Needle in the Hay

Thanks for the corrections and sorry for any confusion I caused!

I don't know because I never tried. I'm sure there's info online. Otherwise, you might consider contacting Richard Edwards, a very helpful admin in the philosophy dept at UCL.

Bear in mind also that if you are not funded by UCL you can apply for central funding through the AHRC.

I got an MA at UCL and had an offer to go back for the MPhil Stud but did not receive funding. I gained a very favorable opinion of the faculty at UCL while I was there. Mark Kalderon and Mike Martin are doing really cool research in the philosophy of perception. Also, Lucy O'Brien is a very good philosopher of action. Doug Lavin is also interesting for metaethics and action. Snowdon was my other favorite there. He's no longer on faculty but he may still teach 'modules' from time to time; you might want to look into that because he's really awesome both as a philosopher and as a human being. And London was an amazing place to live for a year, but very expensive. Congratulations on your offer! My understanding is that if you complete the MPhil Stud in good standing you are automatically allowed to progress to the PhD. You have to apply, but the application is more-or-less a formality. That is what I was told when I was considering the program, though perhaps it has changed. That said, UCL's faculty are somewhat limited in their research areas from my point of view. Gardner is great for continental stuff but as far as I'm aware there are very limited opportunities to study medieval (a problem for me, though it would likely not bother others). Leigh is good for Ancient, but she was the only person doing ancient while I was there.

I have two MA’s with roughly A- averages and in my first semester of my second MA I got a B and a B+ (in all honesty I do not believe that either of these grades were fair and many of peers agreed with me at the time, but that’s neither here nor there). You can see my results below, in my signature, but know that I was also on the top third of a short waitlist at Fordham. My results may not seem spectacular (I’m not as interested in PGR rankings as I am in fit and placement) but I’m very pleased with them and especially with Baylor. Note also that only five students were admitted at Baylor, so the fact that they were not deterred by the grades I mentioned is more significant even than it might seem. The tricks in my case were very strong LOR’s and a solid writing sample. I hope this information is helpful to you. Also, my undergrad GPA was downright low.

OK fine, perhaps a bit overstated. Any ideas though, anyone?

From Wikipedia: “Dass, Kumar, Kohli, & Thomas' (2014) research suggests that there are certain factors that make up the likability of a slogan. The clarity of the message the brand is trying to encode within the slogan. The slogan emphasizes the benefit of the product or service it is portraying.” How does the current slogan emphasize the benefit of the site? I don’t think it does. Perhaps this is a different criticism than my original one, but perhaps not—the purpose of the site presumably coincides with the benefits it provides to the user.

As I said in the original post, it does not in any way clarify the purpose of the site. Maybe I’m wrong, but that strikes me as a defect.

Hi all, The current slogan for Grad Café, “Where something is always brewing,” really isn’t cutting it. In fact it gives no indication whatsoever about the purpose of the site. I am going to start brainstorming other possibilities and I wanted to enlist your help. Maybe we can send the top three suggestions to the website managers. I realize that this is not about Philosophy, but (a) you philosophers are my people and (b) I think that philosophical training can help one to think creatively and logically about these things. Thank you, NitH

That's alright, thanks, and I wish you the best in making this difficult decision, if it comes down to it!

Well, yes, a better way for me to express 2 would have been to say that some unranked programs have way better placement percentages than a lot of the top programs, and specifically 10-20 ranked programs, because they place so many people into SLACs. I don’t have data to support 3, ie that “upward mobility” is fairly common. I was just told that it was true, namely by Francis Beckwith and Mike Beaty at Baylor, who themselves both started at SLACs, for what it’s worth. One reason it might not show up in placement records is that it takes time for this kind of movement to occur, and also because a lot of people are, reasonably enough, happy with their jobs at SLACs (meaning that even if they could get jobs at research institutions if they tried—which is really what is relevant here—they don’t try). 4 actually does not depend on 3 if you are OK with a career in a SLAC. Anyway, I’m not interested in debating you about this, so if this advice is not helpful then just ignore it. Good luck!

Good questions. I have a few thoughts: 1) Chicago has never accepted anyone from GSU. They have accepted at least one person from Tufts on the other hand. 2) My uninformed speculation is that it is probably safer to go to a school with a really strong placement record for small liberal arts colleges, i.e., SLACs, than it is to go to a PGR #10-20 with relatively strong placement at research institutions. If you go to one of the former schools, your guarantee of finding some kind of tenure track (or equiv) position teaching philosophy starting out is generally much higher. 3) I have heard that it is fairly common for teachers to start at SLACS and "work their way up" to research institutions. 4) A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

I've just accepted Baylor's offer and... Declined: FSU Removed myself from the waitlist: SLU, Fordham, Ave Maria (Theology) Withdrawn my applications from: University of Dallas; University of St. Thomas, Houston I hope that this helps someone!

I've just declined FSU, removed myself from waitlists at SLU, Fordham, and Ave Maria (Theology), and withdrawn my applications from the University of Dallas and the University of Saint Thomas, Houston. All were PhD programs. I hope this helps someone.

I was accepted on Wednesday, 3/21 to the PhD program at Baylor University, on the heels of the campus visit. I'm very pleased with the funding package. Good luck to all!