johndiligent

Taking my seat in the front row and grabbing popcorn. I think this is where I belong.

March is a scant four days away. THIS will be the month that most of those of us who are waiting will finally find out what's what. And I know that's what we said about January. And February. But it pretty much has to be March, right? ...Right?!

Congratulations on surviving the waiting so far. Only... theoretically... perhaps... maybe... one more month of application anxiety. Good luck!

March is a scant four days away. THIS will be the month that most of those of us who are waiting will finally find out what's what. And I know that's what we said about January. And February. But it pretty much has to be March, right? ...Right?!

Congratulations on surviving the waiting so far. Only... theoretically... perhaps... maybe... one more month of application anxiety. Good luck!

Going to a well-known school will not hurt your application. If your school is known for challenging academics, that will bode well for you as it will show to the adcom that you are willing and able to take on and meet academic challenges. This is probably even more important if you're switching fields/disciplines to one that you have less of a background in.

In the immortal words of the great poet Frankie Goes to Hollywood: "Relax."

It's still so early. Don't panic yet, and just enjoy the fact that - while you were waitlisted - you weren't rejected. That's a good sign!

At least being told that you're waitlisted is being told something. There's a chance if the professor told you that, then they're interested in having you in their lab. Over all, it isn't bad news.

It's a lot better than hearing nothing and having everyone that you've spoken to for advice say "hey, if you haven't gotten in by now, you're doing something wrong and you should probably just come to terms with the fact you aren't cut out to be a grad student."

Like everyone else said, just relax and see how it turns out. You may still have a shot at being surprised.

Are you done your undergrad, and waiting to apply next season?
There's not really much to say other than what's already been said (assuming GRE is good, you won't get cut due to numbers, and after that, who knows?) but I'll try to say a few things.
-Reinforcing what johndiligent said, rewrite your writing sample again and again and again and again and again and again and get many friends and professors to give you their advice on it. Your university probably has a writing tutorial service; show the essay to them once you think it's fairly polished and they'll probably still have advice on the language. Get all your letter writers to read and comment on it.
- Apply widely, PhD and MA programs. Apply to well and poorly ranked schools. As you can see from my sig, it's very possible to get rejected somewhere with a lower rank and get accepted somewhere with a higher rank. (I'm going by the philosophical gourmet report). It's just very unpredictable. I applied to 18 PhD and three MA programs.
- Don't just apply for MA programs. In discussions on Leiter's blog, professors have mostly said that the MA was good for switching disciplines or if your undergrad is totally unknown. Maybe the spread-out-undergrad thing will hurt you, I don't know, and I suppose if it does completing an MA in a timely fashion will help that, but you should still apply for PhD programs. I also don't know whether the community college thing would hurt you, but again, the MA would help if it does.
- In another thread, I saw you asking about mentioning the kids in your statement (I think). While this might fit in the diversity/personal history ones, your statement is usually just research interests.
- You put not much extracurricular stuff in your negatives, but they won't really care about this . Your CV will just have academic stuff on it.

This. The less quantitative aspects are equally or more important than your GPA or GRE.

Are you aiming for a Philosophy PhD? If so, I STRONGLY urge you to consult with the Philosophy board, since they'll have much better disciplinary insight.

Bearing in mind that I'm not in Philosophy, here's my view:

- My understanding is that Philosophy is by far one of the most - if not the most - competitive discipline in which to gain admission to a PhD programme. Many excellent students with excellent records have been shut out by all schools, even multiple times.

- I've heard it said multiple times that, in philosophy, your writing sample will be by far the single most important aspect of your application. Since your writing sample cannot be analyzed by this forum, your poll is not going to give you a reliable indication of your competitiveness. I would urge you to ask your professors to evaluate you and give you an idea of where you should be aiming.

- THAT said, judging by the deficits in your profile, I believe many in Philosophy would urge you to seek admission in a Master's programme before going for the PhD.

