isostheneia

I know a few people who did this. From what I remember, they stated (plausible) fit-related reasons for transferring in their statements of purpose. E.g. they became interested in moral psychology while in the program, and there was nobody there sufficiently knowledgeable in that area to supervise them adequately.

My two cents: I applied with a WS on Hegel, and I applied to analytic schools (though exclusively ones with at least a few people working on Kant and German idealism). Glasperlenspieler is right in saying that it matters for history writing samples that they engage with the contemporary literature; I was navigating a dispute between two major interpreters, and my bibliography was filled with people at the places to which I applied. And while I think Xia1 is right to say that making negative points is easier than good positive proposals, I'm not sure that means it's more beneficial to go for the former, since adcoms are aware of this. For what it's worth, I argued that the two interpretations on offer were compatible (primarily negative), and that the reading that held both theses is a correct reading of the text (primarily positive). My biggest piece of advice is to make your WS look as close to the best papers you're reading as possible. If everyone cites Professor S when talking about a certain issue, then cite Professor S. Even more aesthetic things: if everyone writing on topic x fills the majority of the first page with a list of 75 citations in which they explicitly attribute the target view to everyone who ever held it, then you should do the same. The professors reading your WS know what good work in your area looks like (unless your WS is on a really rare topic, perhaps), so it's helpful to make your paper look like the good papers you're reading and citing. (It's of course also helpful to make your arguments as good as those in the good papers you're reading and citing, but this is almost always an unachievable goal for people just applying to graduate school. Making one's paper look professional in non-argumentative ways is, on the other hand, achievable.)

Topic seemed relevant for where I got in as well. My main AOS was in Kant and German Idealism, and my writing sample was on Hegel. I applied to twelve places, and the four I got into were the four that seem to have the biggest emphasis on history of philosophy, especially Kant and related figures (Johns Hopkins, UCSD, Georgetown, Pitt). The eight from which I was rejected all have at least one or two people who work on this stuff, but all seem to place less of an emphasis on it. I wrote on a pretty well known thing in Hegel (the self-consciousness chapter in the Phenomenology), and argued that two positions in the recent literature are compatible. I don't think it was a terribly original thesis, although it was one that hadn't yet put forward in print - I think what was really useful was showing that I was good at both doing close reading of a historical text and engaging in a pretty detailed way with secondary literature. The latter especially is, I think, a really helpful skill to demonstrate in the writing sample regardless of topic.

For what it's worth, I've heard (in conversation) from a few professors who regularly sit on search committees that they actively count mid-tier publications against applicants. One example given was that they would think better of an applicant with one publication in Nous than an applicant with one publication in Nous and one in a mid-range specialty journal. Granted, these comments have mainly been from professors in top 10 departments - it's entirely possible that there's a significant difference in hiring strategy between such departments and others. But it's at least some direct testimonial evidence that mid-tier publications can be harmful. (Just to be clear, I don't mean to endorse their comments as reflective of good hiring practices.)

I think I just disagree on the numbers here. At DePaul, 4 of 17 faculty come from ranked programs. At Penn State, it's 6 of 17. At Boston College, it's 10 of 25. Of course, this is in no way to deny that it's an ultra-competitive job market, regardless of where you go. I just think that there's less of a correlation (though not none) between a school's ranking, or its being ranked at all, and its placement record than some people think.

I think it depends partially on what you want to do. I think that your professor's advice is good if you want a research job, and work in analytic philosophy. But there are a number of schools that primarily do continental philosophy, aren't ranked terribly highly (at least by the PGR), and have good placement at research jobs at other continental schools. And there are also some schools that aren't ranked very highly but have extremely good placement records at teaching schools -- Georgetown, e.g.

FYI, Carolyn Dicey Jennings has been collecting a bunch of updated placement records (including breakdown by R1 vs any permanent position) from 2011-2016 and releasing them on her twitter over the past few days (https://twitter.com/cdj140). It's info that's probably relevant to those of you who need to make a decision in the next few weeks.

Foreign language shouldn't be a problem - I applied with a big emphasis on German Idealism, without knowing any German whatsoever, and even then no school that I applied to had a problem with that. And plenty (most, at this point?) of departments don't have a language requirement anymore. Regarding other factors: 1) GPA 3.6-4.0 sounds about right. 2) The writing sample is almost certainly most important. Make sure to read lots of contemporary papers on whatever topic you're writing on, cite/respond to them (showing how your paper is a worthwhile contribution to the literature), and make your paper look and read like them. Following the stylistic norms (e.g. how to motivate main issues, how to raise and respond to objections, what papers it's important to cite and respond to, etc.) of a sub-field is an important way of showing off philosophical skill. 3) Great LORs are probably second-most important, I think. Eric Schwitzgebel's blog has more. 4) I don't think presenting at undergrad conferences makes much of a difference directly, although indirectly it may help the quality of your thinking and writing. Finally, two more things. With the GRE, it's probably good to aim for a total score of 315 or higher. Many profs on admissions committees don't care much about GRE, but some do, and you have no way of knowing who will read your application. So it's good to get each component as high quality as possible. And second, statement of purpose/evidence of fit is important. Departments want students who are excited to be there and have interests that are well served by the department. So choosing schools where you would fit well, based on your interests, and demonstrating that fit in your statement of purpose can definitely help.

Yeah that makes sense. Seems plausible enough on second thought. That makes sense, good points. Makes me realize how lucky I've been. And thanks as well for the kind words, I really appreciate it.

Sorry to hear that the waitlist didn't work out. Will you be submitting more apps next year? (edit - sorry, didn't see your other post where you say you probably won't be.) Also, are you sure that the bolded claim is true? From what I remember of the survey results from last year, the majority of applicants got in somewhere (although this might include both PhD and MA, and you seem to be only talking about MA). Feel free to correct me on this.

AMAZING. Congratulations. This is so fantastic for you.

Thanks! Full funding, just under $28,000 per year, with 6 years guaranteed and 3 years of fellowship.

Oh my goodness. I just got off the waitlist at Pitt. I'm total disbelief, but I'm absolutely thrilled.

I've just declined my offer from UCSD. I don't think this helps anyone, since I don't think they use a waitlist. I'll either be going to Pittsburgh (if I get off their waitlist), or Georgetown. Very stressful times, but it'll be settled in roughly 24 hours.

I'll add myself to the list - feel free to PM me to connect on facebook.