shelbyelisha

The job that I have now also ends in May, but I've had a summer job at the same place for the last two years so I can likely go back there. I imagine where I will be (hopefully) going will have a big impact on my summer plans; if I stay in this area, I won't have to worry about moving so much, but if I'm moving across the country, I may try to move out in August to give myself some time to get settled. One of my programs has the readings for their PhD comprehensive exams that I'd need to take after my second year, and so I plan to start reading through those. Even if I don't get into that program, the list seems to be a pretty good sample of things I should know about philosophy.

In the wise words of Dfindley: "#YOLO"

^I should clarify that my PS had already been tailored to each school by this point, and I was merely uploading documents.

Thanks so much for compiling this!

Applications opened in late September - October for me. Once everything was written, the actual filling out the application, uploading documents, and filling out payment info took me about 30 minutes - 45 minutes each. I was also doing this on Thanksgiving night while watching Christmas Vacation, so I wasn't exactly working diligently...you may be able to get them done more quickly. Good luck next year!

I live in Western MA currently, so getting into Albany or UMass would be less of a life disturbance. However, packing up and moving across the country to Washington would be extremely exciting! I also absolutely love Montreal so that would be a lot of fun, though I imagine moving to a new country would present its challenges.

Clearly I'm going to have to get a killer philosophy tattoo just in case this scenario presents itself again.

This. All the time. I told my old boss that I was a philosophy major and she went, "ooh! I can show you my philosophy!" She rolled up her sleeve to show tattoos of different Chinese characters..."this one is love, peace, harmony, acceptance..." That's lovely and all, but that's so far away from what I'm doing by studying philosophy...

I haven't heard anything from them yet.

Well it was CU Boulder...sigh... But, barring that, University of Washington. Studying Philosophy for Children with Sara Goering and Jana Mohr Lone is my dream.

Yup.

I'm not sure why anyone is still responding to Dfindley, especially after he called someone a bitch. Let's not feed the trolls anymore. Downvote and move on.

It's torture watching all these applicants in the sciences hear back, and no one from the humanities

Zizeksucks, I love the new addition to your signature,

The same thing is happening to me! My final letter writer just told me that she won't be able to upload her letter until Jan. 8th. I notified her on NOVEMBER THIRD! I'm not sure if I should try to get a last minute letter writer to upload something ASAP or just contact my schools and have them wait until the 8th...

Sorry to hear that, OP. Any reason you're only applying to schools in the UK? I just found out they don't have application fees, which is pretty nice, so I'm sending my application to Edinburgh and Kent because...what's the worst that could happen?

I stopped reading after three incorrectly used semicolons.

Glad to hear they responded to your GRE inquiry, Axiomness. They have yet to respond to my email about it. Just one more strike against them, I suppose. AquinasDuo, I feel the same way. Even though I probably wasn't going to get in, it was nice to know I had a chance to move to Colorado and work with some amazing people. Oh well. Kant, as far as I know, the university suffered minimal damage from the flooding. I remember checking their website while it was happening, and because the campus is a bit higher in elevation, it was way less damaged than the surrounding area.

Objectivity, that's really interesting. I had brief correspondences with the grad secretary and a professor there, and I didn't get the impression anything was up. Though, I doubt anyone was able to say anything until they made the final decision. Now, to scramble to find another place to apply!

Thanks for sharing that, zizeksucks. My undergrad advisor has a friend at CU and told me he's going to inquire about it.

I just got an email from CU Boulder: "Due to a complex internal reorganization now in progress, the University of Colorado Boulder Philosophy Department will not be admitting any new graduate students for the 2014-15 year. We apologize for the inconvenience and we will refund the application fees for those who have already paid. Thanks so much for your interest in us. We expect to re-open enrollments for 2015-16." Anyone know what this is about? I'm really disappointed. I also just spent money sending them my GRE scores, and now if I want to take their refund and apply to another school, I'll have to spend more money sending my GRE scores to the other school. This is just so unprofessional...

AquinasDuo, stories like yours make me feel very inadequate Sometimes I think I need way more life experience and I shouldn't kid myself by trying to get into PhD programs. Oh well, the deed is done, we'll see what happens! Good luck!

GRE scores? Writing sample? Tiny unknown school? Is it possible to have three heels? Why did I form these all as questions?

@ Strong Flat White: I definitely have thought about going for a degree in literature, instead. If this doesn't work out, English will probably be what I try next. @ bar_scene: Thanks for the advice about UChicago! The program definitely looks like something I would be interested in. I'm pretty tapped out financially, so I don't know if I'll apply, but it's definitely something for me to keep in mind. Thank you! @ MattDest: I waited two years because I was exhausted and just wanted to work and save money for a while. I worked in a Kindergarten classroom as a TA for 8 months, and I've been working at my alma mater's library for the past year. @ gatewayselect: Thank you for your honesty. I knew going in that Colorado was a very long shot. Do you think the writing sample will be prohibitive for other, less competitive programs?

Thanks for responding, Philstudent, Bar_scene, and Max! Since it's out of my hands now, maybe I can relax for the next few months before I hear something. Max, it definitely is an unorthodox writing sample. I did a lot of undergrad work with my advisor on writing in dialogue, and I thought it was the strongest paper I had, so I went for it. It was probably in my best interest to use something more conventional, but, that ship has sailed. Good luck to you all!