bar_scene_gambler

Just out of curiosity, what PhD programs did you apply to last time? And are you applying to the same ones this time around?

Fair enough. It's now the official thread. So kant, what's up?

Lol I don't think there is an "official" 2014 thread. Sorry. There are several about, but you're more than welcome to post here. Most of the regulars look through these threads regularly.

It's not about spirit, it's about him being a crank who goes out of his way to simultaneously say the most insane things possible and try his best to prove, both to himself and to others (though mostly to himself) that he isn't completely ludicrous. As for smaller programs, any program that's well ranked will teach the material "the proper way". If you're looking for a toned-down environment, you might want to look at state schools or smaller private institutions, places that have the faculty to support all your interests and aspirations with departments self-aware enough to know that they're not competing with MIT or Princeton. With that in mind, and being aware of your continental interests, I'd suggest programs like Penn State, SUNY Stonybrook, Fordham University, aaaand maybe Loyola University Chicago (if you're interested in the UK, U Warwick is good too. I'm applying for their MA in Continental Philosophy). There are definitely other programs, to be sure, but those are pretty "top-notch" continental programs, and they're the only ones I can really think of off the top of my head.

So far (I haven't sent my scores in yet, just the 4 free ones you get when you finish the test) the few schools I have sent scores to confirmed having them almost immediately. I'd wait a week or so before emailing someone about it, but not any more than that.

It should only take 10-15 days for the GRE scores to be sent, so I don't know why the schools don't have them if they were sent months ago. And yeah, the process is a mess. On two of the apps I submitted, the website converted my .docx into a .pdf, and somehow the formatting in some of my quotes got messed up, so now I have to contact them and figure out how to fix the issue.

It's really difficult to tell. I spent more time on the comparative ethics paper, but the content is unorthodox, while the Hume paper is safe and well suited to the department's interests (being that there are a few Hume people there). And yeah, our interests are definitely on opposite ends of the spectrum, though one of the reasons why I'm applying to Arizona is so that I can spend some time in an analytic environment.

What do you guys think about me doing a different writing sample for U Arizona? The faculty there aren't really in my main areas of interest, but I'm interested in Hume, so I'm sending an application in. I have a paper on Descartes and Hume's ethics both being rooted in human psychology, but I'm worried that it's too bland. But my other paper is totally outside the faculty members' areas of research, so I hesitate to submit the writing sample that I'm submitting to all of the other programs I'm applying to.

Not on the basis of GRE score anyways, though obviously a poor writing sample or recommendations would preclude you.

2 out of 3 is okay, but 3 out of 3 would be better. I talked to him about it (delicately) and he said he'd work on it, so hopefully that means I'll have three good recommendations. I'm sure you'll be fine. We're all feeling the same way. I almost broke down today because I can't shake the feeling of total inferiority to other candidates. It'll pass eventually.

I waived my rights to read the letters of recommendation, but, when my Fellowship adviser gave me a copy of my paper application, she forgot to take out the copies of the recommendations attached to the last pages, so I got to read what my recommenders had to say about me. The other two recommendations were absolutely amazing. They made me seem like the greatest scholar to have walked the earth, but my thesis adviser's recommendation was pretty vanilla. It talked about how he thought my thesis was innovative and how he thought it was a novel approach to Nietzsche's work, but he barely talked about me and made it seem like I was, as a potential philosopher, rather forgettable.

I think most faculty write one letter of recommendation and then adapt it to the different programs you're applying to. My department chair (who is writing me a letter) told me she pretty much sends out the same letter to every school. So I don't think it'll be too much of a hassle.

What I mean is that I honestly believe she has the ability to be a great philosopher, but she doesn't have the time-management skills to actually pursue philosophy with a med-school schedule. She's one of those "brilliant yet fragile" types, so I'm nearly certain that if she goes to med school, she'll stop studying philosophy altogether. And frankly, it would be wrong of me to talk her out of a successful career in medicine for the clusterfuck that is academic philosophy.

Such as? And in terms of your question, I'm not sure what the most controversial philosophical position I feel sympathy for might be, but I do feel some sympathy for Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. I'm not sure how unpopular it is, but I feel like it's less popular than the Tractatus in more heavily analytic departments. I'm jealous (though I'm a part of the PC master-race, so not too jealous). 1) How is the Tractatus? For some reason, my Wittgenstein class skipped right over it and we started with the Blue Book and went to Philosophical Investigations afterward. 3) The Investigations are awesome, I hope you enjoy it. 6) Really interesting. I don't know anything about ethnomusicology. Could you elaborate a little on what it is that interests you?

To be fair, I didn't read all of Nietzsche's corpus (which I've read before) and most of Hume's works are quite short (Treatise excepted). Being and Time was done a chapter per week (breaks included) as was the Critique of Judgment. My adviser has had me read at this pace since I started, so I've grown accustomed to reading like that. I've probably read close to 300-400 pages a week every week (though I'm really just guessing, since there's no way to actually estimate without going through all the books I've read). Most of these have been a part of classes this semester, with the exception of the stuff I've had to read for research.

