Jump to content

pianoise

Members
  • Posts

    18
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Not Telling
  • Program
    NSSR - Philosophy

pianoise's Achievements

Decaf

Decaf (2/10)

0

Reputation

  1. pianoise

    New York, NY

    Hi guys, I'm an international moving into NYC for this fall. I'm looking for housing as well and it's so damn hard to find affordable/okay ones and I'm starting to consider Brooklyn and Upper East Side Harlem into my search criteria. Is that a good idea? I haven't been to NYC before and I won't call myself exactly street smart. :/ If there are any who lived around these areas, please tell me how was it? Thanks.
  2. Hey sweetnighter, I've been getting the same advice from quite a number of people now and I think that's for the best. Thanks!
  3. Hello, I'll be going to the NSSR this fall. I'm really excited about this I've been waiting forever and now I'm kinda confused what to do lol By the way, about housing -- I'm an international and I'm quite unfamiliar with housing rates in NYC .. is the graduate housing affordable? I prefer external housing but I'd go for anything cheap .. relatively, that is.
  4. I see. Could you please recommend some other programs that has more fit with Political Philosophy, although not necessarily with Hegel/Confucius? Fortunately, funding issue is resolved at the moment as I got to secure some scholarship from an external organization, so it doesn't matter greatly if the school provides funding or not. Thanks.
  5. Thanks again for the feedback. I think I now basically have a grasp of what I should do, but I was wondering at what you meant by "not a good fit". Is it a judgment based on my interests (Hegel and Confucius) as shown in the writing sample? Or is it a judgment based on my decision to go for 'Political Philosophy' (i.e., those schools are not good for Political Philosophy)? (Just fyi, while Hegel and Confucius are interesting, they are by no means my research interests in the future. I plan to develop and solidify my interests later in the MA, (preferably a program known for analytic traditions) and it is one of the reason why I'm applying to a MA before a PhD. Currently I may say I have interests in the ancient lit. of Plato and Aristotle, and topics from metaphysics and philosophy of religion interest me as well, but nothing is that well-structured out for me yet as I'd like it to be.)
  6. Thanks. NIU is one of my top choices, I'll take note of that. Just wondering, if MA programs already expect "a strong grasp of philosophy", then what do PhD programs expect? I'm asking this because I had been led to think that the terminal MA programs exist to help students (with or without background in Philosophy) apply to PhD in Philosophy. If I already had enough background in Philosophy, I'd better try to apply towards a direct PhD to go for their funding, right? Which leads me to a related question: is it common for students without formal background in Philosophy to enroll in a MA program? Or are MAs just safety bets for PhD applicants since Philosophy PhD is so hard to get in? To add on, I'm currently looking at MAs at Tufts, Brandeis, NIU for Philosophy, as well as NSSR and NYU for either Philosophy or Political Science.
  7. Hi, I'm expecting to apply for MA programs in Philosophy (Political Philosophy) for the 2012-13 class, and I have a question for the writing sample. To simply introduce myself, I graduated with a double major in political science and comparative literature with a thesis reflecting on the state-people relationship using materials from Hegel and Confucius. After looking around for programs of interest, I found out that quite a number of terminal MA programs (at least the ones that I'm applying to) expect a writing sample. I've also heard that philosophy programs put more importance in the sample than the GRE, transcript, etc. My question is: do they look more at the logical structure of the paper, or does the content matter? I'm assuming its the former, but I thought I should still ask, because at this point of time it's still feasible, though not appealing, to write a new writing sample that deals with matters what someone doing political philosophy might consider. By feasible I mean I have the time and the resources, plus a professor who would guide me in my writing. I'm guessing a possible answer could be "if you can do it, sure, why not?", but is it really necessary? Should I really rewrite, if possible? I mean, these MA programs seem to be not expecting prior background in Philosophy (according to their websites) but do they expect a writing sample that concerns certain topics in Philosophy? I'll do it if it is absolutely crucial, but if the new sample only affects little, then I think I'll just stick with my old sample and work more on the SOPs.
  8. Hi, I'm an international student applying to US. I'm in knowledge that when I apply for Fulbright, the IIE applies to my preferred schools in my place. I'm wondering if that means my application materials for Fulbright are reused as application materials for schools? I'm kinda confused, because my recommendation letters would be addressed to Fulbright, not the schools that I'm trying to get into.
  9. Great. Thanks so much for the insightful comments. I'll do just that.
  10. Wow, thanks so much for all the valuable opinions. So I gather that my MTS->PhD in Political Philosophy (philosophy branch) is quite feasible, assuming that I do the necessary coursework in philosophy by taking advantage of the flexible system in Harvard. Right? I'm now concerned about my chances at getting into HDS MTS. I'm looking into other MA programs in philosophy (e.g., Tufts, Brandeis, N. Illinois, etc.) but HDS is easily my top choice because of its interdisciplinary, flexible aspect. As some mentioned funding was possibly a concern, but now I got myself a Fulbright (will be confirmed as a grantee when I do make it into any graduate program ... and yes, I'm an international applicant to US), and this is settled to an extent. My stats are: 3.8/4.3, GRE 650-710 Verbal, 750-800 Quantitative. I have 3 solid recommendation letters, and the rest (e.g. writing sample, sop, etc.) are subjective so I won't comment on them but I think they're fine. How hard is it to get into HDS MTS? How high/low do I have a chance?
  11. Hi, I'm interested in the Fulbright program to the US, and in my knowledge Fulbright works with IIE to place applicants into schools. In other words, applicants would be applying through the IIE, and not directly, as usual. Is this reliable? What are the pros and the cons for doing this? Does anyone have any opinion on this?
