BeatBackBones

Same thing is happening to me. My 3rd recommender has basically gone missing. I've emailed her university account thrice, her personal once, sent her a message on LinkedIn and left a voicemail in her office. What. The. F**k. She's already missed the first deadline (for NYU) by some weeks and the next deadline is on Wednesday. I'm panicking for sure and plan to show up to whatever class she's teaching Monday morning. Like a stalker. UGH. Good luck.

1.how significant do you think this advantage, if its an advantage at all, is? Not very. I say this just by looking at the demographics of current faculty and and students in various programs. Philosophy is one of the least diverse fields, and I'm not sure why that is, but I suspect there are many URM applicants who don't advance through the process for other reasons and diversity doesn't save them. However, I do suspect hispanic students might have an edge up because of how it's phrased on the application. It's usually a question by itself. But, again, most departments still have very little diversity, so I can't be sure. 2. where in the admissions process is it manifested? for example, will women and minorities be much more likely to survive the infamous cut off, but are treated the same in the final round? or are they treated similarly at first and only in the final round will URM be a tiebreaker? are committee members more lenient on slightly lower gre scores or lower pedigree because you are a URM? I highly doubt URMs make it past the second round because they are URMs. I'm included to think departments aren't really looking for diversity. You can find a lot of information about women leaving programs after not being taken seriously by people in the program, hostility, even harassment. This, combined with the obvious dearth of URMs, leaves me inclined to think that academic philosophy is still a (mostly) white, boys club that isn't interested in understanding and exploring the experiences and theories of URMs. That said, I think that's also a "fit" issue. Not all departments feel that way. I think programs heavy in continental philosophy/social thought/intersectional are more interesting in a range of perspectives and where URMs could be at an advantage. 3. do you think the advantage ,if any , is fair? Yes, because gender and racial bias still, clearly, affect the way people chose. Remember in 2008 when *gasp* a women and a black man were running for president, and it was a legitimate question to ask Americans if they were "ready" for a women or black president. As if people would have needed time to brace themselves. I'm a journalist and I've had men straight up tell me, "the newsroom isn't for women." I don't even know what that means. Like...? Okay? At a different time, he would have been the person deciding my future at my publication. And he wasn't the first or last. I don't think this is always a conscious or malicious bias, but I definitely think it's there. I have no idea about the applicant demographics, but if women are half the people, we should account for half of the program. Even if less than 50% of the applicants are women, I don't think it's as low as the admitted student demographic suggests.

Thanks for the review! Was very helpful.

Got the automated NYU rejection at 5:10 p.m., too. Princeton rejection came on the 7th and Oxford came today at 1:07 p.m. EST.

Well, I threw my shut-out tantrum two weeks ago when I got the first two rejections, so I've gotten that out of my system lol. I'm considering becoming an apprentice at a local farm to reevaluate my direction without distractions. I live in Atlanta, so I'll likely attempt to slink into GSU's MA program. If I get reject, I'll take classes as a non-degree seeking student until I can get in. Then reapply to PhD programs. Rinse and repeat until I'm accepted into a well-fitting program. Or I'll work somewhere only mildly depressing to take care of myself while I let the second round of apps consume my soul. Or Michelle Obama will call Princeton herself and demand that I am admitted. Whichever. I'm a journalist, too, so I'll be freelancing regardless and that will bring me joy.

It is surprisingly safe indeed! Some of my girlfriends, around 24-years-old, went for a few weeks for New Years and had no problems whatsoever and their money went a long way.

Thanks for linking your sample; congrats on all of your success! I'll be right here, regretting every life choice I've ever made and re-reading this until I crack the code. Or die, either one.

Same, Ian! Thanks so much. I'm sure it was a lot of work, but you'd definitely be a major resources next year, too.

It happened so late in the process that I was already completely insane, so it actually wasn't that big of a deal haha. Let's just say I've already begun next season's checklist spreadsheet.

