PhilosophyHopeful2013

Mizzou

(I went to a Tier 1 law school before anyone asks.) To be very simple: The jobs are often miserable. People have these notions of what being a lawyer is, and it's a whole lot of paper pushing. Some people are really meant to be lawyers, but I'd say those people are very few. Many of my friends hate it, and almost every lawyer I encountered during my three years encouraged me not to do it. A lot of attorneys become depressed, etc. Going to law school is something you should do because you want to practice law and/or be a lawyer. If you are unsure or need to convince yourself, it's likely not for you. Practically, the job market is bad; there are too many law schools and thus too many law students, which means the economy will likely never be as booming as it once was. Let's say you get a corporate law job. You might be making 180k, but you will also have no life. You will often be working 80 hour weeks. Law school is also not going to give you a distinct 'skill set'. Many lawyers have to learn how to be a lawyer AFTER they graduate. There is some practical but not enough at all. Law school can teach you how to think, but with philosophy experience as it is, you likely already have some notions as to how to think. In addition, there's money. If you can go for free, it's house money, but nearly everyone has to take out some kind of loan money. Do you want to take out loan money for bad job prospects and general job unhappiness? That's what a lot of my friends did. Basically, I would only go to law school if you're sure you want to go. By sure, I don't mean you think you'd be good at it or you'd be able to help people or whatever. I mean that you've talked to a lot of people in law school, talked to some lawyers, and sat in on some classes. If you have specific questions, I'll answer them. I just do not recommend law school as a backup plan ever.

DO NOT go to law school. This is coming from a law school graduate. There are probably 50 reasons I could give you to not go.

PhilMAStudent, Can you tell us more about the hostile climate? I'm an URM, and this is a big concern for me (or at least a concern). Feel free to PM if you're willing to go into more detail. Thanks.

Info for those interested in UVA: "Dear Mr. PhilosophyHopeful2013, This message is to let you know the current state of your application to our Ph.D. program. Our department moved the application deadline to January 15 this year so there would not be a conflict between that deadline and an applicant’s end of semester responsibilities, and as a result we have adopted a new time line for notifications. Our initial set of offers has been sent out and we are currently working on setting up a waiting list. Those who are on the waiting list are being notified according to a staggered schedule, but we hope to have completed the process by the end of February or, at the latest, early March. We have had a significant increase in applications over last year and want to give every applicant his or her proper consideration. If you have not heard from us by March 3, please do feel free to contact me about your status. Sincerely, Paul Humphreys Director of Graduate Admissions Department of Philosophy, University of Virginia"

Thanks. This might not make you feel any better, but if I am lucky enough to receive an acceptance (I have 1 other acceptance), there's a chance that I'd decline it, which might help your chances. If that comes to be, I'll certainly make a decision ASAP so someone like you has a better shot.

Loyola is sending out waitlist emails for anyone who wants to know. "Dear Mr. Philosophy Hopeful, I am writing to let you know that you have been added to a wait list for admission to the PhD program in philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. We received a large number of applications this year and can only admit a handful of students. That said, you are near the top of the wait list and based on past experience there is a good chance that we may eventually be able to accept you into the program. Once we hear what decisions the admitted students make, we will know if we can admit any of those from the wait list. Thank you for your interest in our program."

People are reporting that Duke has emailed them telling them to check the website for their decision. Does anyone still have "Decision Not Ready"? It looks like they handed out some acceptances and some waitlists, so I assumed everyone else rejected.

I saw that someone emailed Loyola and found out that they were rejected. I emailed Dr. Wike, and I received this response: "Mr. PhilosophyHopeful2013, We are in the process of making first offers now....as well as recording refusals. In some cases, it may be weeks before a decision is noted...as we wait to hear back from our first offers. If they refuse, then we will extend offers to others." I guess that's somewhat positive that I wasn't rejected immediately? Who knows...

Well here's to hoping for some good luck for us. Hopefully all the emails weren't sent out today/tonight.

Someone just posted an acceptance by email from Loyola Chicago. Anyone want to claim?

I would think it over for 24 hours and then reject it. But if you're absolutely sure, I think you should reject it ASAP.

