wandajune

I think attempting to "do philosophy" is probably bad advice. It's a cover letter. My statement was mainly an outline of my research interests and relevant background, with a short quip about how I got interested in philosophy. I also opened with a light joke, which admissions committees mentioned as a positive aspect of my application. (Not everyone can pull this off, however, so make sure you have others proofread your statement to ensure that you've achieved the right tone.) The best advice is to stay on topic, but if you can show a bit of your personality in the letter, that can help you.

I think this feeling of "Could I have done better?" is pretty inescapable in graduate admissions, excluding those who are lucky enough to get into their top choice. "Could I have done better if I had only used another writing sample? If I had only applied to more top programs? Etc." Attending the MA might give you the chance to do a bit better next time around (and it might not), but if you go with the PhD, my advice is to just be careful with that counterfactual thinking. Be happy and proud about where you end up.

I know two people who got PhDs at Missouri not too long ago, and both have TT jobs now. My impression is that the placement there is really quite good for a bottom-of-the-top-50 kind of program. Ideally one of those waitlists will materialize into an offer, but you should feel good about the Missouri option.

I'm also a current graduate student at UW-Madison. I'll just echo what Structural_Realist has said about the Walker budget having nothing to do with the departure. Incoming students shouldn't be worried that the budget is going to drive faculty away. I also really love the department and believe that Wisconsin is a great place to study philosophy (though it's not as strong in metaethics, now). I would be happy to chat in a PM with anyone who is considering the program.

I had nearly identical scores last year, and I was admitted into eight graduate programs, a few in the PGR Top-50 to Top-20 range. I would recommend working on other aspects of your application instead.

I declined an offer from them a while ago.

Thank you for the kind words! Indeed, I'm look forward to the beer selection and other wonderful aspects of living Madison.

I should be signing out soon as well. Glad to have had all of you as company for these past months. PM me if you're headed to Wisconsin, or if you just want to be facebook buds.

I haven't read every post in these threads, and I was simply curious because I happened to read a post or two about your T-5 acceptance, but none about the 2 body problem. Anyway, good luck to you and your fiancee.

Congrats, that's a great choice!

I recall some mention that you were accepted at a T-5 program. Do you need to wait for UCLA to make a decision?

I very nearly used a writing sample on such a topic, changing my mind a few months before applications were due. Perhaps I would have been shut out, too. Just goes to show, again, how totally unpredictable this game is--how could you have known how popular your writing sample topic would be? Thank you for the helpful blogging this season. After rooting for you all this time, I feel terribly disappointed for you. However, a hearty congratulations on the law school admissions! Those are some incredible schools, and I suspect you'll have the opportunity to continue studying philosophy, especially somewhere like Penn.

Congrats! Mizzou has a wonderful program. Best of luck to you.

How you might weigh placement records: (1) Pay attention to what kind of placements are listed (mostly tenure track? adjunct? post-doc?) and how that matches with your goals. (2) Look at the advisers for those who are getting good placements, and consider whether these are the people you might be working with.

Wisconsin only guarantees five in your financial offer, but to my knowledge, they frequently continue to fund students for 6-7 (maybe more) years who are making progress. I think this is common at many programs. Also, I sent you a PM with some of my impressions! And I do agree with what everyone here is saying--try to go with whatever you feel will make you happier in the long run.

CONGRATS! I was at the prospective visit weekend at Wisconsin, and if you want to chat about the program, do feel free to PM me.

That is wonderful news, congrats! Enjoy celebrating, you deserve it.

Looks like a tough decision. I am generally against the idea of going into debt for philosophy graduate school, but if you have a fairly stable financial situation and NIU gives you some financial aid, it doesn't seem to be a bad option. I would be a bit careful, though. I've heard that, at some schools, the students with funding receive more attention from faculty than unfunded students. I don't know this to be the case at NIU, but if I were in your shoes, I would track down some current unfunded grads and try to get a frank assessment regarding the amount of attention they receive.

I hope you all hear the good news you're hoping for today and tomorrow!

Perhaps your emails are going into his spam folder? I've had to send multiple declension emails to a couple of programs before they were received, and I assume there was some sort of malfunction that kept the first ones from going through. Three times seems odd though. Hopefully the voice message is effective.

Hm. Maybe there's a time limit on editing posts.

Click to edit the original post in the thread, then you'll have the option of editing the poll as well.

I was in a similar situation--as if apartment hunting isn't stressful enough. My partner and I struggled to find an apartment that would allow cats when we move for my graduate program. We have two cats and consider them a vital part of our family. Luckily, we found a great apartment in a pretty good location that will allow them. Finding the right place took some creativity, though--craigslist, apartments.com, padmapper, etc. Most of the cat friendly places we found were a bit of an inconvenient distance from campus, but the commute would have been worth it to me. Be persistent, something will turn up!

Ahhh, congratulations all around!

Congrats!