perpetuavix

Yes. The job market is awful, so measuring the success of a department by the number of placements into ranked schools is untenable. Even NYU doesn't place every graduate into a ranked department. Maybe this isn't the case but by saying that, it makes it sound like you want a job like that, or would only accept a job like that. If that is true, then I would suggest the Masters program. If you want to work at a ranked school, it's a rule of thumb that departments will hire up in prestige, not down, so yes, you probably do need to go to a higher ranked school. The Masters program will give you a path to that. But, as you say, you also might get into nowhere or get in somewhere 'worse'. If you can accept that as a possibility, then you can gamble on the Masters' program.

You can wait. A lot of schools are on spring break. Maybe that's why you haven't heard back.

if you want to go onto a PhD, look at the placement into PhD programs of both. Are the students getting into PhD programs you would want to go to? For the one year program, are student applying during their year in the program, or taking a gap year afterwards? If the placement for the one year program seems to be as good as the two year program, then the one year program is probably a good choice.

It might be worth it. You should talk to as many of the peripherally related professors as you can about how comfortable they would feel supervising a dissertation for your research interests. There might be a professor who does actually have the knowledge to supervise, or someone who is willing to learn more about your research interests. Even if you find someone who is willing to supervise you, you will still probably need an outside expert in your area, so make sure your school allows that. Another consideration: you might change your mind about your interests, and if you go to this program, your interests will probably change in a way that is compatible with the faculty members there. Your coursework might change your interests, and unless something weird is happening, the topic of your coursework is probably an area the faculty member teaching the class knows a lot about.

I don't think it's that uncommon to transfer a small number of classes from a previous Masters, although it is, as 1Q84 said, usually a capped number of credits. CUNY and Yale allow some transfer credits, once some coursework has been completed; see here and here. UCLA specifically doesn't allow it (here) and Carnegie Mellon didn't obviously say either way. Probably not a representative sample, but it's not so uncommon. Anecdotally, students who get terminal Masters and students who leave a PhD program are treated roughly the same. I think this is partially because most students who leave PhD programs leave after their first, second or possibly third year. If you leave your PhD program substantially into your dissertation, it seems more likely you'll leave the discipline than end up in another department, but I would imagine that one wouldn't be required to take more coursework at that point. Schools outside the US work on a different model of graduate programs. Elsewhere in the world, you get a Masters' first, where you take all or most of your coursework, then go to a PhD program, where you immediately start with the dissertation. So, PhD programs elsewhere are much shorter, but only because the first two years are formally relocated in the Masters coursework.

I got my Masters in education at a different Catholic university. Every classroom had a crucifix, which I found somewhat unsettling. Other than that, there was nothing particularly religious about my education there. While there are definitely some religious universities where religion is a big part of the education (I'm thinking Liberty, BYU, etc), there are also a lot of schools that have historical religious affiliations that don't substantially impact the education you get; I have a feeling BC is in the latter category. You can talk to current students about the political climate of the department, but it is in Boston, so I bet you would find many like-minded people. Having to call professors by a title may just indicate the department is a little more formal, which might not be your preference.

My partner finished the NYU general psych Masters program with research experience, really strong letters, high grades, excellent GRE scores, a publication, and a poster presentation. He was shut out this year. There's enough randomness in PhD admissions that even if you go to NYU and take on all that debt, you might not get in anywhere. And then you'll have a lot of debt. If I were you, I would wait another year and reapply. Second choice would be to attend OU and plan to transfer out (although there's something somewhat ingenuous about starting a program that you already know you want to leave). PAYE and IBR only apply to federal loans, so they're not always options for every loan. Having to repay 6 figure debt (even on reduced payment plans or with loan forgiveness after a certain time) can still substantially impact your financial future. It's harder to get more credit if you already have a lot of debt. I don't think it's unreasonable to avoid taking on large amounts of debt, even in light of IBR.