I figured we could talk a bit about some various things related to philosophy to help get our mind off of our applications. I was thinking something along the lines of: 1) What books did you read this semester? 2) Book recommendations in your fields of interest 3) What classes are you taking your final semester? 4) Any particular frustrations related to your department/research/reading/professors that you want to vent about? 5) Are you taking a break from philosophy over Christmas, or continuing with a normal/more intense work load? 6) Any other academic interests, outside of philosophy? That's all I can think of right now, but if you guys want to add more, I'd happily talk about it. I'll start. 1) Sooooooo many books. I'll just drop my list in: On the Aesthetic Education of Man - Schiller The Ear of the Other - Derrida Human, All Too Human - Nietzsche The Stranger - Camus The Blue Book - Wittgenstein Culture and Value - Wittgenstein Leaves of Grass - Whitman Being-In-The-World - Dreyfus Critique of Judgment - Kant Nietzsche's Zarathustra - Higgins A Treatise of Human Nature - Hume An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - Hume An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals - Hume Hume's Writings on Economics - Hume The Cambridge Companion to Hume - Various Experience and Education - Dewey Rules for the Direction of the Mind - Descartes Discourse on Method - Descartes Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations - Stern Philosophical Investigations - Wittgenstein Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion - Hume The History of Natural Religion - Hume This New, Yet Unapproachable America - Cavell On the Future of Our Educational Institutions - Nietzsche Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Nietzsche Being and Time - Heidegger Unfashionable Observations - Nietzsche On the Genealogy of Morals - Nietzsche Beyond Good and Evil - Nietzsche Alcyone: Nietzsche on Gifts, Noise, and Women - Shapiro Nausea - Sartre Empiricism and Subjectivity - Deleuze Plus a bunch of other articles/essays/monographs. Some of these I had to reread for my research. 2) It depends on the area of interest, but in general, I'd recommend Self-Reliance, The Gay Science, Culture and Value, or Nausea (also, sheepishly, Kant's Critique of Judgment) 3) I'm taking Beginner German II, Advanced Independent Study: Plato's Republic, Advanced Independent Study: Deleuze, Symbolic Logic, Figures/Themes: Nietzsche, and my thesis course. 4) I'm frustrated about some stuff related to the department. There's another major who is going to med-school who I really think should be a philosopher, but I can't really try to talk her out of it. Beyond that, my thesis adviser and I frequently disagree about Nietzsche, which makes my thesis work a bit difficult, even though he's pretty understanding. Also, his recommendation for my Fulbright was lackluster, so I'm worried that he'll write another lackluster recommendation for my applications, despite my insistence that they need to sparkle. 5) I have no choice but to keep up with the current workload. I'm going to be doing thesis research and also trying to do some personal reading on my own (I'd like to read some stuff by Kierkegaard and Kuhn by the end of break). 6) I'm interested in theatre, Eastern religions, and classics, and that's what has pushed me to apply for the Committee on Social Thought. I've inherited a bunch of Norse sagas from the classics department at my Uni, so I'm trying to read through some of those. Outside of that, I love Beckett (especially Waiting for Godot) and Shakespeare and have been working through a series of religious texts steadily since I began my BA (just for curiosity's sake more than anything else).

Maybe you've said this on another thread, but where are you applying? What are your interests? I'm assuming that because you're applying to a bunch of top 10 schools, your interests are thoroughly analytic, but I could be wrong.

There's always another option, one that you probably haven't considered (though I dread mentioning it given that it could mean more competition for me). Have you heard of U Chicago's PhD in Social Thought? It's a great program, and really emphasizes interdisciplinary work, and the best part is that it isn't a money pit like most "interdisciplinary programs" (I'm looking at you MAPH). It's been around long enough that it has a pretty good placement record, and tons of well-respected scholars have been a part of the committee. Just something to think about. There is one caveat, and that is that it's extremely competitive and the comps are crazy difficult. But it's worth it if you don't want to pigeonhole yourself.

I agree with philstudent. You're not applying to huge, highly ranked programs, though that's in your favor, and your stats are good. If your dialogue is well-written and not totally full of errors, you stand a pretty decent chance from what I can tell.

How rigid is your conception of "political philosophy"? I'm working on a paper focusing on Rousseau's "Emile", and though the book is largely about education, Rousseau is considered a political philosopher (obviously). Of course, I've been tossing around an idea on a paper on Nietzsche's anti-political leanings, but I'd actually have to come up with something substantive to say.

If your winking is a suggestion, then I'd happily attempt a submission, though I don't know the theme, and so I'm not sure I have anything worth presenting. Who specifically? I've been looking to get into the philosophy of religion, but I've only read Kierkegaard (I'm not even sure that counts). 2- Care to elaborate? Ethics in Doctor Who sounds interesting. 3- Anyone specific? The only ethics I've ever studied were in two graduate level courses, one on Kant's ethics and the other on Hume. I've never read Greco, so I don't know that I'd be much help. What independent studies have you done? I spent my last 2 years doing nothing but languages and graduate level independent studies. To this point, I've done independent studies on/in Hume, Kant's ethics, Being and Time, Plato's Republic, Capitalism and Schizophrenia, and Nietzsche's early period. I hope that they'll be of some advantage in the application process, but I'm not holding my breath any.

Yeah, it was that one, but the 2013 version. It's a pretty good price and the practice tests and study advice is worth it.

Thank you. Good luck with the week or so that remains in the semester.

Thanks MattDest. Honestly, I say we just downvote and move on from now on. dfindley doesn't have anything valuable to contribute.

For someone who thinks they know so much about philosophy, you're quick to make uneducated guesses based on absolutely nothing.