Cottagecheeseman

Guys, this has to be the most elaborate troll ever. Who asks for advice on the interwebs and then gets extremely angry because of it? Who really writes a book like that as an undergrad, then admits it is poorly written, and then just sends it to programs? Nobody! We're living in craaaazy land! Seriously, I can no longer believe this is real. Enjoy yourself guys. And David Findley, if this is real, I hope you really don't act like this around people, because this is not in any way professional.

I know people like him that are for real, plus who self-publishes two books of weird philosophy? Like, there was this guy at university who went on and on about how smart he was and argued for the weirdest shit but his GPA was horrible mainly because teachers would fail him for his horrible ramblings. He seriously thought he was going to get into NYU because (and I quote) "NYU knows real promise when they see it, they will realize how big of a mistake (insert prof who failed him) made." But if this isn't real it's a really good troll...

Honestly, I feel like unless your low GPA, the fact that you don't have any more than one letter of recommendation, and very poor GRE scores, reflect some kind of extenuating circumstances that kept you from applying yourself as a student, philosophy isn't for you. I glanced at your book, at least what was on Amazon, and in the first few paragraphs I found grammatical errors, although I can't gauge it philosophically because I didn't read much and I don't know anything about continental philosophy. (which isn't typically done at a lot of the programs you are applying too) Your best bet, find a small Philosophy MA program to apply too. Ones that are easy to get in (ie: not Tufts, Georgia State, VA tech, Northern Illinois) and just go there. Or go do something else, keep self-publishing works and maybe one day people will realize how brilliant you think you are, and you can do it. But honestly man, your stats are going to worry a lot of people and you’re not even applying to continental schools. I think everything Bar_scene_gambler says is right on the money. So you really are better off putting your time and effort into something more worthwhile and possible for you.

So, I'll add myself to this list. Graduated 2013 from a not that well known public research University, but with a good philosophy (undergrad only) program with people who, while not well-known, are active in philosophical research/conferences (analytic) and all got degrees from top programs from their era. Only Majored in philosophy, GPA 3.83, in major just slightly higher. Won outstanding student of the year for 2012/13 out of like 70 majors. President of the philosophy club. Did two independent studies my last year, which is as close to a 'honors thesis' as I could get. Supposedly my writing sample (epistemology) is pretty good, but I don't think all that much to it. Gre scores (1st try, trying again in November) 164v, 152q, and 5w. Area of interests, Epistemology - Ethics - Philosophy of science/empirical studies and philosophy Applications should go into - Yale, MIT, Arizona, Indiana Bloomington, U-Mass, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, UVA, Rochester, Va-Tech (MA) and Brandeis (MA) and probably one or two more MA programs. Possibly might add Miami to the phd list. Feel free to message me to talk about writing samples/swap more info. This is a stress inducing/hard process and we all need the help we can get. Also plug to join us at reddit.com/r/badphilosophy