Loric
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Posts posted by Loric
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Lots of non-random systems produce outcomes that we can't predict with certainty (i.e. are "unknowable"). Your coin flip example is one such system. It's possible, in principle, to calculate whether a fair coin will land heads or tails. It's just messy because there are a lot of variables. Instead of doing the calculation, it's reasonable to be 50% confident in heads, given what we've observed about fair coin frequencies. Admissions are kind of like this. It's a pretty boring point, Loric.
But admissions are not a fair coin and it's nowhere near 50%.
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There's a coin toss.
Person who calls it gets in.
Guy who determines the weight, strength, angle, etc.. picks heads. Other guy picks tails, cuz, reasons.
It lands on heads. Who deserves to get in and who is the "best" candidate? The guy who picked heads.
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Of course it's not random. It is, largely, "unknowable," because the criteria are largely subjective and vary from school to school, and committee member to committee member. You should know this part better than most, given your predicament with certain committee members questioning your application. What these students face, however, that you do not, is the probability of acceptance independent of applicant or application quality. From what I've gathered about your program - based on what you yourself have posted - is that it is new and it is highly specialized. They will take all qualifying candidates. This is not true of programs like philosophy.
It is not unknowable. That mindset alone is enough to determine who is the best and who is not.
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LOL.
SLA is not an unrelated field to linguistics. Maybe you should know what you are talking about before you give advice on it?
| stopping to feed the troll |
Ahem..
"The M.A. Thesis is most relevant to what I'm working on"
Again, why submit the "less" related work?
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Of course it's not random, you are right. But in a discipline like ours where there are so many candidates with 99% GREs and outstanding letters and GPAs, sometimes even the best don't get in, and it comes down to factors like fit and funding, rather than being purely hierarchical. This seems obvious, and I'm not sure why you seem so obsessed with crashing our forum with this argument. Go argue with your own kind.
The best were not the best in the eyes of the adcom, and their opinion matters.. not yours, not mine, not anyone else's but theirs. Why is that such a hard concept to grasp?
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Loric, most of the programs to which philosophy applicants have applied will admit ~5% of their applicants. The number of students these programs can accept is limited not by applicant quality, but internal university politics and funding.
and i never said that just "Good" applicants were going to get in or that just being good was good enough.. it's not. You have to be whatever it is they perceive as the best.
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They make a quality judgement to choose the final admitted students.
It is not unknowable or random. Just because you can't understand the complexity of the system doesn't mean it's not at work.
I suppose evolution doesn't happen because it's too complicated?
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Is this a pissing match? I've talked to people in admissions too. In linguistics, no less. Asking about an exception doesn't hurt -- especially when a person has a good reason, which I think the OP does.
And i also said they could ask - and if it's a pissing match, you started it.
I dont think it's a good reason. I don't think there's any reason for the first unrelated to the field item to even be submitted and am at a loss for why it's the "go-to" instead of the masters work in a truncated form.
Someone agreeing to take on the extra paper and include it in your file - who is an admissions person no less, not the person making your final decision, is asking for trouble. Nearly doubling the workload for your app is asking for trouble in any field. I don't recommend it and don't see why anyone would.
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It is not unknowable, but as long as you persist in thinking that and behaving that way the answer will continue to elude you.
And because you decided to reassign the meaning of the word "random" does not mean your definition is somehow valid and should be accepted at will by anyone else with any respect for the English language.
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Hello baseless advice in fields you know nothing about.
OP -- ask the school! Do what they instruct you to do.
No, I've just spoken to people in admissions and page limits exist for a reason.
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Crap, I broke up with my bf of 4.5 years so that I could pursue my PhD. This post is stressing me out :|
Why were you with someone for 4.5 years if you're willing to drop them when a career/education opportunity comes along?
- pears, LittleDarlings and perfectionist
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If they have a page limit, it's because they dont want to read more than 20 pages. What you want and what they want aren't exactly meshing.. and you're very close to "does not follow instructions" territory. (That being one of the "easy" ways to weed out the applicant pool.)
You can ask, but you need to understand that what you want really isn't important. It's about what they want.
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Seriously, why persist in the delusion that a failure to gain acceptance into a Philosophy program is in no way a reflection of yourself and your ability to put out a good application?
Admissions are not random. They do not flip coins. They judge people and their applications based on whatever criteria they feel like, and yes, to an extent you cannot control that criteria, but being prepared and having a "good" application is a far cry from sitting around saying it's all "random" and that you'd statistically not be accepted (hello, they chose SOME people who weren't you, so obviously it's possible.)
