armchair_revolutionary

I think there is a lot of trolling going on here.

I mean the board gonna be dead this year.

It is not going to happen this year.

This is an excellent question and one I only asked after I received an offer, though it is certainly one I ought to have asked beforehand. I suppose I have a different take on this from the above posters. My suggestion would to ask a professor you get a good vibe from while reaching out to scholars in your AOI. It certainly isn’t anything inappropriate to ask, though it can feel that way in the midst of applying and trying to come of as collegial as possible. If anything, however, I would imagine such a question would come off as sincere and showing you research into the department.

If you are looking to get an MA you have time to figure this out if you are ultimately looking to go the PhD route. As for the previous poster mentioning the lack of aesthetics jobs I fear this is largely the case in philosophy. I would not say that is as much the case in comparative literature, so I would broaden your horizons to consider the work that is being done there.

I have to say with the level of grandeur involved in the self assessment from the initial post this kind of reads like a well written troll post.

Do not pay for an MA if you can. I would suggest applying to a few cheap yet unfunded or minimally funded state schools as a backup to the fully funded programs. As for state schools to apply to as a backup I can recommend my alma mater San Jose State. In your second year you can teach which will negate the tuition costs. In my own case it equated to about 4,700 a course since my tuition was covered by need funding. Anand Vaidya does epistemology there, and Rita Manning does a bit of feminist epistemology.

Unfortunately the answer is a cold hard no. If you back out now a call will be put out for your detainment by the Inter-university Police. You will be found and held, forced to finish the terms of your accepted offer. At the conclusion of these terms, you will be placed in a black list among all degree granting institutions barring your employment there on grounds of disrespect to the high authority of the Ivory Tower. You ought to think these things through beforehand...

I am happy to hear that. Coming from an unheralded state school myself I was hoping you would get in off that waiting list.

I just did a quick look for Stanford’s MA in philosophy program. They do have one, but they plainly state that no funding is available for MA students. I am left wondering why you would turn down a funded offer, even a partially funded offer, for the possibility that Stanford will accept you after the decision deadline. The only hope is that since it is an unfunded MA perhaps they admit all applicants, or most applicants.

Damn, I recall being in such a position at Marquette this late in the year the first time I applied in 2015. I really hope it breaks your way.

Research lab? I think you may be in the wrong forum. Philosophers typically spend their time alone in library nooks with stacks of old dusty books.

Thanks for posting. Feeling comfortable in a department is nothing to scoff at. Here is my question: did you feel comfortable with the professors at school B, particularly the one whose interests you have a great match with? This, I think, is what is most important. Ultimately, though you may get along well with them and build great friendships, your fellow graduate students will not be the ones vouching for your work and ability come time to look for a professorship. The importance of developing strong relationships with professors who can help you move onto the next phase of your career cannot be overstated. In addition, at the risk of sounding callous, getting over (or being more comfortable with) that anxiety will serve you well as you look to finish you PhD and look to pursue a professorship. You, most likely, will not be able to build a career around your anxiety, so pushing yourself a bit now may prove invaluable.

Congrats! Mind letting us know where you are headed?

This is your future. If you truly envision yourself being happier, more productive, better situated at the school you are wait listed at and may receive an offer from I would not hesitate to accept simply because I might ruffle a feather or two. You will have to ask the school you accepted at to release you from the offer and present you with a letter of release. You will then have to submit that letter with your own acceptance to school B. Be gracious in your request to be released from your initial acceptance. They won’t/cannot say ‘no’. These offers are not writs of mandated servitude. They are contracts in which each side has a service to give. You offer your instruction/grading services and they offer you funding. The worst that will happen is that some uptight professor might not have you in their graces, but I suspect most would be very understanding. They likely see this more often than we think, and do not view this with such terror as we do given their experience. For what it is worth I actually had a DGS tell me they hoped it was not too late for me to reconsider after I informed them I had accepted elsewhere, so this, at least occasionally, happens on the other side. Though to be fair you are at liberty to change you decision at any time prior to the 15th without asking for a release. Good luck.

I skimmed this thread and didn't see this posted: ask yourself if what most intrigues you in philosophy is done in other departments. I think this mostly applies to continental applicants. As you can see, I applied pretty widely across the humanities and social sciences and looked for programs not based solely on the label of the department, but, rather, based upon what sort of substantive work is going on in those departments. Applicants who work mainly in continental thought yet only apply to philosophy programs may be missing out on a range of options in comparative literature, political theory, and cultural studies to name just a few avenues worth investigating.

I am surprised I found this thread buried on the second page given that we are now just a week and a half out from the 15th! I will be accepting my offer at the University of Minnesota for their program in Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature. I declined my lone philosophy acceptance (Marquette) and removed myself from the waitlists at Loyola and Michigan State, so hopefully this opens up some spots for people.

I have declined my offer at Marquette and taken myself off the wait list at Loyola.

Baylor.

Declined an offer from Western Ontario's Theory and Criticism program. Like @SmugSnugInARug mentioned, it is a place where much continental thought is done so I think it merits posting here.

It has been five years since I finished my MA in philosophy, but my typical week included about 8 hours preparing and teaching a lower division intro course, 9 hours attending my own seminars, about 12 hours a week reading, and an average of 4 hours a week writing. Some weeks this would be less than an hour spent on a short reflection or reading presentation, and other weeks it would be upwards of 15 hours spent on multiple term papers. So, I would say I got by on just over 30 hours a week and feel I did quite decent work while enjoying myself. ... If you include the navel gazing I probably put in about 70 hours a week.

I removed myself from the waitlist at Michigan State. Given my place on the list it may not be too helpful to others, but who knows!

In at Western Ontario for their Theory and Criticism PhD Program. It is not technically a philosophy program, but, alas, I know not where else to post! I will be declining the offer.

This is a bit late, but I solicited DGS at Michigan State Feb. 26th to find out that I was on a wait list, though not likely to be offered a spot given my place on it. In any case, it looks like a waiting list has been created there, even if it hasn't been announced.

In at Marquette. After two application seasons this is my first acceptance to a PhD program in philosophy. Seems I have had much better fortunes applying to theory/ comp. lit. programs. Makes me wonder...