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franz

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Everything posted by franz

  1. Just to chime in, as someone who applied and got into the New School and some religion programs last year, the funding offer I received was quite bad. I believe it was around 40% tuition, which was completely out of the question as a cost for me. It was my last choice for philosophy programs, and I didn't find the faculty fit for my interests (continental philosophy with some similarities to your research interests) as good as religion programs. I would also strongly encourage you to consider religion programs. From my (admittedly, limited at present) experience, they have more faculty who are interested in these sorts of topics, and the chances of getting into religion programs, even at top places like U Chicago or Yale, seem better, at least for the MA. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss it more or have any questions.
  2. If it helps with the questions regarding GRE scores, I got into MA programs at Chicago, YDS, and Duke with a very low quant score (around 140) and received, what I considered, good funding. Granted, my area is philosophy of religion, and my verbal and writing scores were in top tenth percentiles. This was just my experience, and I had some reasoning in mind for not trying to improve the GRE scores. I considered re-taking the GRE but, ultimately, decided against it. I only took it once (during final year of undergrad, the year before), and math has always been a big weak area for me. In the end, I reasoned it was a better use of time, as I was working full-time, to focus on the SOP and writing sample. Some people might not feel comfortable with this, and emphasizing those aspects over the GRE was probably a risk, though I felt confident that the time on the SOP and writing sample were worth it. Thus, I say this to point out this represents just my experience, and I don't know how such choices might affect the chances of others' applications. Also, if funding is a concern at Chicago, you might want to look into applying for a FLAS fellowship as well, as it includes funding and a stipend. I'm not sure if they offer it for (modern) Hebrew, but I recall seeing it on the list.
  3. Offered admission at the New School for Social Research, with 40% tuition award. With the offers from U Chicago Divinity (full tuition covered with a stipend) and Yale Divinity (most tuition covered) for their MA programs, I'll have to ponder this a bit.
  4. Have a feeling I'm on some kind of a hidden waitlist at the New School for Social Research. Judging from the results page, it looks like a decent number have already heard from them, and this is later than when I got a rejection last year. They said a couple weeks ago that they would have a decision by yesterday.
  5. Heard from ND this afternoon, and it was a reject. But, I'm very pleased with my options so far, and, adding to that, Chicago awarded me a FLAS Fellowship today! Congratulations to everyone who got in at HDS too!
  6. Thanks for the link! I'll check it out. I had heard about Miami from a number of people before and should have considered that as an option.
  7. Judging from the news last week about admitted students receiving phone calls, I wonder if some people are on an "unofficial" waitlist and might hear later than those whom they admitted and received positive answers from last week. That is, before giving out official admission offers, they wanted to see if those they called turned it down, for whatever reasons, and they could, subsequently, offer those slots to applicants they placed on this "waitlist"? I could be completely off, but it's a thought that occurred to me. Congratulations on your acceptance!
  8. franz

    Germany PhD

    By the way, I know you didn't mention this specifically, but I wanted to bring it up, in case it would influence your decision. If you're not a citizen of an EU member or a nation whose citizens may live in Germany without a visa, you'll also want to check the financial requirements for the student visa. I considered studying in Germany for an MA (in philosophy) but found it wouldn't be possible for me due to the financial requirements. I believe one has to have around 8,800 euros in savings per-year of one's studies, along with purchasing German health insurance. I believe one has to prove this amount of savings each year to renew the visa, so one doesn't need it all at once. But, mind you, a student visa only allows a set number of hours of work each year. (Around 100 hours sticks out to me, but I could be wrong.) So, if one has an idea about getting a part-time job to make enough for the next year, it's most likely not going to help a great deal. On the language piece, I think you'll have to pass the DSH exam to show proficiency in German in order to matriculate at the university. (It was required for undergraduates when I studied there, even for those of us who studied for only a semester, and I think it applies for MA and PhD students as well who aren't studying in English-language programs.)
  9. I presume it's a separate email. The applications I filled out for them were handled through the universties' grad schools, though they went to the department that houses the language I wish to study. I think the notification might likely come from the relevant language department, as they review the applications and make decisions.
