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.

I have to give an alternate perspective on the GRE. Perhaps midrange schools lean on it too much, but for the top 20, I have first handedly seen the GRE be of no importance. For example, someone with a fairly low score got into pitt, cornell, u chicago. The GRE doesn't matter. All having a low score will do is make them scrutinize the rest of your application a little longer but ultimately make their decision on the basis of sample and letters and advanced coursework.

Let me be honest with you. Pitt is a great program if you're very self motivated in the face of constant pressure and criticism, can deal with professors being mean and snobby (not saying all of them are mean, but some are, at least at first), don't mind a good chunk of your colleagues being introverted and equally snobby, and plan to focus only on the work they do at Pitt (as I found that some of the older faculty especially have little regard for figures outside the mainstream and will look negatively and scoff toward interest in figures like Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and Merleau-Ponty). I'm not trying to degrade the department, as a bunch of my friends are there, but there are many things to consider when choosing your program. My point is, if you got into Pitt, the decision wouldn't be a no-brainer. U Chicago seems a bit more of an open minded department, and they also have a huge amount of people focusing on Pitt philosophy topics, so you'd probably fit right in there. Same goes for Georgetown, that has Lance/Kukla on Pitt philosophy, and also a good amount of people working on continental philosophy. Lastly, although Riverside doesn't have anyone primarily working on Pitt philosophy, they are an incredibly strong department for anyone looking to bridge the continental/analytic divide.

isostheneia— I'd recommend U Chicago (Pippin on Hegel, Leiter on Nietzsche, and they got a Pitt school philosophy contingent there), Riverside (Wrathall on Heidegger, Clark on Nietzsche, Keller on Kant/Hegel, Reath on Kant), Pittsburgh (Brandom and McDowell on Sellars and themselves), Georgetown (Lance/Kukla on Brandom/Sellars, Blattner on Heidegger). I'd also suggest considering GSU excellent master's program, as they have faculty working primarily on Kant (Wilson), Hegel (Rand), Nietzsche (Berry/Moore), and Herder (Moore).

I think you want something like a 310 combined total GRE minimum. You should consider UCR as Clark does Nietzsche and Schwitzgebel has a secondary interest in Chinese philosophy I think.

If you want competitive programs with strong placement and who respect continental figures by hiring strong faculty who work in those areas, my suggestions would be: U Chicago, Riverside, Georgetown, and Boston University.

The difficulties include convincing the department to take you on as a visiting student, which usually includes contacting a faculty member and proposing that they sponsor you and your work (note: departments will differ in their policies for taking on visiting students and may require a cv and letters of recommendation). Other difficulties include finding the funding to be a visiting student/visiting scholar. The former "visiting student" requires payment of tuition plus living expenses, whereas the latter "visiting scholar" only requires payment of living expenses (which I think is preferable, since not much is likely to transfer anyway in terms of course work). The benefits can be enormous: being able to sit in on seminars with great living philosophers, getting detailed help through independent studies with philosophers that specialize in your area, and ultimately getting a strong, positive letter of recommendation from a highly respected philosopher (or even more than one letter). This probably goes without saying, but I recommend that the motivation for doing this should be primarily for the excitement of working under the philosophers you adore and have already read significantly, and this should only be done secondarily for the benefits it would have to your application (as I think one would only be likely to succeed in attaining the latter if one has the former motivation and intentions; otherwise, it wouldn't seem like a good investment of time and money). tl;dr: the benefits can be huge, but certainly not guaranteed, and the investment can be costly, requiring both a relevant background and strong motivation

During the prospective visit for the school I accepted, I believe only 3 of 9 prospectives including myself were coming from undergrad; rest had graduate study.

To that same person who posted the UCI rejection; you should inquire your status with UCR and express interest. I believe they may still be trying to fill a spot that opened up last minute.

@lovephil Don't blame the department; it is seriously not their fault. There is nothing wrong with taking a post-15th offer. If you've accepted another, you can still change your mind pending the release from the program you originally accepted. The reason why programs make such late offers is because admits wait to make last minute decisions (perhaps because they're undecided or because they were waiting on a waitlist which didn't move). Once those admits decide, then finally other spots open up, shifting up waitlistees and thereby releasing whatever offers those waitlistees might've been holding onto. These latter spots don't become available until very late on April 15th/early 16th. Once they become available, I assume the program struggles to find someone to fill them on April 16th, as they finally get to make what are sometimes just their first admission offers to their own waitlistees.