I'm not one to think not getting in makes you a bad person or anything, but I certainly believe that blaming everyone and everything else - at this point, the flip of a coin and fate - as being the reason for not getting in is just absurd and reflects perhaps the plethora of reasons you weren't accepted or wont be accepted in the first place.
And perhaps if you, philosophy hopeful, accepted that a bad application will mean rejection much moreso than a good application (which while still possible, is significantly less statistically so) then MAYBE you can take the steps needed to solidify your having of a GOOD application and then stand a decent chance at garnering the admission you so crave.
But no, instead sit around saying it's all random, there's no hope, and there's nothing you can do. Let me know how far that gets you. You may have done your best, and perhaps your best was not good enough. Welcome to the real world. There are no A's for effort here. Do better, be better, and you'll be seen as better. Want to get in? Have a better application. Make your best better than it is. That's the difference between in and out.
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And those are the people who got interviewed/accepted.. and yet my theory that most applications/applicants are just plain BAD/AWFUL is soooooo wrong *eye roll*.
Reality, I wish more people lived in it.
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I'm not even going to try to engage how bad advice this is and how badly it doesn't reflect philosophy and it's graduate admissions, but it does. Seriously, this is terrible, terrible advice.
Your belief that it's "random" is stupid. I'm anticipating watching your rejection list grow.
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If I wanted to call you a hobag I would. Directly, in front if your family, pastor, employer, first love and God himself. I do indeed lack that level of qualm and restraint.
Don't aggrandize yourself thinking i've put that much effort into thinking up ways to backhanded insult you on the sly. If I wanted to insult, you'd know it.
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Note: go to flyertalk.com and ask in the United forum for help. They will say many if the same things but maybe they'll take pity and help.
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You needed home to A and back, and still do so to speak. It's not fraud to change your plans. You bought the ticket in good faith within the airlines rules.
Less than 200 is cheap, btw. I'd be seeing minimum 400 to fly out to some schools.
So then B happens. You don't need the A return. Sorry, it can't be refunded. Oh well. It happens. Really the airline needs to splice in another leg but someone over there is being a jerk. As long as your dept/return city is the same they should be able to modify and charge that price. That would be what B pays.
Alas, no. Just book a to b, b to home. Charge that to be. Don't worry. Print the receipts out and if all else fails - check in online and print boarding passes. Problem solved.
But call and ask about that leg modification. Your fee is not home-a-home with no ability to modify at all. It will cost, but can be done.
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Couple of notes..
Most applications are BAD.
Absolutely awful bad bad bad BAD. There's a reason we joke about the overused and cliched SOP phrases. If you're able to express yourself halfway decently in written words you're ahead of a lot of people. Second, being marginally good at your chosen subject.. that helps too. There are a lot of applicants who are just hopeless. I'm saying this as someone from a test score and grades standpoint who - if i was anyone else - would have about zero chance.
Because I'm me, I'm special and I know an adcom is actually considering me seriously. I wasn't just "cut" and my last semester at my old grad school is all F's (admittedly from classes i didnt take, but didnt drop/withdraw from formally, and the adcom knows this.)
But everyone thinks they're special. If everyone was actually special, no one would be.
So it's a matter of being objective. You're not a number, not an unknown value who will be randomly sorted into slot A or B at the flip of a coin. You are a thing that will be judged, and even the person who said they were "shut out" admitted that with some polish they turned their poor application into a good one. It is not chance it is not magic it is not voodoo. You are being judged and all the alchemy of that process is in play. Yes, it may be because you like XYZ and someone on the adcom hates XYZ so you're out. You can't really account for their opinions in that manner.. but it is a judgement, not chance.
- Philhopeful, ararslan, philosophe and 4 others
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There are plenty of us still here years after our initial applications. Perhaps for the schadenfreude, but also because getting in is just the beginning.
I wonder if I should even post if I get accepted.. it'd disappoint so many people.
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Are you sure it cant be upgrades or modified? At all?
A call to the airline to at least hash it out a little is probably in order. Most bookings have some wiggle room - you cant cancel, but you can change the how/what of it.
All else fails, fly back and forth - get you some free airline miles.
Philosophy Admissions are NOT random!
in Philosophy
Posted
And i'd not be surprised in the least to learn that someone else drew a better skeleton and got in while I didn't.
The mentality that everyone is good and everyone is equal and everyone is "the best" is complete nonsense. It has nothing to do with what the criteria are, it has everything to do with bothering to acknowledge that they exist and that some people exceed while others fail.