ianfaircloud

This was a great idea! Thanks for putting it together. I voted other, but for a different reason. I'm just undecided. Actually, I think being 'undecided' is a good place to be. I'm very much in the midst of exploration. Kant's view is so attractive, but it has major problems. I do not see how Kant's view preserves our intuition that people can willfully commit a moral wrong. On the other hand, contractualism (of the Scanlon sort) is, in my view, not "what we're going for" when it comes to ethical theory. I think it explains away ethics, in effect. I think virtue ethics isn't action-guiding enough. I think utilitarianism defies some deeply held intuitions about value. (I'm not going to explain or defend any of the above points. It's a take-it-or-leave-it thing. If what I'm saying doesn't strike you as at least somewhat correct, then that's cool.)

This is super helpful information!! Thank you for sharing. I know some of us were suspicious about the initial Michigan acceptances, particularly given the number and the timing. But this, along with the good person's post (above) confirming admission, let's us know that (a) Michigan has started, and ( b ) Michigan hasn't finished.

Thanks for the help!

Congratulations to everyone who has been admitted this afternoon. I'm having trouble keeping up with the news! Notre Dame accepts, wait-lists. MIT accepts. Syracuse accepts, though let's watch this one-- I see only one post. Expect very soon: MIT wait-lists.

Agreed! I can't believe the silence this week!!

I'm starting a thread devoted to people who have applied both to PhD programs in philosophy and to law schools. Here are some topics that may be appropriate: Have you been admitted yet? What do your numbers look like? Are you torn between law and philosophy? Have you thought of going through law to philosophy or through philosophy to law? Do you have any resources for people who have just completed law applications? Is there something like gradcafe for JD admissions? (Or: What do you recommend?) Do you think your background in philosophy helped (or will help) you gain admission to a law school? Would you choose a top-ranked law school over a 20+ ranked program in philosophy? A little about me: I have an MA in philosophy. This is my second admissions season devoted to PhD programs in philosophy. I attended a very, very weak undergraduate institution, but I landed a spot in a highly-regarded MA program. I've always had interests in law, but I would prefer philosophy to law. I applied to quite a few PhD programs in philosophy; almost all are higher-ranked, "reach" schools. I have no offers, and I'm not on any wait-lists. I applied to the top 10 law schools, plus UCLA, Cornell, and WUSTL. I applied to all of these in late January. I took the LSAT just once, though I definitely should have tried again. LSAT is 169. Undergrad GPA is better than 3.9. I've not heard from any of these law schools. I'm very anxious to hear from schools. I do wonder how long I'll have to wait! I also wonder whether my applying in late January will affect my chances. If you have anything to contribute, I'd love to hear from you. Also, I'd like to hear your thoughts about the following sites: http://www.hourumd.com/ http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-Full-Time-Programs.htm I have a feeling many of you know more about all this than I do...

Completely agree. I'm not sure how we got here, but I suggest that in the future, when we see an argument coming on, let's start separate threads. The rejection and acceptances threads could be reserved for relevant posts. (I was part of the problem. I'm not saying that I wasn't.) Btw: Nobody wants to be a part of silly arguments. They start because someone says something that s/he thinks is uncontroversial, and someone else expresses disagreement.

I wondered what happened to all those posts! The name has changed. Got it.

Table, I appreciate your passionate and thoughtful response to my post. I can see that you feel strongly about this, and I want to respect you and anyone else who disagrees with my approach. I'll just say that I respectfully disagree with you. I do think, given the Iamparem's situation as he has described it, that it could be helpful to him to hear some candid advice. I understand that you don't think that there's enough information to offer the advice that I gave. I disagree with that, too. But again, I think a reasonable person could believe otherwise. I also want to point out something (again) about my advice. I intended something beyond the effect of the words taken literally. The illocutionary force of the speech was the intention to encourage Iamparem to reassess the situation. Iamparem's suggestion, which I took seriously, was that he had run out of options. I understand that you think he meant this a purposeful exaggeration for effect. I read it differently. He described all of the things he had done. He mentioned that this was his third (?) application season. So I sincerely hoped that at the very least, my "advice" would prompt Iamparem to assess the situation. What I did not aim to do was to jerk someone around. I spoke with honesty, and others commented that they felt the honesty was appropriate (though obviously controversial). Now in a separate post, I criticized Iamparem for the offensive nature of his comments. That, to me, is a more serious concern. How could anyone hope to do well in philosophy with this attitude? And so I do stand by this. But again, I appreciate your thoughtful and sincere reply to my post. And I understand that reasonable people will disagree with me.

