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Glasperlenspieler

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  1. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to MtnDuck in Philosophy Admissions Spreadsheet: Year Three, Still Going Strong   
    Greetings folks,
    As we head into the chaos of application season I just wanted to plug the Philosophy Admissions Spreadsheet for anyone who is new to the forum and may not have encountered it previously. More or less I track the admissions requirements for programs (mostly) in the US and Canada. (If folks can help fill in the gaps for places in the UK, Australia, and any other country though go for it!). I am also in the process of moving things over to a website but that'll be a bit of a longer goal.
    These requirements include: deadlines, cost of application fees, how to get a fee waiver, whether they want the GRE, what type of transcript to send in, and how many letter writers folk will need. For MA programs I also look at whether they are funded and, if so, how many folks appear to be funded. In January it also tracks admissions decisions.
    Feel free to share with anyone else that is applying! bit.ly/PhilAdm
    There is also a FB group for folks looking to connect with more folks during this application cycle. Philosophy Graduate Applicants
  2. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to Duns Eith in Philosophy Admissions Spreadsheet: Year Three, Still Going Strong   
    Just commenting to say that this is a great project, and I remember doing this manually for 20 programs myself back 5 years ago. Not fun. I am glad this is a community effort.
  3. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to hector549 in Philosophy M.A. admissions statistics   
    I'm going to say something stronger here: even if NYU gives you a full tuition remission (something which I very much doubt!), it's still not worth going, for two reasons.
    First, NYU is in in Manhattan. NY is an expensive town. Even if you live in a cheaper area of the city and commute, you'll still be borrowing a significant amount for living expenses.
    Secondly, and most importantly, the MA isn't going to set you up to be successful with PhD admissions. Just for kicks, I emailed NYU and asked for their placement record. They told me that they didn't have that data. Either they're lying, which would have to be because their admissions record is so bad they don't want anyone to know about it, or they don't care enough about how their MA students do in admissions to bother tracking it. Either way, this doesn't look exactly speak well to their program.
    Could you go to NYU for an MA and get into a decent PhD program? Sure, but there are much better funded options.
  4. Like
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to WomanOfLetters in 2022 Applicants   
    This is a great idea! Thank you!! ? 
  5. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from WomanOfLetters in 2022 Applicants   
    I agree that this is odd. On the one hand, I tend to think any tendency for a program to keep prospective students away from current grad students should be treated with suspicion. On the other hand, this could very easily be an oversight by the website design team or a university policy intended to protect student privacy. You might try emailing the Director of admissions and asking if they can put you in touch with some current graduate students with similar interests so you can ask them some questions.
  6. Like
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from Hard times! in 2022 Applicants   
    I agree that this is odd. On the one hand, I tend to think any tendency for a program to keep prospective students away from current grad students should be treated with suspicion. On the other hand, this could very easily be an oversight by the website design team or a university policy intended to protect student privacy. You might try emailing the Director of admissions and asking if they can put you in touch with some current graduate students with similar interests so you can ask them some questions.
  7. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to illcounsel in Life writing?   
    This may be an obvious thing to point out, but is there a particular period, country, or other factor you are most interested in with life writing? If you prefer to study contemporary American memoirs of the South, you want to apply to programs that have strong contemporary American/Southern studies scholars. If you are most interested in queer life writing, you want to apply to programs that have faculty working in queer studies. If you are most interested in early modern life writing, you want to apply to programs with strong early modern scholars (and so on). Since life writing is such a broad category, it is worth narrowing it down to what type of life writing is most interesting to you. You don't necessarily need a professor who specializes in life writing to guide your dissertation, but folks who are in the same period/place/or area of specialization. 
  8. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to Duns Eith in Philosophy M.A. admissions statistics   
    Funding is on a scale.
    Even among the programs that are "fully funded", some offer tiny stipends and full tuition remission, others give majority tuition remission and hefty stipends.
    These are probably the underlying concerns:
    Don't go to any program that makes you foot the entire bill, unless you can do so without taking out student loans. Don't go to a program that won't give you TA/GA experience, but gives it to PhD students. Don't go to a program where, in order to survive, you must work another job in addition or take out over $2000 in student loans each semester. This isn't about whether borrowing money is bad or stupid, but rather the cost-benefit analysis. Don't absorb the cost for the benefit, unless absorbing will not be a burden.
