psm1580b

Hey all, Good luck with everyone's applications and all that. I applied two years in a row and was finally accepted to start fall of '16. I wanted to offer some advice for those of you considering international schools: Be very certain of your financial situation and do not presume that there will be equivalent access to external funds (grants, scholarships, etc) during your time as an international student. Quite a few of the otherwise-available money is, in various forms, only allowed for current citizens or permanent residents. Quite a bit of the money you may qualify for in your home country must be used to find education in your home country. Take the time to think about what curveballs the next 4-6 years may through at you before you commit. -Just something to keep in mind. Sorry to add to your already considerable anxiety!

Just for some perspective: Don't take being shut-out too seriously. I was in my early 30's when I first applied right out of my MA. Or, I should say, during the last year of my MA. I applied to 20 schools and was rejected by all. Not a single waitlist. Out of TWENTY. That summer, I took a course to try and raise my GRE score. I also chose a different paper to spruce up into a writing sample. I retook the GRE and got the exact same score. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling particularly super at that point. I applied again to 10 schools (ok, so money became an issue), some of which I'd applied to the year before. I was waitlisted at 2 and ultimately accepted at a school that had rejected me the year prior, so ... I guess the moral of this story is: being shut-out doesn't reflect much upon yourself, and it is no reason to not try again next year.

Can confirm this. He no longer teaches or takes students. Hasn't for a little while now. Signed, -Someone lucky enough to have him on their committee

My first year I was rejected from 15 schools and that really hurt. Over the following summer, along with working on new applications, I paid roughly $500 for an online GRE course and completed the entire thing. I did a lot of studying and took multiple practice tests. I went in to the testing center the following October excited that I might get a really high score, or, minimally, raise my overall score by a few points, and did my absolute best. I got the exact same score, V/Q/W. So there's that. Oh, and I was accepted last year into my dream program.

Congratulations! I remember you from last years threads

If you want to save $: Get one set of your transcripts, scan them, and upload those to all the schools. They say they want official transcripts, but in general thats only required after they offer you admission, and you can send them at that time. That happened to me twice last year.

Be careful with this, many schools are cagey as to whether tuition is taken out of that stipend amount or if the stipend is on top of tuition. Such a gap like that makes me think W-M takes tuition out of that number.

Remember that your letter of intent is your chance to explain in your own words any discrepancies or divergences from the norm in your application. Study, take the GRE, and then give a couple sentence explanation of your particular struggles and what they affect in your life. You'll be fine.

Go look at the results page for the last couple of years and look at the GRE scores of those that have been admitted (and rejected) from the school's you're applying to. That will give you a rough estimate of what the different departments are looking for. Another way to think of it is, it will give you an idea of what past accepted and rejected students have looked like in terms of GRE. Try and be like the former. Maybe the highest GRE score won't get you in, but I don't see a lot of acceptances in the 150's (or 4.5) and below...

Hey all, I'll be lurking here from time to time as well. Currently in my 1st year of my PhD program up in the Great White North. Lackluster undergrad GPA, excellent MA GPA (fairly unremarkable state school), first year was rejected completely and worked as an adjunct for a year before re-applying and being admitted my second year as an international student (from the US to Canada). So, in one way or another, I've spent some time on most of the emotional roller coasters that you may find yourself on. You're welcome to ask any questions.

"(please correct me if I'm wrong) religion and philosophy is a bit more difficult to separate in much Islamic philosophy, is it not?" I hate to say this, but as one who has taught Islamic philosophy--this is absolutely false.

You're exactly in the right position. Small liberal arts college, published, specific interests, this is exactly what those applicant committees want to see. State what your interests are. Do not say anything about what your interests aren't.

That's not quite the right way to look at it. Think of it like this: They're going to spend many tens of thousands of dollars on you. They are expecting you accomplish something incredibly difficult and challenging. Otherwise it is a waste of money for them. So, you as an applicant need to either A. Show them that you've already accomplished something incredibly difficult and challenging (GPA, LoR's, writing sample, publications, conferences, etc), or B. Show them that you have quantifiable potential to accomplish something incredibly difficult and challenging (GPA, GRE, LoR's).* Clearly, A is a better gauge than B. But in cases where A isn't clear, B must clearly be able to convince them. There is no consistent formula (notwithstanding basic cutoffs, etc)--the formula is different for each applicant because their backgrounds are all completely different. The SoP is important in all cases because there must be a specific reason that you want to go to some place. If not--they'll think you're just casting a wide, vague, net. *Notice that LoR's are in both categories: Letters may lean either towards, "X is an excellent candidate because A, B, C..." or "X is an excellent candidate because of his/her potential to A, B, C..."

Western Ontario

Officially declined Indiana (HPS)