Thanks, and I agree. My 'ignore' comment was meant to be provocative. In my experience, the results pages have been very accurate. We've had doubts about quite a few posts, and we were able to confirm them independently at a later date. The NYU posts were really an exception. In fact, I recall a lot of suspicion at the time of the initial NYU posts. http://faircloudblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/february-9-new-york-university/

Agreed. I'll update my blog ASAP...

Well, my prediction may hold about NYU after all. Now I don't know whether to believe the post from today or the original posts. Should we ignore the results pages going forward, on the grounds that the results pages are unreliable?

I'm holding back here, because this comment angers me. My suggestion that Iamparem get out of philosophy is not 'mean'. It's not 'kicking' anyone. It's completely honest, and it's based on my reading of more than a dozen, lengthy posts that Iamparem has brought to this forum in the last few days. Please read these posts. I think my conclusion is completely warranted, and someone needs to speak honestly about Iamparem's situation. Moreover, Iamparem has "tried everything," apparently. And if a person believes that she has tried everything, that person needs to hear a candid remark like the one I offered. At the very least, it's an invitation for that person to assess the situation and ask herself, "Have I *really* tried everything?" So Murial, your intentions are good. And I don't want to start an argument with you. But I really, strongly disagree with your assessment of my comment. Yes. Precisely. A few of you apparently just joined us in this thread, and I don't think you have the proper context to see why some of these replies are completely warranted. Many of Iamparem's comments are at least insensitive, and even offensive and hateful. Again, if you read the comments, you will see this.

A follow-up to the discussions on this thread: http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2014/02/ludlow-sues-several-news-organizations-for-defamation-for-falsely-reporting-that-he-had-been-accused.html I recommend this post, but I don't recommend having an unproductive debate about whether Ludlow is guilty! I simply think that Leiter's post is especially apropos with regard to our recent discussions.

Or maybe, just maybe, we're both being admitted or wait-listed to Arizona!! Let's just assume this until we hear otherwise.

I'm not assuming that your book isn't good. Please re-read my post very carefully, above.

Honestly, from reading your posts, I think the right course for you is to give up on philosophy. It's not working for you. You've devoted much to it with little return. As you've said yourself, there's almost nothing else you can do. You say you have run out of options? Indeed, you have. It's clear, just from reading your posts, that you should give up and move on.

Writing a book means very little. It's quality, not quantity, that gains admission to a graduate program in philosophy. They want people who can do more than write books. They want people who can write good books.

This post is wildly inappropriate and offensive.

Thanks! Thanks for this info. I've not received a notification. Website still unchanged. My last name is very late in the alphabet. Maybe the last name is relevant!

WashU is sending acceptances to Philosophy PhD (and PNP) tonight. Just confirmed with a friend.

Oh, and a re-post, since that last post was totally off-topic.

Yes it DOES! Here's how that conversation goes: "Hello, this is Christine Korsgaard, from Harvard." "Oh MY GOD!! ARE YOU SERIOUS??! WOOOHOOOO YEAHHH!" "I'm calling to let you know that . . ." "WOOW THANK YOU JESUS. OH MY GOD. HONEY! HONEY! GUESS WHO IT IS!!" ". . . you have been REJECTED to Harvard." "OHH THANK YOU THANK YOU. . . . WHOA, wait a minute. Did you say REJECTED?" "Yes, you have been rejected." "Oh." "Yes, we wanted to give you the courtesy of a personal phone call. But we appreciate your application. Of the 300 we received, it was definitely one of them."

I LOLed when I read this.

Okay, I'm writing this in bold, italicized, red font to draw your attention: Can anyone confirm receipt of a rejection from Yale? Brown? Harvard? Can anyone confirm receipt of a wait-list notification from Wisconsin Madison? Indiana Bloomington (Philosophy PhD only)? And if you can confirm any of the above, would you offer us the following: How you were notified? How generic was the notification? (e.g. looked like a form email?) How official was it? (e.g. through a prof you know personally? through the grad admissions office? etc.)