The GREs are expensive and annoying enough to take that I wouldn't say it's a good idea to plan to take them twice, no matter what you score. It might be a good idea to give yourself enough time for the option to take them twice, though, in case you are unhappy with your first score. A month is a reasonable amount of time to spend studying, if you can devote substantial time to it (maybe an hour a day). How much you need to study also depends on what score you want and where you are right now. if you're trying to maximize your verbal, you might want to start working on that now, before you formally begin studying, because vocab takes the most time to improve. Make a point to write down words you come across that you don't know the definition of, look them up, and write them down. You can make flashcards to help you remember them. There's also a lot of GRE vocabulary apps out there (I like Painless GRE; not sure if it's only for Android). If you improve your vocabulary slowly over the next few months, you'll be in a better position to study for the rest of the GRE in a shorter time frame. As to how important GREs are, the answer is usually not very important. This varies a lot by department and by who is on the committee; some departments and admissions committee members think GREs are very important, although it seems that most would say they're not that important. You can always ask the schools you're most interested in how they evaluate GRE scores, but the reply will almost certainly use the word "holistically". Try to score as high as you can the first time, and retake the test if you know you can score higher.

You might want to retake it if you think 1. you can improve your score by at least 3-5 points on both sections and 2. you have some reason to believe that departments you are applying to will care. I don't know how much you prepped before you took the test, but if you didn't do much, you have a better shot of being able to bring up your score. If you did some prep, the likelihood of bringing up your score substantial is decreased. Especially since you're starting from the low 160s, it's much harder to move 5 points near the top of the range than it is to move 5 points at the bottom or middle of the range. On the second count, you can look at the schools you're applying to and see what they say about the GRE. I've definitely seen a lot of places say that they require GREs, but "evaluate candidates holistically" (seriously, I have never seen the word holistically used as much as I have in grad admissions). But if you find schools that report their GRE scores for admitted candidates, give score minimums, or otherwise indicate that the GREs make a difference to their admissions committee, at least if you do improve your score, it will help your chances.

Do you get tuition remission in the years where you don't teach for the department? Have you talked to current students about the funding situation? Maybe you get tuition remission every year, and there's an abundance of jobs, so it's not actually as bad as it sounds. If current students tell you that the funding situation motivates them to get out in four years, that might be okay, too. But if they say that the funding situation is really difficult and because of how bad it is, they end up taking more time or leaving the program, don't go there. The job market is bad enough that funding should be a really important consideration. If there are people you could work with at Binghamton and the funding situation at Hawaii means you would need to go into more debt to attend there, I would choose Binghamton.

Especially for a Masters' program, I would take the funding. A lot of Masters programs are unfunded or underfunded, and $130k is a lot of debt. The general rule that people use around here is don't do into more debt for a program than you would make in your first year of work after the program; that seems somewhat unlikely, even if you went to the best school with the best job placement. Unless the school that's offering you funding has truly terrible job placement or something about it you really cannot live with, I would take the funded offer.

The two big questions I would ask the department: how is the placement for MA students into PhD programs, and are there opportunities to develop a piece of writing into a writing sample for PhD admissions? If the program is placing people into PhD programs that you would want to attend, that's important. Make sure you know how many students there are in each cohort for their placement numbers; it's fine if there's a lot of students who aren't applying to PhD programs, but it's a bad sign if 10 people applied out and only two of them were accepted to schools. If the department doesn't want to give you this information, that might be a bad sign, but you can get some information from students who are beyond their first year. The other question is about developing a writing sample. I think the thesis does more than just develop a good writing sample; it shows that you can do self directed research in some capacity. But schools takes students without Masters theses all the time, so I don't think it's an absolute must. But I would be worried if there are no opportunities to develop your course papers into something stronger. Are faculty willing to review multiple drafts and give good comments, even after your class with them is over? Are there any work-in-progress groups on campus that could help you develop your ideas? Does the school have any institutionalized programs to develop writing samples (this is not unheard of in philosophy Masters programs)? In some ways, developing a course paper into a solid writing sample can be better than using part of a Masters thesis: you can get started on developing a paper earlier in the program, it will likely be shorter than a thesis and therefore you won't have to stress about which parts to include, and you might get something out of it that's publishable since journals are much more like to take something that's 15 pages versus 50. I think as long as you have positive answers to both of those questions (people are getting placed into go PhD programs and you will be able to develop a strong writing sample), NSSR might be worth it.