- Finally, while I certainly understand the need for some gauge of your competitiveness, if you want to apply for graduate study, the results of this poll should not be a factor in your decision to apply or what schools you should aim for. Like all applicants, you'll likely be met with the most success if you apply to a broad mix of schools, some top tier, some mid-tier, and some lower. And the decision to apply really needs to be made by you, and not by the anonymous denizens of the interwebs.

Are you aiming for a Philosophy PhD? If so, I STRONGLY urge you to consult with the Philosophy board, since they'll have much better disciplinary insight.

Bearing in mind that I'm not in Philosophy, here's my view:

- My understanding is that Philosophy is by far one of the most - if not the most - competitive discipline in which to gain admission to a PhD programme. Many excellent students with excellent records have been shut out by all schools, even multiple times.

- I've heard it said multiple times that, in philosophy, your writing sample will be by far the single most important aspect of your application. Since your writing sample cannot be analyzed by this forum, your poll is not going to give you a reliable indication of your competitiveness. I would urge you to ask your professors to evaluate you and give you an idea of where you should be aiming.

- THAT said, judging by the deficits in your profile, I believe many in Philosophy would urge you to seek admission in a Master's programme before going for the PhD.

- Finally, while I certainly understand the need for some gauge of your competitiveness, if you want to apply for graduate study, the results of this poll should not be a factor in your decision to apply or what schools you should aim for. Like all applicants, you'll likely be met with the most success if you apply to a broad mix of schools, some top tier, some mid-tier, and some lower. And the decision to apply really needs to be made by you, and not by the anonymous denizens of the interwebs.

Are you aiming for a Philosophy PhD? If so, I STRONGLY urge you to consult with the Philosophy board, since they'll have much better disciplinary insight.

Bearing in mind that I'm not in Philosophy, here's my view:

- My understanding is that Philosophy is by far one of the most - if not the most - competitive discipline in which to gain admission to a PhD programme. Many excellent students with excellent records have been shut out by all schools, even multiple times.

- I've heard it said multiple times that, in philosophy, your writing sample will be by far the single most important aspect of your application. Since your writing sample cannot be analyzed by this forum, your poll is not going to give you a reliable indication of your competitiveness. I would urge you to ask your professors to evaluate you and give you an idea of where you should be aiming.

- THAT said, judging by the deficits in your profile, I believe many in Philosophy would urge you to seek admission in a Master's programme before going for the PhD.

- Finally, while I certainly understand the need for some gauge of your competitiveness, if you want to apply for graduate study, the results of this poll should not be a factor in your decision to apply or what schools you should aim for. Like all applicants, you'll likely be met with the most success if you apply to a broad mix of schools, some top tier, some mid-tier, and some lower. And the decision to apply really needs to be made by you, and not by the anonymous denizens of the interwebs.

Your record is strong enough to get you past initial cutoffs at most schools (assuming your GRE is also good), so your grades won't keep you out of grad school. What is missing for us to be able to assess your chances are the parts that will get you into school, the intangibles - the SOP, fit, recommendations, writing sample. Do you have any research experience? A strong paper to use as a writing sample? How strong will your letters be? Your SOP? Start by defining your research interests, which your post doesn't mention at all, and choosing schools that will support those interests. Make a list of schools based on research match, and ignore ranking. After you do that, you yourself should have a better idea of your chances, and we might have a better idea as well.

Were there any posts from previous years on the Results page? In case you don't know how to get there:

1. Scroll to the top of the page. Do you see the menu where it says Forums, Members, Calendar, Blogs, Chat, Results Search...

2. STOP. That's the one. Results Search. Click on that.

3. In the search box, type "Chicago religion". Hit search.

You'll find a number of results from past years that will give you an indication of when to expect an answer. Much more effective than posing the question here, which is a board mainly populated with current applicants and one must use the word "populated" loosely.

At least 2010 is not a Leap Year. That extra day in February would be unbearable.

I wouldn't know, because no one ever replies to me. I honestly think they see my email address from my school and automatically delete it.

