Hopephily

Is the MA funded? Or is paying for an MA not a serious issue for you? My answer will obviously need to be tempered with how you answer these questions. In any case, an MA can really improve your application (provided you work your butt off) and so I think you're looking at it in the right way. You mentioned that you didn't do so stellar during UG, and so doing well in a reputable MA would give the ad comms evidence that you're capable of doing grad level work despite what your UG experience reflects (and I would think it odd that they would privilege your UG transcripts over those from your MA). More importantly, it seems a bit unlikely that your writing sample and letters would fail to improve after a year or two of grad level seminars (again, provided you work hard). Of course, there's no guarantee that you'll do better than option B when all is said and done, but I thinks it's perfectly reasonable to want to shoot for as high ranking a program as you can get into given the job market and the pervasive bias towards prestige. So I certainly wouldn't think you were crazy for turning down B for A and reapplying. Of course as you recognize you might not get in anywhere better the next time around, or for that matter, anywhere at all. That's certainly a real possibility, but I wouldn't assign too high a probability on the proposition that you will do worse than you did this time around after a successful year at a strong MA program especially given your less than stellar performance during your UG.

As I said in my original post, I have heard that, choosing among the final round can sometimes come down to arbitrary matters-- and I took that to mean that even otherwise unreliable measures were used to determine the final list. So nothing I've said calls into question the usefulness of quantitative measures like GPA for initial cuts nor does it suggest that smart philosophers are putting a lot of weight on GPA per se.

Guilty as charged.

But I bet you killed logic.

From what I've gathered, many (if not most) programs go through rounds of narrowing down the pool of applicants. So one might think that a transcript with a couple of B's won't matter much at this stage in the game, provided that one has an otherwise strong application. However, once the list has been narrowed down to something more manageable (i.e., the "finalists" if you will), the ad comms are likely to be left with a set of exceptional applicants which still greatly outnumbers the offers they can make. I've heard at least one person on an ad comm refer to the process at this stage as being arbitrary, but I'm having a hard time imaging ad comms casting lots... So it is quite possible that things that didn't make much difference during initial cuts could make a real difference with respect to these final decisions (including, but not limited to, a slightly lower, GPA). Of course, there are many successful applicants that don't have perfect GPA's, but they probably had other extraordinary elements to offset this.

It would be wise to talk to your letter writers about which paper represents your strongest work. Hopefully they are very familiar with both your papers and so would have a more informed opinion than any of us. As long as you're not writing on a topic that is too obscure, I wouldn't worry about matching your sample to your stated primary interest.

Sure thing. Best of luck!

1) If it is the best paper you have, then yes. 2) Is there anything different about your argument? If so, then you might add a footnote about how following the writing of your work you encountered this paper and then explain how your view differs from theirs (hopefully, how it is even better).

I take it that you're hoping eventually to pursue a phd in philosophy and so I'm going to write with that in mind. All of the MA programs that I am familiar with don't allow for part-time residency (they require at least 3 courses a term). So one of your options might not really be an option. You're right that the competition is pretty stiff at the top MA programs. If you don't think you have much of a shot getting an offer at this point (let alone a funded one), then you might consider taking another semester (or year) of graduate seminars either at your local institution or, if possible/necessary, at a more reputable one (I don't know where you did your BS). You can do this as a non-degree seeking student at many schools--again I don't know the particulars about your school so mileage may vary. But this is usually something you can do part time. This could help you get more classes under your belt, get to know faculty that may write your letters for you, improve your writing sample, and also give you a taste for grad school in philosophy. However, taking this route is going to have drawbacks given your situation. Obviously it'll take a chunk of change but beyond that, working full time and studying philosophy part-time is likely going to limit your philosophical progress. Again since I'm assuming your goal is to become competitive for phd programs, you're going to want to get the most out of your classes which takes a lot of time and energy. You can certainly make it work, but while it's already incredibly hard to develop as a competitive applicant, it'll just be that much harder for you.

Hi folks. I was an applicant last year and just wanted to offer one piece of advice that might seem obvious, but is sometimes overlooked. Try to submit your applications a few days in advance of the deadlines. Then after a day or so, go back, with fresh eyes and check the status of each application---make sure it was submitted, that the fee was paid and that there are no materials missing. When handling a large volume of applications, it's easy to miss a click here, an upload there, etc. Obviously the costs of such small mistakes is anything but minor. Also, sometimes there are issues on the other end (the grad programs might be missing materials that you submitted). I had both things happen to me last year. I somehow neglected to actually submit my application (though I submitted the payment for it) for one of the programs. In fact, this is the program that I am currently attending! I happened to be reviewing all of my applications when I found this out and nearly flipped out because the deadline had already passed. Fortunately, they were nice enough to work with me. There was also a glitch with another program's application site such that it showed that I had uploaded my materials, but they were not accessible to the ad comm (and I couldn't see them). They didn't seek me out about this, I just happened to notice it while rechecking my apps---fortunately, they also worked with me and I ended having to send my WS directly to the admin. So apply early and recheck. Best of luck!

Masters. My undergrad was not in philosophy.

I applied last year and am happily at a fantastic program now. I struggled a lot with whether I should retake the GRE's or not, given my scores were unimpressive (note while my verbal score was in the high 80's my math score was less than the 50th percentile). My general advice, to be taken with a grain of salt, is that, if you think you can do much better by retaking it then you should, provided that you are not compromising other core parts of your application (e.g., improving your sample, spending more effort and time showing your letter writers that you really rock, etc) in the process. You have limited time and resources. If you can do it all, great! But if not, focus on beefing up other parts of your application. Of course, some programs may have cut offs based on GRE scores and so a low score might exclude you out of those, but there seem to be at least some programs (or perhaps more accurately, some ad comms) that are not this way. But of course, for all sorts of reasons, you should be applying to a wide range of programs and this is just another one. Now my impression is that, at least at some programs (ad comms), excellent letters and killer sample can override weaker scores (you might even ask your recommenders to mention in their letters that your GRE scores are not representative of your ability). I'm basing this off of not only my experience, but a few others I know that didn't rock the GRE's and yet got into solid programs. I'm not sure I've provided any novel advice, but FWIW, this may be a useful reiteration.

Any apartments to avoid around campus?

Sure thing and best of luck!

FWIW, I submitted a paper in mid July of the summer before application season and it was accepted by October.