noodlez

I e-mailed Jane Bennett asking more or less this question about placement, but specific to the theory subfield. I only got one new name, Paulina Ochoa, but it's a pretty compelling placement: Yale (via one year postdoc fellowship at Notre Dame)! A few folks have moved around after short stints at other places, too: e.g. Lars Tonder is now at Northwestern (from Depauw), Nick Tampio is now at Fordham (from Hamilton College). Mileage may vary in other subfields, but it's enough to convince me that a theory degree from JHU will carry quite a bit of water. I heard from my last program, Philosophy at NSSR, and I'm in with 50% funding. Might sound crazy to even think about living in NYC with only 50% funding, but given the rep. of the department, this is pretty compelling. Still, I'm leaning Hopkins, and will probably lock in in the next few days. Where are my other JHU friends in their decision process?

School: University of North Texas GPA: 3.5 overall Majors: Philosophy (3.91), Political Science (3.64) (...actually I can't remember when I requested my transcripts... actual grades I sent might have been slightly lower) Two conference presentations (one of which was a small regional affair) A few small awards and scholarships GRE: 720V/700Q/6.0AW In: JHU, Binghamton (declined), Stony Brook (MA - declined) Out: Vanderbilt, DePaul, WashU, Stony Brook PhD Still Waiting: NSSR Looking at the other people who got into JHU, I have to be honest: I really lucked out. Especially given that my main interest is in contemporary political theory, which it is (I think this is uncontroversial - don't yell at me if you disagree) certainly among the top three schools for. I'm not sure exactly how I landed this dream offer, but, if i had to guess, my lessons: finish strong, write a sample showing lots of potential, and have strong letters (had taken three classes from each of my recommenders, spent extensive time with two of them outside of school). On the whole, though, this should be seen as a stroke of luck, and one that confirms the importance on doing well at a good school. Vanderbilt and DePaul are great places to study contemporary philosophy, but they aren't THAT competitive. Still, for those coming from off the beaten path, things aren't hopeless. Especially if you're not looking to snobby philosophers for approval

I am feeling pretty sure (maybe like 85%) I will accept. But - it costs more than $200 to fly from where I live to Baltimore, and I have literally no extra cash between now and the end of April. Would I be stupid to accept without visiting?

Congrats polisciapp. Subfield?

Woo - finally got my letter. Excited all over again!

Hm... still no letter. I'm getting paranoid and thinking things like "maybe Connolly e-mailed me by mistake?" hehe

Yeah, when I said "a lot of cooperation among subfields," that was just a polite way of saying everyone bows down to theory there. Well, not really, I meant what I said. But yeah, I probably wouldn't have applied to the program if it wasn't so theory-grounded throughout subfields as it seems to be. I think that is really cool. As long as I don't have to take a quantitative methods class. My questions to Connolly: How vegan friendly is Baltimore? He said I'd be fine, gave an example or two. I made a joke about only knowing the city from John Waters and The Wire, and he went to great lengths to assure me that while The Wire captures life in one part of the city, on the whole, and especially around campus, things are safe and cool. How does adviser and committee selection go down? You're assigned an adviser at first, but later can pick another one. With that person, you pick two more readers for your dissertation, then three more are selected by the Graduate Dean at the direction of the department. Your dissertation (at least for Connolly) is "a book in the making." Opportunities to study at other schools or abroad? Other schools are generally "not encouraged," but going overseas for the summer, for language work, etc. is. Visitors? Brian Massumi was just there for anthropology, and theory students had a few opportunities to meet with him in smaller groups (i.e. over dinner), and that is pretty typical. I didn't ask about summer funding. Maybe that's the form their "encouragement" of summer work abroad takes? We can hope, right?

Hi all - I'm the one who posted the first result... the one via e-mail, with lots of exclamation points. That being said, I still haven't got this letter other folks seem to have gotten today, and still don't know funding details and things like that. So, to the person who was bummed because they didn't get a letter today, don't give up hope JUST yet. Anyway, I'm just now wandering on to the forms, and I'm glad to see there's a little community forming here already. So, hey y'all. Me? I'm a theory kinda guy. Pretty schizophrenic in my interests, but generally, globalization and theories of democracy and rights (I agree - Grovogui DOES sound cool). I mostly applied to philosophy programs, but JHU was always pretty much at the top of my list. Looked like a good fit, acceptance e-mail was very nice and the description of the program he (Connolly) gave was really exciting, and he quickly answered the (many) questions I had for him. So, I'm very happy to have gotten in and getting good vibes. Baring a funding shocker from JHU or a funding miracle from NSSR, the one school I'm still holding out on, accepting will probably be a no brainer. Sounds like there is a lot of cooperation among the subfields, which is cool, and I appreciate you folks anyway, but I'm curious... any more theory-types out there?