  10. Ah, but I grew up in a harsh region of the northern Upper Midwest, where we view cold winters as a character building blessing or something like that. (On the other hand, this might be even more reason for some to flee to warmer climates.)
  11. I'm going to wait until I hear from YDS and Notre Dame and visit the programs I get into. At the moment, between Duke and Chicago, I think I'd pick Chicago. I think it's a better fit. I also applied to a FLAS fellowship at Chicago, and the results of that might influence things as well. So, at the moment, I'm waiting to learn more but leaning toward Chicago.
  12. Congratulations @suhba7 and @ibn daoud! And @Johnny.S, thanks, but 50% is still great funding!
  13. @Johnny.S Also just heard from U Chicago and got in for the MA (60% funding)! I'm very excited to hear this as well, and I hope everyone else has excellent results!
  14. @ibn daoud Nothing on my end from U Chicago Divinity either, but I also can only speak for hearing about the MA program, so take that as you will.
  15. @enayqq Thanks again for the reply, and that sounds great. I'll likely PM you sometime later today.
  16. Thanks for pointing this out. Congratulations on the admission and waitlist too! Admittedly, it's difficult for me to examine because, frankly, I don't know what I could do to improve in these areas, save for bettering my GRE quant score. I've struggled a lot with math and the sciences since high school. (Though it's a standardized test and not a course, I got nearly perfect marks on the reading and English sections of the ACT/SAT and scored incredibly low on the math sections.) Even with tutoring, regularly seeing the professors for help, studying a lot, and help from science major friends, it remained a terrible slog to get passing marks in the science classes in college. Logic and philosophy of math were similar, with the latter being slightly better. I'm not at all trying to give an excuse, though, but it feels as if these are areas in which I don't know if I stand a great chance of improving. I don't know what else I could do at this point for the bad analytic grades on my transcript, as I've already graduated. And, in a way, I feel like I did truly put forth the best effort to do well in these courses and have somewhat put them aside as spheres of less skill, in favor of concentrating on other areas. Still, that might not make up for lacking in these areas. You're completely right to point this out as a weakness. Perhaps it's solely my own wish, but I partly hoped that the ability with languages and translating works out of languages with low numbers of non-native speakers, especially in the Anglosphere, might make up for the analytic cracks. That being said, I acknowledge this is partly my own desire, owing to that feeling of not being able to progress well and hitting a wall in the sciences/math/analytic phil. Also, it could rather likely be the case that translations from Scandinavian languages and Serbo-Croatian interest few professors. Alternatively, in complete fairness, it could also be an issue that even fewer might have the background in order to assist with such projects, or these sorts of skills might not exceed those of having a solid footing in analytic in terms of helping an application. (Interestingly, similar to your noting of your abilities in analytic phil, I emphasized in my SOP my translation projects and abilities with languages (I'm self taught in a number of them, by the way) to open up a wider range of philosophical thought to my work, particularly from Slavic languages.) And no worries for that either, haha. I had asked both of the continntal professors in our department, and they said they had no idea about whether the low quant score would matter. So, they told me to ask that analytic professor, who was the most recent to have been in grad school. If I may ask, by the way, are some of your AOIs in political or social philosophy? When I wrote a professor from Penn State, whom I thought had interests closes to mine, he, essentially, told me not to apply because my AOIs weren't in social or political philosophy and wouldn't fit the department. (It is true that my AOIs don't concern social or political topics.)
  17. You are correct in noting that I didn't apply to any terminal MAs, and I think it's becoming clearer that I should consider this possibility the next season I apply. According to some on the religion forum, this might constitute the best sort of program for me if I enter an MA/MTS program in religion first, as I will most likely do. The reasoning of this seems to go that, if one has an MTS degree or attended a divinity school (even if it's for an MA), philosophy programs might feel some suspicion about one's commitment to or abilities in philosophy and want to see completion of a terminal MA first. Frankly, I really no have idea about this perspective and am not in a position to reflect on it beyond a level of speculation.
