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exaznable

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  1. It's very shocking, and I am afraid that other schools may do the same thing (which I hope that is not the case). Also, I am not sure how people's strategy with regard to accepting an offer should be changed given the possibility that the same thing might happen.
  2. You might be already heard about this, but here is the shocking news that is from Daily nous. http://dailynous.com/2020/04/08/u-arizona-retracts-ph-d-funding-pandemic/ Yesterday evening, we were informed by Andrew Carnie, Dean of the Graduate College, in conjunction with the Provost, that all outstanding offers of funding to prospective graduate students be rescinded. This however did not apply to those who have already accepted offers. It also only applied to students whose funding would come from university sources; offers funded by e.g. external grants were exempt. It is our understanding that this is a university-wide decision and applies to all such outstanding offers in any department. Our understanding is also that the Graduate College bases the legality of this decision on a clause in offer letters which allows for defunding under exceptional circumstances. We were also informed by JP Jones, Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (the college in which Philosophy is housed) that he would grant no exceptions to this policy. We do not comply with this policy by choice, but by command. It is a policy that we both disagree with and have opposed, but are forced to enact. Unlike offers of funding, offers of acceptance have not been retracted. But we fully understand that an offer of acceptance without funding is hardly better than a rejection, and we do not expect any students to come to the University of Arizona unfunded. But to stress again, this decision has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of any individuals’ applications; we deem the applications of those whom we originally accepted, as well as those originally on our waitlist, to be of an exceptionally high quality. That we will not be able to welcome them into our program next year is a fact about which we are acutely disappointed. We would be absolutely delighted if we could admit those students who have been directly affected by this at a later date—provided they still want to come. We understand that they may have other offers and that, regardless of those offers, given the way this has played out they may not want to come to the University of Arizona—a judgment we would understand completely. We are deeply, deeply disappointed at this turn of events, and sincerely hope that those harmed by our University’s decisions will nonetheless be able to make arrangements that will lead them to a future of happiness and success.
  3. I don't think that that's good idea. The fact that you are waitlisted shows that the admission committee has already read your WT so they know your work. It will be more likely to cause backfires if you do so.
  4. So you chose to go to a MA program instead of going to the top-10 program when you applied out of undergrad? I am just curious; you just didn't like the programs that you were accepted back then?
  5. I am second to Olórin. No one can know the likehood of getting into a PhD program in philosophy based on such an information you provided, because applicants are evaluated mostly by letters and writing sample. And as far as I know, no top program cuts off applicants just based on their GRE. Admission committee are not stupid and they are fully aware that GRE doesn't really show the intelligence of applicants. Letters of recommendation and writing sample are two most important factors in getting admission, and then GPA. Assuming that your writing sample is really good as you described, it may be that the topic you picked out is not very good for the writing sample. Even if programs like Columbia and NYU have philosophers working on those areas, it is very likely that your writing sample would be read by someone who doesn't know anything about Heidegger and Spinoza. And those are not so favored figures in the analytic tradition, even for the programs like Columbia.
  6. Thank you for this long response! I think I would ask some departments to which I will not apply next year without any expectation to get a valuable feedback. It is actually very obvious what I should do (mostly, writing a better sample). I just wanted to have a sense of what will happen next year, because I am now anxious due to this year's result. I think you're right. The problem is that it is so difficult to predict my odds. Everyone told me that writing sample is the single most important factor. It's good, but it may also give the delusion that I can get accepted from the programs of my choice IF my writing sample is awesome. Maybe it's true, but maybe not. I wish it's true so that I can have hope to push me to work hard, but I don't want to have a false belief. I am in a very good terminal master's program (T-7). So fortunately, I have a fabulous advisor who has done this process with different students for many years. I've talked with him a lot, and with other professors here too, but the conclusion of our conversation almost always was "No one knows what will happen." Currently, I am worried mostly about my undergraduate degree and grades. I am from South Korea, and I didn't major in philosophy (I didn't even take a philosophy class, except an introductory one 13 years ago). My undergraduate institution is prestigious in Korea, but I doubt that philosophers here can notice this. My undergraduate grades are not good, but all professors here I've showed my transcripts said that my grades would not matter so much. I thought that because it may be hard for admission commitee to interpret my undergraduate transcripts, my letters and performance here would be much more important, which I wanted to be the case. But perhaps my undergraduate degree and grades are crucial, given the competition level of the process. Worrying this kind of things is so painful, because there is nothing I can do but worrying. I've looked up the survey from your blog. Thanks so much! It was really helpful. The survey seems to suggest that even for a student with a master's degree, his or her undergraduate degree, major and grades matter. Maybe it is just because someone who was good from the start tends to write a better sample or have better letters. In any case, I don't know how seriously I should take it into account.
  7. This is a good information! Thanks. I may try to ask some programs that I am not going to apply again. I hope they will give some feedback to me. But at the same time, I can see that asking feedback might not be helpful for me in any case. Thanks for this answer too!
  8. I am planning to reapply next year. I know that at this point there is nothing much I can do other than having a better writing sample. But it would be very helpful if I can get a sense of what the drawback of my application was and how far I mad in the admission process. So, is it acceptable to ask why I got rejected to the departments I applied to? I am bit worried, because I will apply to some of same programs. I think they won't remember in any case, but who knows..
  9. I was a graduate student majoring in philosophy of education (in education). I am not sure if there are 'ideological commitments' in education programs, but my impression is that the field is shrinking. The reason is, i think, that graduate schools of education are becoming more and more a sort of professional school for raising education leaders (like law school). They are focusing more on subjects that can be applied directly to practice (such as administration, policy, counselling and etc.) than theory. There are many part-time graduate students who are working in relevant fields, and many of them don't even pursue PhD degree. So such subjects like philosophy of education which are hard to be applied to practice directly tend to be neglected.
  10. My thought is that it depends on how much you can be selfish. I don't think that your idealistic reason is convincing, but it doesn't matter if you really like to do philosophy and ready to sacrifice others for it. Here is why I think your idealist reason is not convincing. You can be autonomous worker without PhD degree, as you mentioned. You can develop the expertise to contribute one's field and knowledge without PhD degree in philosophy. You can choose PhD in education, for example, where you can be a part-time graduate student. But as I said, it doesn't matter whether or not the idealistic concern is convincing. But your practical concerns seem really tough. I am sorry that I can't say anything about that.
  11. For now, I think that it is not a good idea to go to PhD program with a plan to transfer next year. But obviously it is more reasonable choice than not to accept the offer.
  12. That's right. Well... good question. I am not ready to answer it, but I must think of it.
  13. Thanks for this answer. Yeah, it's hard! But I don't think that going to a PhD program with a plan to transfer soon or later is a good idea. If I accept the offer, that will mean that I will give up to apply for next application season for now and try to be satisfied with the program. Maybe my mind will be changed and fail to be satisfied with the program, but then I can think of that at that time. Your case is different, because it seems to me you have an actual reason to transfer. But it is really good information for me! Thanks for letting me know your case. Good point! This is good time to think of myself, actually. I am aware that maybe in this year I was lucky to get an acceptance from a ranked program. I will discuss with my professors and friends and you guys about my realistic prospect too. The problem is that the process is really obscure, so no one can exactly measure one's prospect. But I believe that the process is not that really obscure, although luck really matters too.
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