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Die_Kurator

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    USA
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  • Program
    Philosophy

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  1. I know someone who did that (though I'm not sure this person planned to do that), but they went to law school and then returned to pursue a philosophy PhD. Presumably you'll pick up better recommendations while in law school? Study and try to do some legal research. Most philosophy programs care more about what you are capable of, rather than how much philosophy you've already read. Law and philosophy also overlap a lot, so try to find ways to stay active by looking into that (would be my advice). You should be able to write a really good writing sample given the experience you'll pick up before you apply again. That's my .02.
  2. I just got my "official-official" admission letter on Monday and sent in my official transcript. No idea when I sign anything else or what happens next. Will probably email someone within the department sometime next week after my transcript has made it.
  3. A Mathematician's Apology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematician%27s_Apology). This is a classic text, and most mathematician's revere it. It contains a lot of very interesting insights about math and while Hardy isn't a philosopher he is writing about philosophical issues. If he hasn't read it yet, it's worth reading for the insights into mathematics alone. I studied math at undergrad, and it's one of my favorite books. A little background: Hardy was a huge pacifist and so only worked on topics in math that he thought couldn't ever be used to assist in war. His main focus was group theory, which he happily commented was the most useless branch of all math (ironically, it has HUGE military applications in cryptography. IIRC some of his own results in fact. Sorry Hardy). He wrote it when he was old, but his main purpose in the book is to defend doing math on purely aesthetic grounds. He rejects the idea that math is worthwhile for its practical results (medicine, improvements in quality of living etc.) because it also has a lot of practical defects (improvements of mechanization also mean improvements in war: better killing machines, nukes, etc.). I think he also points out that those sorts of things (good and bad) aren't really produced by mathematicians anyway, and that it takes some time for a theory to gain practical utility, meaning that a mathematician often doesn't have that kind of thing in mind anyway. From there he spends some time trying to argue what makes a mathematical result beautiful. He goes through some interesting and easy to understand examples. It's not very technical philosophically, but there are a lot of important issues that he is talking about in the philosophy of mathematics. If nothing else, I'm sure it's a book he'd appreciate.
  4. Wisconsin is boring. I have two friends doing grad school there (not in philosophy). Austin is a cool city. It sounds like Texas has got a lot going for it, that's all I'm saying. The heat in Texas probably isn't too bad. It's a dry(er) heat, so if you come from the East coast (you said you're from NYC), it's not bad. Austin is definitely more expensive, but that's because it's a better city. On the plus side you won't have to pay stupid amounts for heating in the winter. On the philosophical stuff, everything you said sounds true. Keep in mind there's an overlap between phil. of language issues and meta-ethics, so even if you want to work on meta-ethics, someone who does language stuff could probably still help you a lot. Interesting views often come out of taking lessons from one sub-field and inserting them into another (imo) blahblahetc. Also if you are interested in empirical stuff (for language) UT has a really good linguistics department. My .02. I didn't apply to UT, but was strongly considering it for a lot of the reasons I just said. I would do that if it were me in your shoes. I'm not sure if this is the advice you were looking for or not, but hope it helps you. No offense to anyone from Wisconsin.
  5. I thought Princeton didn't do wait lists. I thought I read somewhere that they just admit everyone they want to take and that's it. If more people accept than they thought, whatever they got the cash. Can't seem to find it on their site, but I don't see any waitlists in the database here for Princeton for the past few years. I could be wrong. Sorry for being a downer... EDIT: You should still contact them though if you haven't heard anything.
  6. I spoke to him a conference a year or so ago and he's also a wicked cool dude. Super nice, super approachable. Like Mattdest says, he's probably really nice to work with.
  7. I thought, but I can't find it on the application proof, that there was a box to tick if you wanted to be considered for the MAPH thing, because I remember definitely not ticking it (since I would have turned it down). For the other people who haven't heard anything: do you remember this box existing? Did you tick it? Maybe that's why we haven't been contacted yet.
  8. Has anyone ever asked for more funds to help finance a campus visit? I think I can afford it without more funding, but it's going to put a little bit of strain on me, and it will make any other visits I might need to do that much harder (assuming similar situation)...
  9. Can anyone advise how (/to whom) to ask this question tactfully.
  10. Don't be so sure. I got notice from two places so far: Pittsburgh and Georgtown. Accepted to the former, rejected from the latter. In terms of how well I thought my interests aligned with faculty, FWIW, these two schools were actually at the top of my list. Sometimes the results just don't make sense. I've been told the latter, but not the former. I've actually been advised heavily against hte former. Don't go to graduate school unless you can imagine doing something else. My professors all advised me that I shouldn't go unless I could see myself doing something else after finishing my PhD, because a lot of people that get stuck in shitty positions (adjuncting forever, for example), end up there because they refuse to or can't see themselves doing anything else.
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