  9. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from Duns Eith in Philosophy M.A. admissions statistics   
    According to the MA Handbook on NYU's website (found here), "M.A. students normally receive a partial tuition scholarship towards the 32 units required for the M.A." The amount varies depending on student and year. That means M.A. students will still be on the hook for some tuition and ALL of living expenses in NYC. Sorry, but that does not qualify as "a very generous scholarship package." Spending tens of thousands of dollars to get a masters degree in philosophy is generally not advisable. I suspect NYU, probably does give out a few full tuition scholarships, in which case maybe you were one of the lucky ones. Even then, I personally find it much wiser to attend a program that covers all tuition and provides a modest stipend. I think it's also probably generally preferable to be at a place where you won't be competing with PhD students for attention from professors.
    There are many such programs that fit the bill here: Georgia State, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Northern Illinois, and Houston to name a few.
  10. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to Marcus_Aurelius in Philosophy M.A. admissions statistics   
    No experience with NYU or Columbia, but will weigh in to support Glasperlenspieler's use of "funded" to mean "no tuition, plus a decent stipend." The type of shifting of goalposts John2 is engaged in seems dangerous, except for someone independently wealthy...
  11. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from Marcus_Aurelius in Philosophy M.A. admissions statistics   
    According to the MA Handbook on NYU's website (found here), "M.A. students normally receive a partial tuition scholarship towards the 32 units required for the M.A." The amount varies depending on student and year. That means M.A. students will still be on the hook for some tuition and ALL of living expenses in NYC. Sorry, but that does not qualify as "a very generous scholarship package." Spending tens of thousands of dollars to get a masters degree in philosophy is generally not advisable. I suspect NYU, probably does give out a few full tuition scholarships, in which case maybe you were one of the lucky ones. Even then, I personally find it much wiser to attend a program that covers all tuition and provides a modest stipend. I think it's also probably generally preferable to be at a place where you won't be competing with PhD students for attention from professors.
    There are many such programs that fit the bill here: Georgia State, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Northern Illinois, and Houston to name a few.
  12. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to you'll_never_get_to_heaven in Philosophy M.A. admissions statistics   
    this.
    The general rule of thumb is that you ought to be extremely cautious about any MA program that has a PhD program in that field. There are situations in which the MA at a school with a PhD is a solid, well-supported program, but that is not the norm. I mean, think about it - Are you going to get TAships at a place where you're competing with PhD students? Almost certainly not. One of the major reasons to attend a terminal M.A. program is to better set you up for PhD applications - you can broaden/deepen your understanding of the field, present at conferences, get some TAships, dip your toes in grad school life, etc. At the end of the day, the fact is that the department at a school with a PhD program has little reason (or, more importantly, time) to do that for unfunded MA students.
  13. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to hector549 in Philosophy M.A. admissions statistics   
    They're not competitive. Those programs will take pretty much anyone, because they're cash cows meant to generate revenue for the department, not to prepare students to apply for the PhD. My advice: don't apply to unfunded MA programs, especially at schools that have highly ranked PhD students.
  14. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from bpilgrim89 in Who Gets into Prestigious English PhD Programs?   
    Yes, it's a longshot, but not because of any particular facts about your background or CV, but because it's a longshot for everyone. Getting into a good PhD program is tough. Getting hired in a tenure track position after that is even tougher. Those jobs are evaporating. The odds will always be slim.
    There's some truth in this, but it's a little more complicated than that. A handful of programs account for the majority of tenure track hires. Attending a program outside of that realm puts you at a disadvantage in an already unlikely prospect. This is not always perfectly correlated to common perceptions of prestige however. To get hired at Harvard, you're probably going to need a degree from an Ivy/Chicago/Stanford/Berkeley. However, not all of the most prestigious schools do a good job of consistently placing their students. Furthermore, there are some schools that do a better job of placing students at teaching oriented state schools than the Ivies et al do. Subfield also matters. Some schools are very good in particular subfields and do a good job of placing students in that particular subfield. But if you're at that school and not in that subfield....
    Long story short, take a good long look at placement records. Also take a look at who was the advisor for successful students and what subfield they were in. If a school doesn't clearly articulate their placement record, that's usually not a good sign (and do note that many programs will only list their successful placements.... People who didn't get academic jobs, or left before graduating may not appear). Don't assume you will be the exception to a mediocre placement record.