  18. That makes a lot of sense, considering the sheer numbers involved in this process. I did worry that I should have applied to more programs, but I found departmental fit an issue too. As a result, I wondered if it was even prudent to increase the number of schools applied to, if it resulted in stretching the fit too thin. This was a question for me even with two of the programs I applied to this year somewhat (Penn State and NSSR).
  19. An analytic professor, who had somewhat recently finished grad school, at my undergrad department said that the quant GRE shouldn't matter for continental programs, as my interests don't involve math. Otherwise, in his opinion, if I were applying to analytic or philosophy of math programs, this would kill my application. Yes, I think the issue for the writing sample is likely finding a balance between something on thinkers/subjects that I'm interested in and that which is more current and the ad coms might know more about/find interesting. I thought making it about both philosophy of literature and philosophy of religion might help in increasing the chances of this, but these could be two narrower areas of interest for a lot of ad coms too. Thanks! By the way, on the topic of Kafka ... if you like that theme of an individual facing a looming, bureaucratic opponent and want to read something else a bit more humorous (though Kafka can be pretty funny), you might enjoy Hašek's novel The Good Soldier Švejk.
  20. I applied to five PhD programs (DePaul, Villanova, Memphis, Penn State, and the New School for Social Research) this application cycle and have heard back from all, save NSSR. The results were the same as last year - rejection, no waitlists or interviews. Unlike last year, though, I don't feel as bad about it for a number of reasons. First, I applied to five terminal MA/MTS/MAR programs in religion and gained admission at one (Duke), with others' opinions stating that my chances should be fairly good with the rest (U Chicago Divinity, Yale Divinity, and Notre Dame). And, as a side note, I'm really happy about this option presenting itself to me, and, with greater pondering lately, the idea of subsequently pursuing a PhD in religion has become a more serious and attractive option. Second, I felt my philosophy applications were far stronger this year. I gave an effort I feel far happier with and took a lot more time working on my writing sample and SOP than last year. So, in this spirit, I'm looking to see what feedback some of you could give on the weaknesses of my application and how I might best improve it. And, hopefully, this might help others too in bettering their applications. Honestly, judging from the time I devoted to working on the writing sample and SOP and feedback of professors on my SOP and strengths as an applicant, I thought my chances would be much better this application season. On the other hand, the results could simply result from the numbers one deals with in applying to PhD programs and only having a BA. I graduated last year from a small liberal arts school with a good reputation. I double-majored in philosophy and German, along with minoring in English. Overall, my GPA was 3.6, with a 3.46 in philosophy and 3.8 in German (3.8 in English, if that matters). My philosophy grades show a few blemishes. I got a C in symbolic logic (senior year), a B in an analytic class (junior), and a B- as a sophomore in ancient philosophy. As a whole, my transcript has some blemishes in the sciences and math (e.g. barely passed economics and chemistry, a semi-decent grade in computer science). On other numbers, my GRE scores show a similar result. Verbal and writing scores lie in the top 10th and 7th percentiles, respectively, while my quantitative score is in the bottom 5th. My research interests reside solidly in continental philosophy. They are philosophical pessimism, phenomenology, philosophy of literature, intersections of Eastern (mostly Buddhism) and Western philosophy, and the philosophy of religion. As thinkers of interest often fall in more than one of these areas, I'll just list them. They include Heidegger (without the political aspects), Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Gadamer, Ricœur, Merleau-Ponty, Nietzsche, Borges, and Kafka. Languages also interest me a lot, and I currently know Geman, French, Danish, Norwegian, and Serbo-Croatian. Around my junior year, I began translating some works of Scandinavian philosophy that have never appeared outside of their original language. Apart from being interesting in their own right, they relate to some aspects of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. Last year, I stumbled upon a philosopher (who wrote in Serbo-Croatian) whom I'd like to translate, and, I think, academics in the Balkans lost interest in him after the Communist era began. His works mostly deal with Schopenhauer and Nietzsche as well. I wouldn't say these thinkers are earth-shattering (nor did I portray it as such in the SOP), but they could prove interesting to some as engagements with and commentaries on Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and work in philosophical pessimism and ecophilosophy. (I'd rather not publicly detail either