Keep in mind that I am in a completely different discipline- but from the way you have described it, it does seem like you should have made contact sooner. There is nothing that can be done now about that. At this point in the game, I don't know how much contacting will help, but I doubt it would hurt much to bring a little more visibility to your application, even if it is at the risk of causing some annoyance.

Best of luck to you.

My new theory, having had so many calls and e-mails go unanswered is that they are just getting us ready for the incivility and non professionalism of life in the academy.

4th option: go to the one with the most well-known and respected advisor (in your chosen sub-field). More than rank, those are the kind of connections you can really sell.

I'm so happy I can chime in with the disagreeing. I had a 3.3 GPA, 17 W's (that's not a typo, seriously, SEVENTEEN), and a smattering of bad grades IN MY MAJOR (including an F).

So far I have one acceptance with funding!

While I'm sure that some of you will want to cut my head off for posting this, I'm looking for commiseration.

Before I heard anything, I lived in this calm peaceful world where I'd convinced myself that results were weeks away, if not entire months. Also having convinced myself that they were all rejections, I was just as happy not knowing. I had some occassional moments of panic but nothing unbearable. But now that I've heard from one school, I've become a PARANOID NUDNIK. I think about results all the time. I check my e-mail every 10 seconds. Why can't the other schools get back to me? Why don't I know yet? Why am I just leaving an offer hanging? What if I wait too long and they give it to someone else because it looks like I'm uninterested? WHEN WILL I KNOW? When can I just decide?

Truly, complete ignorance was bliss.

You folks who haven't heard anything so far? Enjoy it while it lasts.

While I'm sure that some of you will want to cut my head off for posting this, I'm looking for commiseration.

Before I heard anything, I lived in this calm peaceful world where I'd convinced myself that results were weeks away, if not entire months. Also having convinced myself that they were all rejections, I was just as happy not knowing. I had some occassional moments of panic but nothing unbearable. But now that I've heard from one school, I've become a PARANOID NUDNIK. I think about results all the time. I check my e-mail every 10 seconds. Why can't the other schools get back to me? Why don't I know yet? Why am I just leaving an offer hanging? What if I wait too long and they give it to someone else because it looks like I'm uninterested? WHEN WILL I KNOW? When can I just decide?

Truly, complete ignorance was bliss.

You folks who haven't heard anything so far? Enjoy it while it lasts.

While I'm sure that some of you will want to cut my head off for posting this, I'm looking for commiseration.

Before I heard anything, I lived in this calm peaceful world where I'd convinced myself that results were weeks away, if not entire months. Also having convinced myself that they were all rejections, I was just as happy not knowing. I had some occassional moments of panic but nothing unbearable. But now that I've heard from one school, I've become a PARANOID NUDNIK. I think about results all the time. I check my e-mail every 10 seconds. Why can't the other schools get back to me? Why don't I know yet? Why am I just leaving an offer hanging? What if I wait too long and they give it to someone else because it looks like I'm uninterested? WHEN WILL I KNOW? When can I just decide?

Truly, complete ignorance was bliss.

You folks who haven't heard anything so far? Enjoy it while it lasts.

Just be honest. When I was asked, I was honest about what schools and what faculty I was interested in. It doesn't hurt you at all for prospective advisors to know you are interested in their peers and competitors. If you weren't, they would think you're probably not that serious of an applicant.

Edit: Oh, and as johndiligent said, saying "I applied all over the northeast" is about the worst you could do. You're telling the program that you applied there because it is in a convenient location, not because you thought they were a good fit for you. Probably the best answer you could give is saying who you applied to work with, as it implies you care about strong advisors and research fit over school prestige.

Or if you really don't want to name schools, but don't want to seem vague or haphazard, how about something along the lines of, "I applied to six programs that I found to be especially good fits for my research interests"?

It's all about coming up with a routine and sticking to it. For me, that meant signing up for a fitness class that I enjoy (capoeira) that meets twice a week for two hours. I also try to go one additional time per week but usually don't make it because it's on a drop-in basis so I haven't lost the money yet if I don't go. I find exercise to be more sustainable than something like Weight Watchers...