First acceptance in from Illinois. Congrats! Anyone want to own up to it? *Crossing my fingers that I also receive an email.*

Looks like someone received a Penn acceptance today (Sunday). I can only hope they send an email my way! Congrats to the person. Anyone want to claim?

Looks like someone received a phone call from Arizona today (Saturday). Anyone want to claim it/pass along what was said?

Looks like we have our first UVA acceptance. Congrats to that person.

18. Heard from 1, accepted by that 1 school. Uromastyx, were you accepted to UT Austin for philosophy or something else? Congrats either way.

+1. Let me also add...I hope some of them are us!

First acceptance from the University of Chicago seems to be in.

Thanks for the info. Best of luck getting off the waitlist. Two acceptances have also been posted. Starting to get a little nervous I'm straight rejected.

http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/breakdown.asp APPLIED ETHICS Group 1 (1-7): rounded mean of 4.0 (median, mode) Duke University (3.5, 3.5) Georgetown University (3.75, 3.5) Harvard University (4, 5) Oxford University (4.5, 5) Princeton University (4, 4) Rutgers University, New Brunswick (4, 4) University of Colorado, Boulder (4, 4) Group 2 (8-17): rounded mean of 3.5 (median, mode) New York University (3.5, 4 & 3) Rice University (3.5, 3.5) Stanford University (3.25, 4) University of Arizona (4, 4) University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (3.5, 3.5) University of Pennsylvania (3.5, 2) University of Toronto (3.5, 3) University of Utah (3.25, 3) Washington University in St. Louis (3.5, 3.5) Yale University (3.75, 4 & 3.5) Group 3 (18-38): rounded mean of 3.0 (median, mode) Australian National University (3.5, 3.5) *Bowling Green State University City University of New York Graduate Center (3, 2.75) London School of Economics (3, 3) *Loyola University, Chicago Queen’s University (Canada) (3.25, 3.5) Syracuse University (3, 3.25) #Texas A&M University #University at Albany, State University of New York University of California, Los Angeles (3, 2.75) University of California, Riverside (2.75, 3.5) University of Chicago (3, 3) University of Maryland, College Park (3, 2.75) University of Melbourne (3.5, 3.75) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (3, 3.5) *University of North Texas University of Notre Dame (3, 3) *University of Oregon University of St. Andrews/University of Stirling Joint Program (2.75, 2.5) University of Virginia (3, 3) University of Wisconsin, Madison (3, 2.75)

I received this response: "There has been a delay with the adding of test scores to applications. This has not caused any difficulties with the processing of your application, so there is no need for concern. I can confirm that we have received your scores, though it may still be some time before this is reflected on your application status page. I do apologize for the delay. Please let me know if you have any further questions."

Random question: Does anyone who applied to the University of Chicago still have their official GRE score listed as "Awaiting"? It was one of my 4 main schools on my original GRE, so I'm a little surprised it wouldn't have been received by now.

Just my opinion of course, but I'd say it depends. In particular, it depends on the schools you're applying to. Here's what UCR has to say about it. They are ranked #31 according to Philosophical Gourmet: "During the last few years, average GRE scores (verbal and quantitative combined) for students we accepted have been in the range of 310 to 330 (1250-1500 by the old scale). (If a student’s combined scores are below 300 (1100), their chances of being admitted are minimal unless there is a special explanation, e.g., that the student is not a native speaker of English). Typically a score below 310 (or 1250) is a strike against an applicant, whereas a score above 325 (or 1450) is a bonus." To me it seems like your scores are not going to help/hurt you for a lot of schools. Obviously the more competitive/higher ranked the school, the more likely they are to want higher scores, and for some of them, your scores might be a small strike against. The writing score might be a small strike against you, but some schools don't even care about it. So, I guess my opinion (which means zero) is that your scores won't keep you out of a ton of schools if the rest of the application is good/great.

You're both kind of right. "Applications to the Graduate School of the University of Southern California are coordinated through Apply Yourself application system. Note that USC has a 'priority deadline' for applications of December 1st, but full consideration will be given to all philosophy applications which are complete by December 31st."