Megalopsuchia

I am definitely particular on this subject, but for me unfunded and American MA's are not worth pursuing. I got my MA first, but after some experience it's become evidently clear that there is little to no incentive to recruit for doctoral programs from a university/college's own masters students. There's a reason why so many unfunded masters are offered and why doctoral programs continue to be exceptionally slim. This growing divide in number of masters students to doctoral students is only going to grow and cause uncalculated grief in the future. Now, a funded masters is an asset. I am unfamiliar with Canadian culture on this subject, but if you can, avoid the unfunded American masters.

My point was misread: it's not the score will get you in but that they can keep you out. I am already accepted and was offering advice.

It's likely past the point for anyone looking for rents, but I lived with Walnut Capital for my masters and had zero complaints. One thing you must understand about Pittsburgh is that it has a very dodgy management culture. No matter where you stay, you will likely deal with the management company showing your space the moment you give notice, they will always hike your rate when you re-sign, and they will be reluctant to tackle any minor complaint. That said, my best advice is to search the units very carefully and make your decision in that regard. I had nearly no interaction with my management company while staying at Walnut Towers, but because the unit was in very good shape and the pseudo-landlord was helpful (albeit unpaid and overworked) I didn't need to interact with them. Squirrel Hill tops Shadyside for affordability, proximity to shopping, quality of restaurants, and ease of access to the parkway and buses. Crime is everywhere, even Shadyside and Regent Square. It is not uncommon for apartments on the groundfloor in plain view of the street to be burglarized. Always get a place on the second+ floors. Snow will be a problem without ample parking. Pittsburgh has one rule: respect the chair - if there aren't enough parking spots in a lot, expect to find lots of cleared areas with folding chairs staking a claim. It's very nice if your unit has ample space. When you move there, go to Silk Elephant on Murray and get their curry. You'll thank me later.

I applied to nearly 30 programs over 3 years with nearly the same materials and was rejected from all doctoral programs. I retook the GRE, changed my score from 61st percentile to 81st in verbal and 61st to 93rd in writing and got immediately accepted. This has frustrated me significantly because there is much banter about the value of other factors (LOR, essays, matching interests, etc.), and yet I found my scores were a significant part of why I didn't get in (perhaps I had everything else but the scores, so even if I scored well the first time without the other material I wouldn't have gotten in again). Make sure you hit scores that are at least average for philosophy (we tend to hit the highest in every category and are second only to engineers in math), and retake as necessary.

In my experience from my masters, the program I attended welcomed non-traditional interests. Because you wish to pursue medical ethics does not have to appear "academic uncertainty" so long as you write it as if this choice were purposeful rather than early-life crisis. If you're applying to programs in applied ethics, they will welcome your experience outside philosophy rather than shun it. If you're applying to programs that are sufficiently steeped in the history of philosophy, a simple explanation will show these courses were prudent rather than accidental.

philstudent has a point, but you must be careful submitting papers that are sufficiently outside the aoi of the readers: for example, if the school has no one who studies aesthetics, your analysis - no matter how brilliant it may be - will fall on deaf ears. Another example: once when I was at a conference, I chatted up the Keynote about tangential uses of Heidegger and even though I am no expert, he believed me to be because he hadn't read a lick of it. If I had applied to that school and everyone was equally uninterested in Heidegger, using Heidegger would've been a poor choice. So make sure first your essay is good, secondly if it is of any interest to anyone at the department.

It has much less to do with state versus private and more to do with "Do I know anyone who teaches there?" "Do they have publications?" and most importantly "Are their scores up to standards?" For some perspective, I went to a top 40 liberal arts undergraduate, a very well known continental grad program for my MA, and already had done a conference and had 4.0's in philosophy (3.2 undergraduate because I studied biochemistry first). My letter writers are well known in their fields and the schools I applied to often knew them personally. And yet, I did not get accepted into nearly 30 doctoral programs over the three years I applied. Even my brutally honest graduate advisor was shocked. I retook the GRE and changed my percentile rank from 61 in verbal to 81 and 61 in writing to 93, got an article published in a student journal, attended another conference, and finally got accepted. As far as where to look, you'll find everyone everywhere is very small in their admit pools and it really matters to find faculty who are "the perfect marriage" to your interests.