armchair_revolutionary
-
Posts
44 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Posts posted by armchair_revolutionary
-
-
I'm wondering if there are any folks here who have been offered admission to Marquette and are thinking about turning it down? I'm curious as I have now been moved to the top wait-list spot...
I imagine I must be just behind you. I hope you get that spot!
-
Yeah, I've been in contact with her and am in a decent spot on the wait list. I'd just like some closure on this whole process already.
-
I am wondering the same thing. I am still awaiting word from Marquette. I must say it does feel a bit silly at this point not to know what is going on.
-
I was thinking the same thing myself, riverstyx. I imagine that the nature of the wait list itself is what has the process held up. I can imagine that if one is accepted to a school and wait listed at one or more others they would want to wait to hear news about whether or not they got in.
Still, I imagine for those that have been accepted to multiple schools that it would be reasonable at this point to decline all of them save for their number one pick while waiting to hear potential good news from a school they may be wait listed at.
At least we can look forward to the end in less than a week!
-
I don't know how schools deal in the case of not getting a response by the 15th. It would seem that by that date the admitted student has had plenty of time to weigh their options, and I would hope the school would thus take silence as a rejection and move immediately to the waitlist.
In any case, not notifying a school of the intent not to attend is inconsiderate and irresponsible.
-
I am waiting to hear from Marquette. I am 3rd on the waitlist there with only one of the 4 original admitted students giving an official acceptance and the other three yet to reply. I'm hoping news comes soon as I'd prefer not to have to accept my current offer at the last possible moment.
-
That is dirty. I'm sorry to hear that, qualiafreak.
-
What I'm trying to say is, maybe some wait list movement is still around the corner. Best of luck to everyone!!
I'm hoping that "around the corner" bit happens very soon, as the 15th is just around the corner itself. I am waiting on news from Marquette, and I'd prefer not to be in the position of accepting my current offer at Binghamton at the last possible moment. I understand it can come down to the wire, though, as many others may be in similar positions.
-
I am 3rd on the wait list at Marquette with 3 of the original offers (out of 4) yet to be accepted or declined. I'm wondering what my prospects are here...
-
I do think having a bit of specific knowledge on Asacollier's situation would be helpful here to give a more structured answer, but in lieu of that I'll offer some of my general thoughts.
I certainly think an MA is worth it in most cases and for reasons already given by philstudent1991.
... since most normal people go to schools that are affordable and close to home, and then while in school discover their love and aptitude for philosophy, they are in a bit of a dilemma. Terminal MAs are an excellent way to bridge the gap between little known school to reputable PhD. Their placement record is proof of that. I would recommend a terminal MA in these kinds of situations without hesitation. (Georgia State, Northern Illinois, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Western Michigan, Ohio, Houston, Virginia Tech, and there are several others)
What about other kinds of MAs?
MA from a PhD program: Probably not. You won't get the same attention the PhD students get. Terminal MAs are about the MA students and placing them. PhD programs with MA programs attached are not like this.
Unfunded MA: No. Never. Unless you are independently very wealthy, I cannot recommend an unfunded MA in any circumstance.
The exception I make here lies with unfunded MAs. In some cases taking even an unfunded MA offer may be worth (a little) debt. We might imagine a student who has trouble making it into top MA programs due to undergraduate grades that are less than ideal. In this instance I would suggest still considering state schools with terminal MA programs since their tuition is manageable. This is actually the route I went myself, though I was fortunate enough to find out not too long before classes started that I was eligible to have tuition covered due to financial need. Additionally, the school I attended, San Jose State, does offer the TA opportunities in the second year which can cover tuition, or, in my case since tuition was already covered, provide you with a bit of money - about 9k for the year if you teach one course each semester.
So, in sum, I would certainly not discourage some students who might not have the most attractive admission profile to consider state schools that are much more financially forgiving that say going to NSSR or Boston College. Additionally, although the state school may not fund you in the same manner that a top MA program would be, with tuition remission and a modest stipend, there nonetheless may be an opportunity here and there to help offset the cost.
The flip side, of course, is that most state schools do not carry the brand name of top MA programs and thus may not have as great a placement record. Still, I'd like to think that at SJSU we did pretty well last year placing students at UC Davis, UCLA, and U. of Oregon.
Another issue that I find worthy of mention is one pertinent to my own experience, and that is that MA programs often allow students to figure out if this is what they really want to do and build confidence as an academic in the process. Assuming that I had gotten similar GRE scores and submitted a decent writing sample coming out of my undergraduate program in Politics at UC, Santa Cruz maybe I could have gotten into a PhD program. At the time, however, I did not believe I was ready, and, moreover, I still had a lingering desire to study philosophy just a bit more before jumping into what I imagined would be a PhD program in political science. I'm glad that I took the time to earn an MA as, not only did it build my confidence as an academic, but also changed my academic course as well from poli sci to philosophy/ lit crit.
