pleasestaycalm

I recently made contact with a POI who informed me that she was uncertain as to whether she was going to remain at the school I'm applying to. This doesn't affect my decision to apply to the school, but when identifying her as a person of interest in my statement of purpose, should I indicate that I'm aware that she might be leaving the institution? My concern is that perhaps this is not entirely public information yet, and thus I don't want to inadvertently notify someone on the grad admissions committee that one of their colleagues is potentially taking a job elsewhere... Thank you in advance for your reply!

I don't think this will be problematic for you. Considering that the grade was in a 200 level course means that regardless of when you took it, it technically should be considered as a part of your first two years. On top of that your GPA and GRE scores are indeed: stellar. Thus the fact that you got a B- (which isn't really that bad) should not be a serious hinderance to your acceptance.

especially, Thank you for your reply. I am considering an MA at Toronto, but a PhD at Penn (it's a long story). If you should find the time, shoot me a few excerpts of some of the MA student's emails. Thanks.

I'm applying to about 15 programs that specialize in twentieth century continental philosophy this fall. However there are two programs in particular that are troubling me: The University of Toronto: obviously a very reputable program in many philosophy circles. However, I've read that the faculty at this institution have the "tendency" to be considerably detached or disconnected from their students (similar to NSSR). This seems like it could be one of those programs that has far too many people coming and going through it; thus making it very difficult to not end up as another student who made it through without so much as a trace. Does anyone have any objections or affirmations to this? Penn State: this was at one time an incredibly reputable program in continental philosophy circles (and still is to a degree). However, to point out the elephant in the room concerning this school, it is obviously now synonymous with the Sandusky scandal (and not to mention many other questionable activities according to some of its former students/employees). Is it wise to acquire a degree from an academic department that has the potential to be overshadowed by the school's reputation as a whole? Thank you for your responses.

Thanks fuzzylogician!

Thanks Bearcat1 & magog!

I've reached an impasse with my writing sample: I've had multiple people critique it, each offering conflicting advice and obviously this would require some sort of balance between the conflicting parties. However what I'm struggling with figuring out is how "specialized" should the writing sample actually be? My paper is on a topic in 20th century continental philosophy and I'm applying to programs that specialize in this area. I've had one advisor/critic tell me to refrain from elucidating the specific terminology and jargon relevant to the subject matter that I use in the paper because the people reading it are already familiar with the work of a major philosopher; however I've had another critic (who specializes in analytic philosophy) state that this is a tremendous risk because there is no guarantee that the graduate admissions committee member who reads the paper will have a working knowledge of this particular area of philosophy (in fact their approach to it could be inimical). But this is a perplexing question: if I'm applying to programs that specialize in 20th century continental philosophy, is it erroneous or presumptuous to assume that the reader will understand the jargon and terminology of the philosophical area that I have chosen? It is a philosophy paper after all, it seems rather difficult to write about a specific subject matter within philosophy without employing the use of philosophical terminology... Thoughts?

For the universities that require hard copies of the LORs, how does one go about providing recommenders that are in another country with ample materials (postage/currency of their own country) to do so? I thought about sending my recommenders (that are in Britain) American currency but it seems like this could be misconstrued as indolence on my part for making them convert American dollars into British pounds in order to purchase stamps for the letters... Would it be poor etiquette to simply ask the recommenders to provide the stamps of their own country if I provide them with a pre-addressed envelope? Thanks!