    At the end of the day though, placement records are loose corollaries for what you need to succeed, namely attentive supportive advisors whose recommendations will carry weight and sufficient funding that you won't have to worry about money and can instead focus on producing the best work you can. That's not going to guarantee success, but without it you don't stand much of a chance.
    Lots of programs have grad student bios on their websites. If you do some research, you can start to get an idea of what sort of people are typically admitted.
  15. Like
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from DavidFosterWallaby in 2022 Applicants   
    It's worth noting that most professors have an are of expertise and knowledge that extends at least somewhat more widely than their publications/listed interests. One good way to get a feel for this would be to look at what dissertations they have advised/been on committees for.
    Another point is that rather than starting from faculty lists at various universities and then trying to find suitable professors from there, you might instead start with the research that you're already interested in. What books/articles have been important/interesting to you? Who wrote them and where are they teaching? Then check out the bibliographies of those pieces, look up the works that are cited, and figure out where they're teaching. If you keep doing this for a few iterations, you'll probably find that the bibliographies start to circle back. At this point, you should have a decent idea of who is publishing things of interest to you in your field and where they're teaching.
  16. Like
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from sadevilminion in 2022 Applicants   
    It's worth noting that most professors have an are of expertise and knowledge that extends at least somewhat more widely than their publications/listed interests. One good way to get a feel for this would be to look at what dissertations they have advised/been on committees for.
    Another point is that rather than starting from faculty lists at various universities and then trying to find suitable professors from there, you might instead start with the research that you're already interested in. What books/articles have been important/interesting to you? Who wrote them and where are they teaching? Then check out the bibliographies of those pieces, look up the works that are cited, and figure out where they're teaching. If you keep doing this for a few iterations, you'll probably find that the bibliographies start to circle back. At this point, you should have a decent idea of who is publishing things of interest to you in your field and where they're teaching.
  17. Like
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from labradoodle in 2022 Applicants   
    It's worth noting that most professors have an are of expertise and knowledge that extends at least somewhat more widely than their publications/listed interests. One good way to get a feel for this would be to look at what dissertations they have advised/been on committees for.
    Another point is that rather than starting from faculty lists at various universities and then trying to find suitable professors from there, you might instead start with the research that you're already interested in. What books/articles have been important/interesting to you? Who wrote them and where are they teaching? Then check out the bibliographies of those pieces, look up the works that are cited, and figure out where they're teaching. If you keep doing this for a few iterations, you'll probably find that the bibliographies start to circle back. At this point, you should have a decent idea of who is publishing things of interest to you in your field and where they're teaching.
  18. Like
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from Hard times! in 2022 Applicants   
    It's worth noting that most professors have an are of expertise and knowledge that extends at least somewhat more widely than their publications/listed interests. One good way to get a feel for this would be to look at what dissertations they have advised/been on committees for.
    Another point is that rather than starting from faculty lists at various universities and then trying to find suitable professors from there, you might instead start with the research that you're already interested in. What books/articles have been important/interesting to you? Who wrote them and where are they teaching? Then check out the bibliographies of those pieces, look up the works that are cited, and figure out where they're teaching. If you keep doing this for a few iterations, you'll probably find that the bibliographies start to circle back. At this point, you should have a decent idea of who is publishing things of interest to you in your field and where they're teaching.
  19. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from justhaveaquestion in Is it possible to do Law School and Graduate school at the same time?   
    Not to be a contrarian, but many universities that have both a law school and a graduate school do have some sort of an option for a Ph.D./J.D. dual degree program. That being said, the degree to which this is ad hoc and the fields one is allowed to pursue for the Ph.D. vary. Schools seem generally more open to a J.D. in conjunction with a Ph.D. in philosophy, political science, or economics (see NYU: https://www.law.nyu.edu/jdadmissions/dualdegreeprograms/jdma). I don't see many schools that really have a pathway for doing an English Ph.D. in tandem with a law degree.
  20. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to labradoodle in Can I assume that a reference letter will be a good one if a prof agrees to write it?   
    From what I've heard, it can be useful to frame it in a different way, asking them: "would you be able to write a strong letter of reference with regard to xyz," instead of just asking for a letter of reference. This gives them more space to say no if they think their letter would not be strong.