Sure, a recommender's husband had died later in the application process and I wasn't able to replace her with any other professors I trust/know my work/have witnessed my long-term progress, so I ended up not submitting the apps I hadn't already paid for because the missing elements seemed like a wasted attempt and a waste of money.

Thanks guy, I'd be stoked to even get waitlisted at this point haha. I will try to get in touch with them on Monday and let you guys know if there's any news outside of another round of rejections coming.

Hey guys, I'm still waiting to here back from UChicago and Cornell, in any capacity. I figure I've been reject from both, or at least UChicago, without the hope of wait-list, but I see others have received official rejections so I'm wondering if I screwed something up along the way. I've also check the application review activity purgatory place and didn't see anything new. Any ideas? Should I wait it out or contact the departments next week? I don't want to be that guy who starts harassing them after a rejection, but I want to get it right next year.

Same. D. Phil. in Philosophy and was told late March. Whatever they get to it, I guess lol.

I'm interested, too!

Thanks for the discussion, y'all! Monadology, I agree with your point about confrontational discourse being especially unpleasant for URMs who face micro and macro-aggressions daily. I've had quite the opposite experience and am, like many of you, I'm sure, the most valuable/engaged person in most academic philosophical settings thus far, so my ideas and arguments are almost always taken seriously. I'm a non-major, however, so my experience is limited. Have any of you seen or experienced an inordinate amount of gender/race-based hostility, in the classroom, from either side? I'm not concerned with not being seen as authoritative figure—I do a lot of public speaking/lecturing and hold long-term leadership positions—but I do want to be part of the community within the department. Any thoughts on why sexism/racism are even issues amongst enlightened thinkers? I expect these things, to a degree, in every aspect of life, but why is it a fundamental and institutional issue in philosophy?

Hey guys, I'm a black lady philosopher, clearly. as to the blatant shortage of women in academic philosophy. In the initial stages of researching programs, I quickly noticed that the overwhelming majority of faculty and past and present graduate students were white men. I found a several arguments that stated the intense/confrontational culture within philosophy programs turned off many women who were initially interested in philosophy and this causes them not to purse it on the graduate level or at all. This sounds overly convenient to me because most people, regardless of gender, are not interested in this type of discourse, so why are the demographics so uneven? To push this a step further, women of color in philosophy are unreasonably absent , too. I didn't decide this until I was done surveying schools because applying to any PhD program really is a niche-y type of thing; considering we're only applying against 300 people, many of which across multiple program choices. But, I'm a black lady philosophy, Adrian Piper is a black lady philosopher and Linda Martin and Anita Allen and so on. Surely, we're not the only ones. Where are the others at? Do they just not purse philosophy on the graduate level? Why not? Are they being reject to programs because of possible academic disadvantages that have made them unattractive candidates? Further, are female applicants at an advantage as URMs? Some of the programs I researched had a lot of material and resources for diversity initiatives/student life support, but many universities had nothing about diversity at all, which gave me pause.

Absolutely haha. When I realized acceptances (Thanks, Ian Faircloud—please keep up the blog next admin. season!) had gone out from my first two PhD Philosophy programs and I hadn't heard a peep. I re-read automated emails over and over, searched through spam, and university websites looking for clues and confirmations of my decision. I didn't bother waiting for official rejection to freak the f*** out because I was convinced I was shut-out altogether. Tears, screaming at the people trying to help me, overwhelming self-doubt, the works,. The whole process was even more difficult than I thought and I applied with too much on my plate (full-time undergrad, editor of my daily and quarterly university's publications, national honor club president, and intern). I'm heartbroken and nearly traumatized by the psychological toll the process took. Most of the programs to which I applied are at the end of notification season, so I'm trying to hold out hope for something amazing, but it feels better bleak at this point. I completely get why people can't bring themselves to apply after getting shut out; this is way painful. Seeing all the rest of you losers makes me feel in good company, however. I know I have one more round in me and will get started as soon as I hear back from the remaining schools.