  12. Hi SamAli, Glad to find that I'm not alone. I've been asking around after the post here and I met one of my professors who studied at HDS MTS and end up with a PhD in Sociology. He said in MTS you're pretty flexible to do anything, and according to his words, they just "don't care" about what you do because you're just a masters student. He was exaggerating, but still something to think about. I'm gonna go ask around some more, perhaps the director of the program or a student studying there. You might wanna do that too.
  13. Hi, I'm a poli sci/comparative lit. double major who just graduated early this year and I'm in need of an advice. My eventual goal is to pursue a PhD in political theory/political philosophy in a top-tier school at US and my list of schools to apply was almost all set until recently my adviser told me about HDS MTS program. I was going to apply to MA programs anyway to hone my interests and my knowledge of the field (my undergraduate program was very new, and I feel it did not fulfill the background education that I need to make me attractive to the PhD board) and HDS is a great option, considering that I can have full/partial access to courses/faculty at Harvard's department of Government or Philosophy as long as I'm fulfilling my core curriculum at MTS. So I was wondering, is this a good idea? I know ultimately it depends on what I do and how I perform, but will a training at MTS help me in my application to a PhD in political theory/political philosophy? My concern is that certain political scientists or philosophers may view my MTS training 'different' from their methodology/reading/perspective etc. and make my chances of getting a PhD in poli sci/phil actually lower. Is this likely? I'm completely new to the MTS track option and I'm unsure if this MTS->PhD in other field is common or something totally unconventional. Personally I'm quite interested in religion, not only academically but also as a life commitment, and I would be really happy in a program where I can have access to political theory, philosophy, and religion. So another question is, what are the other MTS (or its equivalent) programs that would be a suitable fit for someone like me? Some of my interest areas are works from ancient greek thinkers, 18-19th century philosophy (e.g. Hegel, Kant, Fichte), and general topics in metaphysics and ethics. Also, I'm currently limiting my options to schools in US only.
  14. Thanks for the replies, I'm starting to be convinced that a MA in either political theory or philosophy is going to be a necessary step for me before I try my hand in a PhD program. Just have to take care of the tuition fees somehow ... What? Applications for 2012 started already? But PhD applications start this September? I'm hoping this is a typo ... Anyway, since you asked. I found myself more attuned to the normative theoretical approach and I prefer writing about arguments dealing with ethics and metaphysics than trying to piece together statistics to make a point. But at the same time, I don't want to be totally drowned in a world of my philosophical own, constantly frowning and thinking about matters about mind and body (not because it is irrelevant, but because I have no background in this area). So I've been looking for the middle ground that caters to both wishes and I found that Political Philosophy fulfills the task. It's theoretical, and at the same time it deals mainly with specific issues happening around the world. I also found the departments of Politics and Philosophy in certain schools generally incline towards this approach (e.g. New School of Social Research), and I am quite eager to pursue this science. I've so far dealt mainly with Continental Philosophy and Critical Theory, and I'm most interested in Kant and Hegel's Phenomenology. While my PSIR courses were mainly practical oriented (because there were just no theoretical course available), all my CLC electives that I picked were courses that used philosophical texts to discuss ethics, justice, identity etc., or at least I wrote all my papers on such themes. My GPA overall is above average, but my GPA for CLC should be pretty high, since I always maintained getting A- or higher. I have professors recommending me to pursue further studies too. So why not go for a PhD in CLC? My interest lies in ancient Greek thinkers, such as Plato and Aristotle, and I really wish to receive a formal education in either Political Theory or Philosophy. The History of Western thinkers really intrigue me, and I think both programs offer good trainings in this area. While CLC is still very interesting, I plan to eventually make contributions to the Political Theory / Philosophy field, and I have some reservations that a PhD in CLC may not have that much of a voice. Also, CLC is not all about critical theory; it is also comprised of Film Studies, Comparing literatures, and many other things, and I had to selectively filter out the ones that dealt with philosophical materials. I don't want to be doing this again during my graduate program. Some other interests include: politics and religion, mass behavior, social thought, state-people relationships/identities, reinterpreting democracy, liberal communitarianism. I've been looking around the forum and other websites, and it seems that (for a phd) the New School, WUSTL, and Yale have attractive programs. I hope these information are useful .. I kinda just said whatever I thought relevant. I wonder what are your opinions on my reservations to CLC are, if any. I am also quite convinced of going for MA in either political theory or philosophy hopefully after getting some scholarship from the university or external sources. Which programs do you think I should consider/reconsider? Thank you very much.
  15. Thanks, that's reassuring to hear. I was kind of freaking out back then, I'm still freaking out, but only mildly. Anyway, I think what I should do is pursue a MA in either political thought or philosophy if I really want to pursue a PhD in any of these fields. Btw, I noticed that you were applying to Comparative Literature programs. I might just go for a PhD in Comparative Literature, but I am a little reserved because I'm not sure whether a degree in this field would have a strong voice in political theory / philosophy as this is where I plan to be contributing to. What do you think? Or anyone?
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use