used Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy to study for the comps. I ended up failing the first time by 1 point. Funnily enough, when someone fails by a single point they relook at questions that profs. were on the border with any try to find a way to reward another point. They did that with me and took 1 point a way from one question and added 1 point to another question. Next semester rolled around I kept a similar schedule ( I know it was a mistake) thinking that I would pass this time because I would simply study more. And I did study more! But I ended up getting into a major conference on Hegel in Brazil. I did not want to pass that up. Since the program does not have anybody who does Hegel I did not have any prof that could look over my work. It is so important to find a good fit for a program for many reasons. Besides the obvious, it puts less work on you because then you do not have to work as much to keep up with your own research. Plus I was studying and trying to stay interested in courses that I did not like and I started TAing for logic which is not one of my strengths. This ended up working out for me because then i could take the logic exam at the end of the semester. Between all that I was exhausted. Even though I studied more I failed by a lot more than I did last time. I was more nervous that time around and I did not sleep much the night before (2 hours). I really believe the mental exhaustion (not just one night's of sleep) caught up with me. I read my responses after the exam like a month later and they were barely coherent. It was a new policy started that 2 times means getting kicked out. While that policy is in the books I believe, based on evidence I have seen, that if I had a prof. in my corner backing me up they would not have kicked me out. Someone else in our department has been taking a long time on her dissertation and she was not kicked out. She has gone pass the time requirement on the books but she has a professor that believes in her. The department has even issued her a warning that she will be thrown out if she has not defended her prospectus by a certain point. She did not comply but did not get thrown out. I did not have a prof. in my corner because of my initial poor performance. They did not believe that I could do philosophy, and I cannot really blame them for that. Not having a professor in my corner became even more clear when I started applying to programs. I asked two profs. in the program and they both said no.
  13. I understand. I was not trying to be judgmental as much as cautious because I know law school is a big commitment. I worry about taking on a lot of debt and then ending up not being a lawyer. Not to mention the time commitment in studying whilst in law school and for the bar. I am still in debt for my bachelor's. Because of the aforementioned I feel I should be careful on embarking on such a huge commitment when I am not even sure about law school. Mostly I was extrapolating from my experience in political philosophy. But you did make contract litigation sound more appealing.
  14. My backup plan is law school. However, I am not sure about law school because it is something I only kind of like. I find certain aspects of law interesting but I know a lot of it, or so I heard, centers on contracts and I am not interested in that so much. But I will start studying for the October LSAT soon. Right now I am working on a paper for an international conference on Hegel. It is time consuming, because the research includes psychology, namely Jung, and I have never done psychology before. Soon I plan on taking NYS exams in order to possibly get a job with the state. My friend said that these jobs normally take years to get so I need to start now. I just want to make sure that if things do not work out for me in the next few years that I have options. As of now I have few options. I do not think that I will try again namely because I was in a PhD program in philosophy and I was kicked out so if I do not get in somewhere this time then I am done with professional philosophy unfortunately. What is yours?
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