  21. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to Mikha in 2022 Applicants   
    I've seen mention of this series on the Chicago MAPH thread, but just so newcomers can find this more easily in the future:
    https://annehelen.substack.com/p/the-masters-trap
  22. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from thecat00 in Master's Thesis?   
    I'm inclined to agree with @EverBetter. If you have a strong writing sample and can clearly articulate a research agenda, PhD programs will be interested in that and not whether or not you wrote a thesis. The other thing to note is that Masters Theses are tricky to turn into writing samples.  For one thing, they often end up in the awkward length of 50-100 pages which is much too long to be a writing sample but not yet a monograph. For that reason, you may be better off using your time to revise your strongest seminar paper that best shows your skills and interests and using that for your writing sample (try as much as possible to model it on articles in your field). If you do decide to write a thesis, it's probably best to make it such that it has a 20-30 page chapter that can easily enough stand on its own without the added context of the rest of the thesis. Otherwise you're left with the difficult task of condensing a much longer argument into a short space or trying to add the necessary context for a part of it. The other issue with a masters thesis is that you will typically complete it during the spring. But PhD applications are usually due over winter break. So, unless you are planning on taking a gap year, the masters thesis won't actually be done by the time you need to submit it as a writing sample.
    At the end of the day, you should listen to your advisors at the MA program. It's possible that there's a tacit expectation that strong students will write a thesis, in which case not writing one might alienate professors and/or reflect in your letters of recommendation. But if your advisors seem fine with you not completing a thesis, I think using the fall to polish a seminar paper into the best writing sample you can muster is probably a better use of your time.
  23. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from WomanOfLetters in Master's Thesis?   
    I'm inclined to agree with @EverBetter. If you have a strong writing sample and can clearly articulate a research agenda, PhD programs will be interested in that and not whether or not you wrote a thesis. The other thing to note is that Masters Theses are tricky to turn into writing samples.  For one thing, they often end up in the awkward length of 50-100 pages which is much too long to be a writing sample but not yet a monograph. For that reason, you may be better off using your time to revise your strongest seminar paper that best shows your skills and interests and using that for your writing sample (try as much as possible to model it on articles in your field). If you do decide to write a thesis, it's probably best to make it such that it has a 20-30 page chapter that can easily enough stand on its own without the added context of the rest of the thesis. Otherwise you're left with the difficult task of condensing a much longer argument into a short space or trying to add the necessary context for a part of it. The other issue with a masters thesis is that you will typically complete it during the spring. But PhD applications are usually due over winter break. So, unless you are planning on taking a gap year, the masters thesis won't actually be done by the time you need to submit it as a writing sample.
    At the end of the day, you should listen to your advisors at the MA program. It's possible that there's a tacit expectation that strong students will write a thesis, in which case not writing one might alienate professors and/or reflect in your letters of recommendation. But if your advisors seem fine with you not completing a thesis, I think using the fall to polish a seminar paper into the best writing sample you can muster is probably a better use of your time.
  24. Upvote
    Glasperlenspieler reacted to WomanOfLetters in Master's Thesis?   
    I don't think it's weird if you're planning to apply for PhD programs but not writing a thesis. I think what really matters is you handing in a good writing sample when you apply. I myself don't plan on submitting my MA thesis as the writing sample for my applications, as I will be applying to a different field from my previous studies. You might ask why I didn't write my thesis in the area I plan to pursue in my PhD. That is because when you write your thesis you typically want to work in same research areas as your advisor. Not many professors were available for advising during my studies (and in fact, I heard quite a few students from my cohort didn't get to do the thesis option because they were late in finding an advisor). I think as long as you can come up with a good reason for why you are doing a portfolio instead of a thesis (and this is for your preparation when you get invited to an application interview only), you will be fine!
  25. Like
    Glasperlenspieler got a reaction from DavidFosterWallaby in OK, let's talk about UChicago's MAPH. I need some advice...   
    Lol. MAPH tuition is something like $60k, plus assume a minimum $20k for living expenses in Chicago. Even with the OP's scholarship we talking in the ballpark of $70k. Oh and given that it's a one year program, it's almost impossible to apply to PhD programs w/o a gap year. Don't recklessly give people advice.
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