I wouldn't give more than 4 weeks notice, unless you have a good reason to think they won't be able to replace you in that time or something like that. Telling your supervisor now doesn't seem necessary. It's probably unlikely to happen, but there's some chance that your employer would fire you when you give notice (so they could fire you for saying you're leaving in five months and leave you without a job until you start school). Otherwise, just be mindful of the fact that you're planning to leave; don't take on any new roles or responsibilities that will make it harder for someone else to fill your role. You might let some of your coworkers know, if you have a good relationship with them. As for how you tell your supervisor, doing it in writing is generally a good idea. You don't want to have any confusion about what your last day will be, and if you have it in an email, that helps. If you're hoping to possibly keep working with them during summers or after you graduate, you could mention that, although it's hard to say how that suggestion would be received.

Job competition, especially for early childhood, is real. But it doesn't seem like prestige is what makes a difference to principals. Especially since it sounds like your undergrad is not in education, you should look for a Masters program that will give you the most time in a classroom. You want time to develop your skills and try new things, and ideally get support from your program/mentor teacher. I previously taught high school, but have a lot of teacher friends across age groups. It seems like one of them best ways to get a teaching job, especially without experience, is to have a well developed teaching portfolio. This includes references letter, observation reports, sample lesson plan/unit plans/curriculum maps, examples of student activities and completed student work, etc. If you're looking for a community of teachers, both tumblr and twitter have strong education representation. There's also a ton of teaching blogs that aren't on either of those platforms. In true teacher fashion, most education bloggers are happy to answer questions.

Masters programs are generally unfunded and have somewhat lower admissions standards; they're regarded as 'cash cows' for the university. Maybe this one is funded, but that's less common. You should also ask about whether any Masters students have ended up in the PhD program, and if so, how many credits transfer. I know of at least one psych program where none of the credits from the Masters transfer to that school's PhD program.

The DN post is down, but here's the text: The Philosophy Department of the University of California, Irvine has extended five (!) senior offers this job season. They are to: Annalisa Coliva (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) — philosophy of mind, epistemology, metaphysics and the history of analytic philosophy Lori Gruen (Wesleyan University) — ethics, animal ethics, environmental philosophy, feminist theory Sarah Paul (University of Wisconsin-Madison) — philosophy of action, philosophy of mind, practical reason Duncan Pritchard (University of Edinburgh) — epistemology Karl Schafer (University of Pittsburgh) — ethics, epistemology, the history of modern philosophy, Kant No word yet on whether any of the offers have been accepted. I like to include my sources, so it came from here http://philosophym3blog.blogspot.com/2015/03/happy-birthday-oswald-von-nell-breuning.html#comment-form but the metablog is pretty much the reddit of philosophy blogs so I really can't recommend reading it.

I would be very surprised if a department thought the AWA was the most important section. It rewards a very specific type of writing that doesn't correlate with good philosophy writing. You can score well by first, writing a lot, then making sure you use varied vocabulary and sentence structure/length. I'm sure some philosophers write like that, but I'm also sure we've all read a piece that uses a precisely defined word to the point of excess. I've also heard at least one DGS say the writing score doesn't matter. OP, why did you apply somewhere where it sounds like you knew you wouldn't be interested in their offer? I know that everyone is encouraged to apply widely, but why spend the money and time filling out an application at a place you wouldn't want to go? Or are you just disappointed that you didn't get in anywhere else? I agree with the consensus that it would be crazy to turn down a funded offer. But if you really think you cannot be happy there and you can improve your materials for next year, maybe you should turn them down.

Happiness is important; it can be the difference between finishing your program and not. But, it turns out people are actually really bad at predicting their future happiness, so it's hard to make a decision wholly based on happiness. What about school B makes you think you'll be happier there? Is it that other people are happy there? Do you think the things that they're happy about will make you happy? It seems (to me) like school A might actually make you happier in the long run (better research fit, more resources, and more balanced course requirements). Is there something about school A that you think you won't like? Are other students there unhappy?

