porfiry

Thought I'd initiate a counterpoint to the thread, "Most annoying part of the application process." For me, the best part was searching for and reading papers by profs at the schools I've applied to. I've been out of college for more than five years, so it felt great to acquaint myself with the current research. I basically ended up frantically reading one article after another for the last few months of last year in an attempt to formulate a few meaningful questions about them. What's crazy is that I probably read several hundreds of pages just to come up with a handful of smart-sounding sentences for my SOP! I'm telling myself that even if I don't get in anywhere, having gone through the process wouldn't have been an entire waste of my time.

Hi there, I feel I'm in a rather similar situation: being an international student, not currently in school and so not having the luxury of popping in to professors' office hours to seek advice on my applications etc. I've been analyzing and over-analyzing my file and finding all the little flaws and inconsistencies that could potentially drag my apps down. It been driving me crazy, and over the past few days I've realized that it's not the best way forward. I'm now trying not to focus on school pedigrees, but rather on the individual faculty members that appeal to me most. I think being true to one's intellectual interests is probably the healthiest and (hopefully) the most effective approach to applications. That said, I'm staying conscious of ensuring there's a mix of well-ranked and not-so-well-ranked schools on my list. I'd plan on spending hours upon hours poring through dept faculty pages, CVs, publications and identify the people whose work attracts your interest. Good luck!

Without having read the papers, I'd say option A. It's related to your stated interests, and from what I've gathered so far, a concise, 10-15 page paper is ideal. By the way, is it ever a good idea (or even acceptable) to send two shorter pieces (6-8 pages) instead of a single 15 page term-paper?

Schwitzgebel writes the following on his blog (http://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2007/10/applying-to-philosophy-phd-programs_16.html) "Personal Contact and Connections Such things don't help much, I suspect, unless they bring substantive new information. If a professor at some point had a good substantive, philosophical conversation with an applicant and mentions that to the committee, that might help a bit. But seeking out professors for such purposes could backfire if it seems like brown-nosing, or if the applicant seems immature, arrogant, or not particularly philosophically astute. Some professors may be very much swayed by personal connections, I suppose. I myself, however, often have a slightly negative feeling that I'm being "played"; and even if I know the person hasn't sought me out for the purpose of improving her admissions chances, in aiming to be fair and objective in my evaluations I will tend to discount that person's application somewhat -- maybe even more than it deserves." Now I was under the impression that making contact with professors whose research interests match yours was a more or less obligatory element of grad school applications. What are we to make of this?

Yeah, I'm definitely applying! It's just that sometimes it feels like insiders are trying really hard to dissuade me!

Is it proper etiquette to "advise" one's LoR writer's on what they should write in the letter? Basically, here's my situation: I'm applying to grad school (philosophy) 5 years after completing college. There's one program that I'm really interested in because of its strength in German philosophy. Now, one of my LoR writers is a distinguished German history professor. When he responded to my email saying that he'd be willing to write for me, I was simply relieved that he still remembered me after all this time. I was basically just happy to have secured another letter! Now I'm thinking that it would be great if he could tailor the letter to university X by highlighting my background in German studies (in addition to German history, I also took language, literature, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer). Is that acceptable, or should I just be grateful that he has agreed to write for me and not risk annoying him?

Hi everyone, I'm hoping to return to academic philosophy 6 years after completing my BA in philosophy, and really stressing out about my chances of getting into an MA program with a solid placement record. Not having sat in a philosophy seminar for more than 5 years, I'm not even attempting PhD programs. I'm curious to know of others who are making (or have successfully made) a transition back to philosophy after having spent several years in the "real world". Is it even possible? Or is it the case that given the state of competitiveness of philosophy, the top MA programs (GSU, UW-Milwaukee, Northern Illinois) are filled with stellar undergrad philosophy honors students who somehow didn't make it into top PhD programs? A bit of background about me: I did my BA from a well-ranked state school, but switched to philosophy rather late in my undergrad so I didn't take a wide range of courses. My overall GPA is average (3.3), but philosophy GPA is much better (3.78). There are also a couple of dropped philosophy courses on my transcript, which I hope don't kill my chances. Since college, I have taught English abroad and I'm currently doing a part-time, online MA in Applied Linguistics from an Australian university. While my MA courses aren't philosophical in nature (language teaching, discourse analysis, psycholinguistics), they did contribute to reigniting my interest in philosophy. My recommenders include a philosophy professor (a respected figure, who has assured me that his will be a strong letter), a history professor (who, though not a philosopher, is highly respected in German intellectual history, and I hope his will be a solid letter), and one of my MA lecturers (well outside philosophy, but more recent so I hope indicative of general academic growth). My main interests are in Philosophy of Mind - language and thought, identity, consciousness. But equally, I'm interested in exploring other areas and getting a firmer grounding in philosophy as a whole before I go on to a Ph.D. So many philosophy advice blogs begin with lengthy disclaimers about the impossible competitiveness and bleak prospects of an academic career in philosophy, that some days I wonder whether I should just accept the fact that I've spent too long outside philosophy to successfully return to it. But I really want to!

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm doing the best I can with researching the professors I'm interested in (between a full-time job and a part-time online MA - in applied linguistics, not philosophy), but I hope they're willing to take a chance on someone who's enthusiastic, if a little rough-around-the-edges

I know there are several "contacting professors" threads going, but they seem to be geared toward applicants with fairly well-defined research interests. Which is what I lack I'm returning to academic philosophy 5 years after my BA, and going for an MA first before a PhD largely because, having been outside academia all this time, I don't have a clear idea of what I want my research focus to be. I've got "broad" areas of interest, e.g. Philosophy of Mind, but nothing concrete like "I'm interested in researching the epistemological implications of Margolis and Laurence's Mixed View of the ontological status of concepts." I'm looking at programs with faculty who have published in areas broadly construed as "Philosophy of Mind" but I'm worried that if I contact them, I'll come across as uncertain and kinda flaky. How important is it for MA applicants to have clearly outlined research proposals? After all, I'm going for an MA precisely so that I can arrive at a specific research focus for a PhD. Does anyone have any tips on how to approach professors without sounding like I have no clue what I'm talking about (partially true, I feel philosophically rusty) and just want to get a foot in the door (no! I've spent weeks and months identifying programs with faculty I want to study with)?

Thanks, johndiligent. I'm leaning toward 2 MA + 1 BA too. But I'm also asking my programs if they'll accept an additional letter, so I can have the MA and BA in a happy balance!

Hm, I'm in a similar situation. I did my BA in philosophy 5 years ago, and I just finished an MA in applied linguistics. I'm going back to school for philosophy and debating the pros and cons of getting LoRs from my BA and MA instructors. On the one hand, my MA work is recent, which is important. But, the two people that I want to get letters from are "lecturers", not professors (both do have doctorates though). Plus, the school is a lot less prestigious than my undergrad institution. Two of my BA professors have agreed to write for me, one in philosophy, one in history. While both are distinguished scholars in their fields, it has been five years, and I wonder how descriptive their letters will be. I'm not sure whether to go with 1 BA + 2 MA, or 2 BA + 1 MA... Any suggestions?