To summarize in a few bullet points:
- Unfunded MAs at affordable state schools may be worth considering for those that have less than stellar undergraduate transcripts or even those that don't wish to move too far from home just yet.
- An MA is a great opportunity to find out more about yourself as an academic and if this is what you really want to do.
-
I decided to contact the DGS directly at Purdue to find out more about their waitlist procedures, and while he told me they don't have a ranked waitlist (which was not what was told to someone else), he told me that I was unfortunately low on the waitlist, but not "very low". I know the other person said they were 26th- a waitlist of over 26, to me, is quite long, and I know that UW-Wisconsin has an extremely long waitlist. I guess I am unclear as to why certain programs have such excessively long waitlists; why don't they just waitlist about 10 and just call the others "honorable mentions" or something?
"Honorable mentions"
I like that. I'm withholding excitement over being on wait lists for a few schools I would like to attend precisely for the fact that I am aware there are cases of excessively long lists out there.
-
I've got a more general question regarding the length of wait lists at schools of varying prestige.
I imagine elite schools would have a very small wait list to no wait list at all while wait list sizes grow as the perceived notoriety of the school decreases, but does anyone have any figures as to the numerical size of such wait lists and how far down one can reasonably expect the department to travel down that list?
The two schools I am wait listed at have so far been a bit tight lipped as to my status on the list, so I figure that while I wait it out it wouldn't hurt to see if anyone has any date regarding wait list sizes.
Cheers.
-
Anyone else get an email from Georgetown saying that they haven't yet received a transcript? Or potential interpretation of what this means? It would seem pretty unremarkable except that it was from the director of grad admissions, not a generic GSAS email like some others they've sent.
I believe it means they do not have one or more of your transcripts
Just hit 'em up and let them know you have previously submitted it and can send in another copy if it did not show.
- a_for_aporia, L13 and Page228
-
3
-
Hi, I'm a female. Yay! My brain hurts from this process. I have two more applications to submit and then the great wait ensues.
Good luck on those last two. It can be quite a process.
-
Thank you. Still, it is a bit disheartening to see the very assumptions you critique and try to make visible begin to creep within yourself.
And I did think it a bit odd that you had to upload your sample twice at Oregon's application interface.
Oddly, although I feel I've certainly put forth a very earnest effort in my application process, during the first few app submissions I could not shake this feeling that everything that I had just turned in was absolutely horrid.
-
Wow, also to ineedwine, I have to apologize. I was just thinking the other day when I was looking at this forum how sad it is that is is mostly all male, which is one of the unfortunate circumstances of philosophy. The belief must have penetrated me so deeply that I did indeed start to think everyone here was a dude.
How sad of me.
-
Wow, you seem to be remarkably similar to me! I'm also applying to W. Ontario's theory and criticism program. That's the first I've heard of someone else applying there. Good luck to us both! We should probably be friends, I assume you are into continental philosophy and critical theory?
I don't know, bro, it makes me suspicious as to whether you are truly into critical theory if you are trying to make friends.
I kid. Your areas of interest look nearly identical to mine. I wish you well in your applications. Who knows, perhaps I'll see you at Michigan State, Oregon, or UWO. By the way, I have a few friends attending A&M and they say great things about the program, particularly Tommy Curry.
-
Hello all,
I discovered this forum a few days ago while looking forward to my rejections. I thought I'd create an account seeing as how I'll probably be stopping by until the end of notifications.
A bit about myself:
3.6 undergrad GPA at a UC, though my major was in the social sciences
3.93 GPA for my MA studies in Philosophy at a state school
GRE scores were 163V/150Q/5.0A
No publications
I applied to 11 programs: U. Oregon, Michigan State, Penn State, Vanderbilt, Marquette, Stony Brook, U. Memphis, Emory, Berkeley (Rhetoric), W. Ontario (Theory and Criticism), and Binghamton (Comp Lit)
Looking forward to another month or so of relaxation before I have to think about getting in the thick of things again.
Ranked MA or MA that satisfies interests?
in Philosophy
Posted
I think dumbnamechange said it all best. It is only two years and there is a larger problem at play here: you will not be able to avoid analytic philosophy forever! Of course, no one will be asking someone who is a continentalist at heart to devote their life's work to analytic study, but a decent PhD program will expect you to be well rounded. This is reflected in comprehensive exams.
And now there is that little issue of money. If, as you have been told at NIU, you can reasonably expect at least a first year tuition waver that is a lot of money you will be saving. On the other hand it looks like financial aid at BC is sparse to nil, and with a 24k per semester tuition you are easily looking at 100k of debt. And that is not even factoring in the cost of having a roof over your head and eating a meal every now and then. Of course, if cost is not a burden due to familial aid then this is not a major point. I would imagine that not to be the case. I just cannot imagine a circumstance, for me at least, that would justify exiting an MA program and applying to PhD programs with a 100k ball and chain around my ankle.