My long distance move story: I knew my spouse and I were moving across country (NY to WA) and looked at many of the options people have already suggested here. When I looked at my gmail, there was a banner ad for cheap moving services. I clicked the link, which was not for a specific company but sent my info to many, many moving companies. I got a bunch of phone calls and emails over the next day. Some of them were not very useful, but we easily got at least 8 quotes from different companies. We called the cheapest company ($1400 to move 300 cf across the country). We ended up going with them. Ultimately, we moved more stuff (probably about 450 cf, which included a bed, futon, dresser, 2 bookshelves, table, 4 chairs, chest, desk, vacuum, and about 50 boxes) for just over $2000. I had a moving stipend from my department to help pay for it. But the majority of the quotes we got were for less than any other option. There are A LOT of budget moving companies out there that are trying to undercut each other. Some of them are really terrible (check BBB) and all of them will try and find ways to make you pay more through various fees. The one we used gave us a big runaround on moving day because the inventory we had submitted online to guarantee our quote was binding (ie I was supposed to magically be able to correctly estimate the number of boxes I needed to move before I moved them, and since we had more boxes than I originally thought, they told us they would only take the number I had said. That was not fun, but we worked it out). When we moved into our place on this end of the country, the guy who moved our stuff into the building tried to charge us for four flights of stairs, because even though we live on the third floor (ie up to flights) each flight is divided into two, so there's four landings. He did not prevail in getting me to pay that. But as long as you ask repeatedly about the fees and make sure you understand what you're agreeing to, it ended up being both cheaper and less work on our part to use a real moving company. These websites seem similar to what I used to get multiple quotes: http://www.moving.com/movers/moving-company-quotes.asp https://www.unpakt.com/

if you want to learn a language related to your research but not integral, it will probably be by taking undergraduate classes in that language. Some places might require you to get some kind of approval for a class that isn't strictly related to your research, but as long as you're not learning a language just for fun, I'm sure it would be covered by your tuition remission. The classes vary somewhat by school, but yes, you should expect class 4 or 5 days a week, focusing on reading, writing, and speaking. I don't think there are many language classes anywhere that focus only on reading proficiency. Your grad program might have classes like that, but I've never heard of it. You might try duolingo to learn on your own, or test out of the first semester or two. It's free. I'm using it for German (mostly for fun, but maybe some day I'll take a German class), and I like the system. Once you've completed the course, you could take a language placement test to show that you have some proficiency.

They have a big department to start with, and I think a lot of their initial admits are usually people who get multiple offers. I'm sure CUNY is a great place for some people, but it felt like the professors weren't actually around that much. I was also told that the grad community was really strong, but it didn't actually seem like that was true (I've since heard this impression is fairly accurate, but I'm sure you could find someone who says it's not, too). I also very recently heard some concerning things about climate there. Again, I'm not saying it's a bad department and I'm sure it's the right place for someone, but it was not for me. PM if you want more details.

I got a waitlist notification from CUNY last year on March 9, and the next day, they told me I was off the waitlist for admission, but on a waitlist for funding. The funding offer didn't come until April 15th, though. I think CUNY dips into its waitlist with some regularity (although I think there are reasons why that happens, too). I doubt there's much you can actually do to increase your odds of getting an offer, but if you're enthusiastic, by all means, express that.

I'm not sure I'd sign onto the claim that it's bullying, either. But he is the sole author of the most trafficked philosophy blog. And he allowed a nasty comment about an untenured, female faculty member on a thread about "issues in the profession". I don't think that's a good thing for the profession, and I don't think it's unreasonable for people to express their displeasure, especially when people see it as a part of a pattern.

Acknowledge that you received the email and (probably) thank them. Let them know that you're interested, but you're not ready to make a decision.

I mean, the original author of the comment was clearly the one who is the most in the wrong. But why would a specific person's job trajectory be something fit for discussion in the context of "issues in the profession"?