ta_pros_to_telos

It looks like most of the notifications for Georgetown are wait lists, and they're all by phone, so can we expect them to keep trickling slowly over the weekend/Monday? Is it fair to think that people who are making such calls would take into account the time zone applicants are in? Also, has anyone's online status changed? Congrats to everyone who got good news today, and to those who are still anxiously waiting for acceptances, hang in there!

I've run out of up-votes, but thanks for that post, Logos. I'm sorry it's been such a stressful time, and I hope you get good news soon.

Virtue ethics. I'm drawn to a form of Aristotelian particularism, though not quite as radical as Dancy.

Go AquinasDuo! So happy for you

I'm afraid it won't be particularly helpful to you, but here's the email I got: Dear [First name] (if I may), I write briefly on behalf of the philosophy department at Notre Dame to offer you admission to our PhD program in philosophy. I'm hoping that we can talk on the phone, to discuss particulars of the support package and the possibility of a campus visit; could you please send me a number at which I can reach you, as well as a sense of when it might be convenient to call? (I'm afraid I am traveling; I will try to get hold of you this week, though it may not be until early next week.) In any case I hope this message finds you well; I look forward to talking to you soon. best, Sean

Claiming one of the Notre Dame acceptances - I'm really happy, and feel really grateful! Congrats to everyone else who has been getting acceptances today. Philosophia14, I really hope you get in too! Weltgeist, I might see you at ND if I visit

Objectivityofcontradiction, I'm doing a Master's in Europe, and the word where I am is that it's "quite easy" to get into a PhD program, but very hard to get funding. I think there are 27 of us in this program, and the program director told us that they could officially support one candidate, perhaps two, in their request for external funding this year. They have not recommended anyone in the past two years, and this is at a top school in its field (not technically philosophy, but a related field.) Of course, things vary quite a bit from country to country etc. Just thought I'd share my 2 cents. Feel free to P.M. if you want, and I might be able to be a bit more specific, though I really don't know all that much.

Lamparem, do whatever you wish, obviously, but I'm not sure Ph.D. admissions involve being personally rejected so much as just not being one of the few chosen. While we all certainly have weaknesses as applicants, if a committee only has a handful of places it can give, and an applicant pool in the hundreds, it seems like that committee's decisions might be more a matter of identifying who stands out *most* than simply ruling candidates unfit for admission.

Thanks for the replies, and Ian, your blog has been a great resource, thank you!

Does the fact that tomorrow is Presidents' Day mean that we can't expect to hear back from any more schools until Tuesday?

Oh, actually not sure which, sorry.

For what it's worth, I know of several people being wait listed at Pitt last year, including one who I know was then accepted.

I'm in the same boat as AquinasDuo. Did people decide the rejection from Yale was not legit? That post gave me a second of hope, but I'm guessing if Yale has been sending out acceptances and wait list notifications, then those of us who haven't heard back yet are just not getting in... On a happier note, I applied to ND and haven't yet received a rejection, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Major congratulations to people who were accepted or wait listed at Yale!

Well, sleeping tonight might be difficult. Good luck to everyone! Yessss. Stanford? USC? UCLA? Would love a PM if you can send one. Congrats on Michigan and UNC; those are some great schools!

I think getting into Chicago's MAPH would soften the rejection a bit for me, but I appreciate that others don't feel the same way.

Aristotle or, as Aquinas would have it, "the Philosopher"

Congratulations, Caroline (and everyone else who has recently posted acceptances here)! It's really good of you to notify the school(s) you won't be attending so promptly, too. Platonist, I know I personally would not feel comfortable sharing my Writing Sample with other applicants, but I feel you, and I'm sorry the whole process is so stressful.

I definitely thought you were asking for the location of the school at first, haha. After all, I remember visiting Boston College some years ago, and one of the first things they said there was, "We're not actually in Boston, and we're not actually a college" (which is technically true haha!)

Congratulations, Hopephily!

I think applicants' original assessment of fit may change, not to mention it may not always be the same as the admissions committees'. I've heard of others discovering through campus visits that schools they might have applied to but not considered the best fit for them at first turned out to be really good options for them. At the same time, I've also been told not to apply to schools I wouldn't be willing to attend. I chose not to apply to schools that seemed prestigious but which I strongly felt would not be a good fit for me. It sounds wise to cast a wide net, just not so wide that you're no longer actually excited about the schools to which you're applying.