translation project too much at the moment.) I spent about six months total on the writing sample, including the studying the various topics and thinkers and writing. When I returned to last year's writing sample during the summer, it became clear that the paper (a final paper from a seminar on Kant's Critique of Pure Reason - a critique of Heidegger's interpretation of Kant) I used last year was, simply, not my best. So, I wrote a new paper that I can confidently say is my best work. It's on Gadamer's Truth and Method and dealt with the philosophy of literature and philosophy of religion (Kierkegaard, with a smidgen of Augustine). (Mainly, it viewed the possible role of literature in the activities of philosophy and how Gadamer's hermeneutical framework allows for this. The philosophy of religion formed an example of how one might apply this framework to an exemplary work of literature in order to help addressing a question concerning Kierkegaard.) Of course, one may always improve the SOP and writing sample, but I felt as if I'd really put my best effort forth on these. There were extensive revisions on each over a period of about 2-3 months. By the way, I don't think this carries a lot of weight with philosophy PhD applications, but perhaps my job might be a (small) plus. Tailoring it it to what I can say in a public forum, it's in education and aspects of it include working with refugee children. So, there is an overview of my application. Already, I see some potential weaknesses, though others might think differently. GPA could certainly be one, and the SOP could have presented my interests as being too detailed and set, though two professors gave feedback on it and said it was quite strong. Additionally, people elsewhere online said that some departments might view my range of interests in literature, translation, and languages as a distraction and better suited for a literature, religion, or interdisciplinary program. Departmental fit is also a concern of mine. I did write a professor from each program, and two from my top choices sent back very nice replies, strongly encouraging me to apply. On the writing sample, the topics and thinkers might not have interested any of the people on the adcoms. The latest relevant secondary literature I could find on this aspect of Gadamer (they were quite scarce) was from about thirty years ago. I'm confident LOR were all strong. One of the three came from a professor of German. His work in literature involves a lot of philosophy and theory, and much of my work in his courses straddled the boundaries of literature and philosophy. I reasoned, due to my interest in the German tradition of continental, his LOR might prove helpful, but another LOR from a philosophy professor might have helped more. Oh, and I'll mention this as well, in case it's significant. Last year, I applied to Stony Brook, and, despite rejecting me for a PhD, they admitted me to their MA program, with my application having less clear and well-written SOP and a writing sample that I know wasn't my best. On the other hand, perhaps these almost unanimous rejections really do mostly relate to numbers of applicants, number of programs I applied to, not having an MA/not applying to terminal MA programs, and the departments themselves, whether in terms of fit or acceptance rates. Or, maybe I'm better off going the religion route, which I'm now planning on doing for an MA/MTS/MAR this fall, instead. I'm just feeling a bit perplexed after all this. I know a lot of people don't get in, and I think my feelings more relate to uncertainty about my general chances (considering interests, SOP, LOR, writing sample, etc) of gaining admission to a philosophy program, as I have considered grad school in English literature and German literature too. And now, with religion forming a strong possibility, I'm wondering if that's a better path for my interests. Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance for any thoughts!
  21. Reject from Penn State today. It's not very surprising, as their department seems rather oriented to social and political philosophy, which my research interests are entirely devoid of. At least, that's my impression of the department.
  22. Thanks and congratulations to you and @MayaK too! Your feelings are similar to mine on the topic. I'm very pleased about getting into Duke, but the funding, while nice in terms of the amount the department can award (their site said something like 20-40%, I think), does leave a sizable amount of money to pay. Yes, I posted that thread, and I'm not sure yet which program I'll choose, as only Duke has admitted me so far. I'm still waiting on U Chicago, YDS, and ND. I also now know that I didn't get into four of the five philosophy PhD programs I applied to, and I'm doubtful about the remaining program (plus, I've read that not everyone there receives full funding either). At the moment, I'm planning on going to Duke, though the results (and funding) at the other programs could change this.
  23. Thank you! The funding from the religion department covers 40% of tuition.
  24. Found out yesterday via email that Duke admitted me to their MA program!
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