Gnothi_Seauton

Congrats! I visited and loved it there. The department is extremely friendly. Also, St. Louis is really cool, and the grad students seem to do extremely well on their stipends.

I've not heard from UCLA. I'll bet that a rejection is on its way for me, but I have no idea what's going on behind the curtain.

Let me echo the others and say congrats! I've been rooting for you since you got on the waitlist.

Rejected by Tufts. I got an email a few days ago saying that my decision would be available shortly. If anyone else is similarly placed, your decision might be available now.

Thanks very much! And congrats to you on Penn!

I met a couple JD/MA students at Duke when I visited. They seemed quite happy with the program, and they definitely didn't seem marginalized or anything. One thing about Duke is that the philosophy department really values interdisciplinary work, so, particularly if you are interested in something related to legal philosophy, they take your perspective very seriously. I doubt the faculty would have a "JD/MA students come second" attitude.

UNC-Chapel Hill. Extremely excited!

Just turned down offers from Duke and WUSTL. Hope that helps those on the waitlist!

I have officially declined offers from Duke and WUSTL. I hope those help people here!

Hahaha, sorry, I work for a state revenue agency. Taxes occupy entirely too much of my time.

A professor at Duke told us that your grades in your doctoral program, in and of themselves, don't matter at all. He doesn't even look at them when reviewing applications for jobs. However, they matter to the extent that they affect what your advisor/committee members think of you. But even then, as long as you produce a great dissertation, no one remembers whether you got a B+ or an A- in course X during your first year. That, at any rate, is what I was told at Duke.

I wouldn't worry too much about having to pay for fees. It creates a kind of "cash flow" problem for you initially, but there's a tax credit available on the federal level called the Lifetime Learning Credit. With it, you can credit up to $2000 worth of tuition or fees. The credit is non-refundable, so depending on how your taxes work out, it might be more beneficial to deduct the fees (a credit is usually more valuable than a deduction, but maybe not in this case). It is probably worth it to claim it as a credit when you have no withholding (whenever you are on fellowship) but as a deduction when you do have withholding (when you are TAing or teaching), unless you want to set your withholding really low. Unless you just have really high taxes (for some reason), you will most likely suffer a slight loss from paying fees, but I wouldn't look at it as an irretrievable hole in your wallet.

Hi all, I just got back from visiting Duke and WUSTL, and I wanted to plug both programs for the benefit of both those on the wait-list and future students. Both programs are wonderful, and they actually have a pretty similar vibe. The faculty are laid back and have formed strong bonds with graduate students. The graduate students themselves are very friendly and seem to live quite comfortably on their stipends. From what I could gather, the climate for women at both programs is very good. I think that the other prospective students would back me up on that. I don't think that the faculty was being overly nice or disingenuous or anything to "talk up" the department. Everyone was very genuine and straightforward. I actually discussed my other options with members of the faculty at both places, and, while they highlighted the ways in which their program fit my interests, they were candid about the quality and fit of the other programs as well. In short, if you have interests that fit those two programs, definitely apply. If you are on the wait-list and you get accepted without the opportunity to visit, don't hesitate in accepting. They both seem like great places to do philosophy. If you have any specific questions about either program, feel free to comment here or shoot me a PM.

I've turned down an offer from UVA, and I took myself off the wait-list at Arizona and UPenn. I'll be turning down offers from two of the following within the next two weeks: UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, and WUSTL. I've visited Duke and WUSTL, and I still have to visit UNC before deciding.

I'm currently on a visit, but I'll fill out the survey when I get back. Thanks for all the work, ianfaircloud!

Yes, I meant something like adding a comments section for people to clarify anything that might be somewhat non-standard. I completely agree that those comments couldn't be factored into any kind of data analysis without the survey becoming long and less helpful. Is the plan to provide individual profiles (the "raw" data) in addition to the aggregated data? I hope so. I think the individual profiles would be at least as, if not more, informative than the aggregated data. If the plan is to include the individual profiles as well, then that's where I think my suggestions would fit in. It gives a more complete picture of admitted applicants.

I don't have a good picture of the format as of yet, but it might be helpful to have space for clarification in each category. For instance, Master's GPA seems like an obvious category to include, if someone has a Master's, but while I have a Master's degree, I don't have a GPA for it since the school I attended doesn't grade that way. Something similar might be needed for UGPA. Suppose someone starts off with a low GPA, but then maintains a 4.0 junior and senior year. That would seem relevant, but it might go unnoticed if someone simply reports, say, a 3.4 GPA. Maybe that would be the way to handle the publication issue as well. Have a category for number of publications, but then have space to clarify the nature of the venue(s) (top journal, undergrad/grad journal, professional journal no one's ever heard of, etc.) and the nature of the publication(s) (article, book review, etc.). I think this is a great idea, by the way. I wish I'd had access to this sort of information when I was compiling my applications.

Just a thought: You might want to figure out a way to account for the significance of the GPA in light of the quality of undergraduate institution. I suspect that it's true that course difficulty does not perfectly track quality of institution, but I suspect there's a rough correlation. I graduated with a 4.0, but my undergraduate institution is pretty weak (outside the top 100 US News) and so doesn't strictly compare with the GPA of, say, an Ivy League undergrad. Another thought: Might want to add in philosophy GPA.

Claiming a Berkeley rejection.

I'll be at Duke as well!

Another Oxford rejection.

Claiming a Princeton rejection.

I think it depends on two things. First, how confident you are in your AOI(s). Second, the placement record of each school for people working in your AOI(s). Being confident in your AOI(s) seems like a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for accepting an offer from a lower-ranked school (all else being equal). If, in addition to your confidence in your AOI(s), the lower-ranked school has a strong placement record among people working in your AOI(s), then I think that would be sufficient for choosing the lower-ranked school. If you are not confident in your AOI(s), I would accept the offer from the more prestigious department (assuming the overall placement record is stronger). If the placement record for people working in your AOI(s) is stronger at the more prestigious department, I would accept the offer from the more prestigious department. EDIT: The qualifier "all else being equal" is important here. Also consider funding, where you would like to live, the "atmosphere" in the department (competitive, congenial, overly relaxed, distant, helpful, etc.), etc.

Since we're all sharing, the link to my sample is in my signature. Comments welcome! EDIT: Sorry, should be working now. I had it set to private initially.

Claiming rejections from Chicago and Stanford.