pearclick

As a 3rd-year PhD student at an "unranked" SPEP school, there's a pretty simple answer for this: There's a huge divide in the U.S. between schools that do analytic philosophy and schools that primarily do not do analytic philosophy. Since analytic philosophy has been the majority of the discipline since the 1950s, those are the programs that get "ranked" by Leiter and his pals, regardless of the quality of education/faculty research/job placements of the SPEP schools. If you want to get a job in an analytic-centered university, go to a Leiter school. If you want to get a job in a department that focuses on phenomenology/existentialism/feminism/race/etc., go to a grad school that focuses on those things. Of course schools like Oregon aren't placing people at Yale and Arizona-- the people who get their PhDs at most SPEP schools don't DO analytic philosophy, so why would they ever apply to those departments? When considering the "worth" of unranked programs (outside analytic phil), rather than thinking of it in terms of rankings, it makes more sense to think of it as (almost) different fields. And, for better or for worse, SPEP grads and analytic grads primarily stay within the kinds of departments they got their degrees from.

I'm also a student at Oregon, and I would certainly not describe our department as dysfunctional. Please message me if you have any questions! I'd be happy to answer them.

I'm really just waiting for any moment in which I can justify yelling, "I've been PurDUPED!"

This goes out to the group of lost, sad Purdue applicants who don't know what's going on in West Lafeyette. I wanted to move this out of the Acceptance thread because people's Purdue questions keep getting lost in the influx of new acceptance posts. Has anyone contacted the school? Do we know if they're even admitting people this year?

I understand that. But I desperately want to explore Bangkok, so choices are being made. I don't know if I'll apply to philosophy grad school again. Part of leaving the country is about giving me space to evaluate what I actually want to do with my life, far away from all the things that are influencing me now.

I'm female too. It's actually pretty safe for single western women travelers, compared to other countries in southeast asia.

Is gay marriage legal in Thailand? I sure as hell couldn't bring her back to Virginia.

I'm moving to Thailand. I'm going to teach ESL for a year and have my existential crisis somewhere where it's warm.

Who wants to claim that Villanova acceptance???

It's the analytics! With their theories about mind and language and science. They're so...modern.

Thanks

http://www.amazon.com/For-Overman-David-Findley/dp/1481013823 he rated his own book, and he gave it three stars

@bar_scene_gambler So, you know how Nietzsche's Will to Power draws from Schopenhauer's Will, but instead of being pessimistic and self-denying, it's triumphant and self-oriented? I say that this can be attributed to the fact that S's Will is this broad, un-individuated energy that forces empathy and identification with the whole. So it is unmotivated to work for the betterment of the self; it has no "warrior spirit." Whereas, N's WtP is pluralistic: Will to Power as an entity (so to speak) exists because it is made up of individual Wills to Power. So there is competition, struggle between those individual Wills, and that is the motivation for fending off despair. I also talk a little bit about the Dionysian, because you would think it contradicts the pluralistic Will, but really, it doesn't. I'd post it online, but I'm a little scared of the judgment of superior philosophers.

I feel really intimidated and in way over my head reading everyone's analytic writing samples. Everything I know about philosophy is Continental (or Logic) and my writing sample was on Nietzsche and Schopenhauer's respective approaches to Will in regards to it being a pluralistic or monistic force* *yes, i realize that "force" is a careless choice of words but w/e i don't even care anymore villanova, where art thou?

Purduuuuueeeeeeeeeeee

Good news! Scott Pratt just emailed me. The form rejection was an error, and I'm still on the waitlist.

I don't go to school there, but I grew up in Virginia Beach, which is a nice blend of NOVA and SOVA attitudes. Traffic is better, and we're not as racist as the western half of the state!

I'm a little south of NOVA, thankfully. These rejections would be a lot more depressing if I were getting them in Fairfax.

Form email from Scott Pratt. I think it was the same email they sent for the first-round rejections because it never acknowledged that I had been on a waitlist.

Rejected off the wait list at Oregon. Sad day.

Also, Villanova and Purdue. Come onnn, Purdue!

On the topic of re-applying, how do you ask your letter-writers to send your letters again? Should you ask them to write a new one? Do you apologize for not being good enough to get in the first time and save them the trouble?

I considered Georgia State a perfect fit. Pretty destroyed over this.

One Penn State rejection for me!

On a similar note, I've filled the time by overthinking all my relationships and pestering my (very busy) boyfriend to hang out with me. Also, House of Cards.