DHumeDominates

When I engage in higher-order reflection on my own reflection on the quality of my applications, the competitive applicant pool, and so on, I realize that I vascillate uncontrollably between despair at my prospects of admission, plain anxiety, and relative confidence that I'll be accepted (even by some highly ranked programs). I don't know what this shows (maybe nothing), but I do know that the vascillation itself is caused by extraordinarily trivial things certain to be irrelevant to admissions decisions -- like whether a co-worker confided in me that she loves reading Plato, whether I recently had an uplifting conversation with a friend, whether the supermarket ran out of Simply Limemade when I was really craving it.

Those are some of the areas captured by my use of the word "value." Thanks for the clarification. I'm with you regarding the anonymity thing. I've declined to state in my "signature" the schools to which I've applied. Good luck to you! ... although I can't help but wonder what your quantitative score was, since you didn't post it (not that I'm asking you to tell me!)

He's probably busy at work on his second book!

Some impressive stats there. But what's with your AOI? Are you interested in normative ethics, naturalized accounts of normativity, "value" areas of philosophy, absolutely everything that has anything to do with normativity, or what?

This actually doesn't surprise me. I watched a view interviews of Gleeson and found myself thinking "This is the kind of guy who might want to be an academic philosopher." No joke. I hope he gives it a go.

Yeah, the UNC "brain drain" thing worries me.

Thanks. Yeah, I figured that out about five seconds after I posted. Figures. lol

I'm confused. Where is the results page?

Where are people posting admissions decisions? I thought it was supposed to be this thread? Or is there some official one that Grad Cafe itself provides? I second the congratulations to this poster.

Dude, it will literally have no impact on your chances of admission. It won't even have the most marginal of marginal impacts.

I also think tomorrow will be the day. It's the first business day of the week, the day after a holiday. OMG!

No, I don't think they make applicants much more competitive at all. If you think you'd do well with faculty member F, then say that in your personal statement, select a suitable topic for your writing sample, and so on. Your "fit" should be evident from the application itself, not by some e-mail you send prior, during, or after the admissions process. Also, heed the advice of catwoman15 (or whomever it was) to check out some online blogs (like Leiter's, that guy from UC-Riverside's, etc.). They're really informative.

Are you applying next year? Please say you aren't. Otherwise it's way too early to be poking around Grad Cafe!

I've written e-mails to a number of philosophers whom I don't know from programs to which I am applying. I've always addressed them Professor Lastname. You should not use the first name if the title you choose is professor. It's not so much rude (though it probably is that) as peculiar; nobody does that. I should add that of those professors from whom I heard responses (the majority of them), all but one signed his/her first name, indicating (I inferred) that he/she would not mind my addressing him/her with his/her first name. I haven't had the opportunity to respond to any of these professors' replies, but if I were to do so, I would probably ignore the implicit permission to use his/her first name and stick with Professor Lastname, just in case my inference was incorrect.

philosophe, I can't believe you applied to 25 schools! I applied to 15, which I think is a lot. I'm sure you'll get in somewhere. That's sort of beside the point, but whatever. I was considering applying to Brandeis but ultimately decided against it.

Huh. This is interesting. I never thought about that. You did use the qualification "in my experience," however.

Asking grad students to poke around for them. Very clever.

I agree with a lot of this. Regarding the text in bold, it's worth noting that the admissions committees deserve the blame for Platonist's hypothetical scenario. If everyone received admissions decisions before the April 15th deadline (which is apparently the deadline for funding, as Canis points out), then no one would have to petition a department for a "release" after April 15th. When there are such petitions, that's always on the admissions committees that waited until the last minute, not the affected applicants.

Phew! Then it doesn't count.

My goodness, Platonist. You should absolutely not accept an offer from a school that is not your first choice if (i) you haven't yet heard from your first choice school and (ii) it is not yet April 15th. You have absolutely no incentive to do that. Well, you do have some incentive to do that if you care more about the success of other applicants than you do about your own success, but no one could possibly have that attitude.

I imagine none us knows. What's your best guess, however? I ask only because many of us are concerned to remain anonymous. If we start posting admissions decisions, then the admissions committees from those schools might find out who some of us are. I guess I don't really care that much. (And this matters only if we're accepted or wait listed, of course.) I don't think I've said anything terribly outlandish or embarrassing.

The "invasion of privacy" point was somewhat of an exaggeration. I certainly don't think that most phone calls are invasions of privacy. I can also understand why a program might think that a call is a "nice perk," as philosophe put it. The director of graduate studies might imagine that a call would be a welcome break from the comparatively impersonal e-mail exchange. One reason why I wouldn't want a call is because there is an element of "pressure." I would be expected to respond instantly, immediately after hearing what the caller asks or tells me. Even if all there is to say is something like "Thank you, I'm honored," I would worry about sounding appropriately grateful, about not interrupting, about the length of the call, and so on. Some of you probably wouldn't worry about such things. I would. Others might as well. I would have more time to think about how to respond if I were e-mailed or sent a letter. The pressure wouldn't be there to impress right away. Secondly, I think there is a theatrical element to a call such as this that is borderline unethical. I can't help but suspect that the caller derives some pleasure from hearing the "thank yous," the sighs of relief, the involuntary gasps or expressions of joy. I would feel like he was exploiting my vulnerability and anxiety for his own satisfaction, even if his intentions were perfectly good.

I've heard that it sometimes happens that a department will call admitted applicants (especially those admitted relatively early on). I find this very off-putting. It's almost like an invasion of privacy. I don't want to talk to anyone on the phone about this! (Of course, I'll be rejected everywhere, so I won't have to face this problem, but still ...)

These are great. ianfaircloud's is especially good, since it accumulates data from consecutive years.

Probably Harvard.