Narziss

I wouldn't email them, but I do however think that if you show interest by visiting a department at which you are waitlisted it may potentially help you.

Write a sample and apply, and that will help assess if you are ready for applying You may find that you are actually judged to be more ready for a philosophy phd than you think, or you may find out that you need to take more time to prepare. It doesn't hurt to make the attempt, and you seem to be sufficiently far along to at least take a jab at it. You description makes me think things could go either way, but that is really only up to the quality of your application, especially the sample. More credentials might help, perhaps, but you're at a point where other things on the application might be more important. As long as your last degree was in philosophy, you might do really well.

My phd program requires a 3.0 minimum and two B-'s will get you kicked out. Atm, I have a 4.0, but some days I feel like I could care less about certain seminars and better spend my time working on my own interests, which would give me a leg up when I finally get to the dissertation phase. I understand the need to broaden your understanding of philosophy, but sometimes it simply feels like certain courses are seriously not relevant (or at the very least not important enough to try your hardest making sure you get the A). In any case, it is good to hear that others agree about grades in general not being relevant for finding a job in philosophy, but what we can recognize as nevertheless helpful is doing really well in at least the courses taught by the specific professors with whom you want to develop a working relationship.

To the contrary, I could easily imagine a scenario in which you sleep through phd seminars mostly with B's, especially since programs have certain breadth requirements outside your area of interest, all the while better spending your time working on your areas of specialization. I would think that publications, strong letters, and a strong dissertation would go further. So that perhaps means you should do well on seminars you take with professors you plan on working with for your dissertation, but I could perhaps just try to get by with lesser effort in courses like graduate level logic, etc., if it is completely outside of my area of work.

We all stressed about our BA and MA grades for getting into PHD programs, but what about PHD grades, are they relevant? Seems like they only matter for a few things: (1) maintaining the minimum GPA for staying within the PHD program (not getting kicked out), (2) qualifying for certain fellowships, and (3) they will also become relevant if you decide to transfer from one PHD program to another PHD program. But besides those reasons, do PHD seminar grades matter? (like, do they matter at all for getting a job?) EDIT: the relevance I'm asking for is in the context of getting a job in philosophy.

I honestly don't see any problem in contacting a department to check on admissions status, but I'd personally only do so if it was for one or two specific departments that I was especially waiting to hear back from. If anyone has any issues about it, it is probably because they think demanding such attention may be somewhat selfish, but I don't see the problem. I did so twice when I applied last year and in one case was informed of an impeding rejection and in another case of an impending admission.

Try to make sure a letter writer mentions how well you did gpa-wise relative to other students because it would be my worry that the gpa definitely raises an eyebrow. Apart from that, there isn't much you can do but work on the parts of the application on which you can actually still have an effect: namely the sample.

At Riverside: Keller works in Kant/Hegel Wrathall works in Heidegger and the phenomenological tradition Wettstein works in Philosophy of Religion

Anything can happen, and it sounds like you have a solid application But also, consider some mid ranked programs, which can be very excellent in some specialty that fits your interests

I know someone who got into a top 5 program with a lower score

You really don't need publications to get in anywhere. It's pretty extraneous and not taken seriously, unless it is actually in a top philosophy journal, which would be extremely unusual. The best indication, in order of importance, is just sample, letters, and gpa with school of origin taken into consideration.

Sounds like you have really strong numbers for your application. The sample is the most important part to demonstrate your strengths and interests.

Just out of curiosity, what topic/figure/s is your sample on?

surlefil - could you be more specific about your interests? also, although I'm familiar with work on Kant and Nietzsche, I'm unfamiliar with Adorno. Riverside might be a good fit but I fear that some public/state schools can't provide funding for foreign students who can't establish residency within one year... unfortunately... so make sure to check their funding pages.

If you have a 320 gre, 4.0 in philosophy, 3.9 overall (even from a state school), great letters of recommendation, and you think you have an exceptional writing sample, then you should be applying to several top-40 schools including as many top-20 schools as you think you have a good fit with. On paper this sounds potentially very strong, and I know pedigree is frequently put aside, but what is really going to matter is the content of those letters, how good your writing sample really is, and whether the faculty reading your sample is impressed. Sample is so important. Your achilles heel is just not having letters from big name philosophers, but that's what your writing sample is for. Top schools are used to people with exceptional letters and then being disappointed and surprised those letters were that good once they actually look at the sample.