Cecinestpasunphilosophe

You know, this is precisely how I thought an English Ph.D.'s acceptance post would read. You guys are so much more interesting than the analytic philosophers.

I have always wanted to have a relationship like that with a squirrel. I'm jealous!

Well, Nat's beer offer clearly extends to you, too. But mailing beer is complicated, from what I gather - so I guess that just means you'll have to come to Toronto!

Can I propose we adopt as a hypothetical imperative? Unless someone posts here claiming an acceptance, we don't give credence to the results postings? We need to stop letting these people have so much fun at our expense.

@Nat_Foot, if you're ever in Toronto, let me know, and I'll make sure to buy you a drink.

T.L.O.P. = The Life Of Plato?

Yes, happy Valentine's day everyone!

And they've sent out responses via email for the past few years. Lorenz is still their DGS, so it would be odd for him to have completely changed how he releases acceptances. Maybe we're being trolled? I shall cling to that hope.

Right. One wears a lei, and goes to luau. Clearly, I need to spend more time in Hawaii... Which I could have, if I'd applied to their department. We all could have.

The link is relevant to every application, because every application is a mistake when you could instead be reading philosophy in Hawaii with a faculty that takes their department photos wearing luaus. (And yes. It seems I quoted the wrong post.)

I've been advocating for people to apply here for years. http://hawaii.edu/phil/

Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall...

Categorically different? Surely they're both instances of ποῖον, no?

Vaguely-worded update from Notre Dame to share with y'all: "I will of course let you know immediately the status of things here once our admissions committee has reached their decisions, which shouldn't be too far from now. " Predicting release dates feels like reading tea leaves at this point.

Best of luck!

Sorry =( I really would encourage you to consider MA programs in Classics or Ancient Philosophy (I'm not sure how many of these programs exist, but I know Western has one - a couple of my friends have gone through it, and really appreciated the experience: http://www.uwo.ca/philosophy/graduate/ma_ancient_philosophy/index.html). In my discussions with profs working in Ancient, they generally seem to really appreciate candidates with strong preparation in Latin/Greek and an interest in cross-disciplinary work. Also, don't give up hope! I was rejected by almost every Ph.D. program I applied to last year (hence why I began my MA in the first place) - there's always hope for next time!

Thank you! After being almost completely shut-out last year, getting this email was a wonderful feeling!

Accepted to Chicago!

Waitlisted at Berkeley =)

Have you considered doing a second BA State-side? From what I've seen, a lot of programs will be willing to offer you at least a year's worth of transfer credits, which would mean a BA would take 2-3 years (depending on your workload, summer courses etc.), and would give you a chance to meaningfully study philosophy in a formal academic setting. I don't want to undervalue the benefits of self-studying philosophy, nor say that going straight into an MA or Ph.D. program without much formal philosophical training is impossible... but I can't really imagine trying to dive into an MA workload without at least a couple solid years of philosophical experience behind me. That sounds like a recipe for disaster.

It would also, of course, depend on your situation. You're right that, in your case, it definitely makes sense to ask early - you want to give them as much time as possible to look over your information etc.. In my case, however, it was only the second (or sometimes the first) class I was taking with them, which meant it made sense - I think - to spend as much time as possible developing a relationship with them before asking for a letter.

I can't tell you how many times that thought went through my head. A common application would make things so much easier. It would also save me worrying about how to personalize my SoP for 20 schools... or having to decide on which schools merited the effort for such personalization. As to letters, I asked for mine late-October (well, for most of mine - one prof spontaneously offered during office hours to write one for me, which was a huge relief). September feels much too early, and November would make me worry about seeming disorganized - but these are all really just my gut-feelings. Others may have more rational justifications for asking at different points.

Thanks! My application for the Committee is going to have a radically-different focus than all my other applications (I'm trying to draft out a study of the concept of essence and its potential application to a Christian system of virtue ethics, drawing primarily on Aristotle, Kierkegaard, and Gerard Manley Hopkins... but it really is nothing but a fat present), so I'm not overly optimistic about my prospects there - but I figure it's worth a shot! Given the frustrating lack of signatures, I figure I might as well follow suit and list the schools I'm applying to. In something approaching a rough descending order of interest: Princeton, Yale, Berkeley, Notre Dame, Cornell, Chicago (Committee on Social Thought), Stanford, Chicago (Philosophy), Fordham, Michigan, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Arizona, CUA, SLU, UNC-Chapel Hill, Georgetown, Boston College, UT Austin.

I'm starting a one-year MA in the Classics department at the University of Toronto in September, with a focus on ancient philosophy (the department's willing to let me do nearly all of my coursework through the philosophy department as long as I also stay on top of the... intimidating Latin and Greek reading list, which is pretty exciting). This year will be my second round of applications: last year, I was accepted to a couple Ph.D. and Masters programs, but wanted to take the year to consolidate my abilities in Latin and Greek before starting my Ph.D.. As you can guess, my principal areas of interest are the history of philosophy (specifically ancient/Patristic/medieval philosophy) and philosophical theology. Ideally, I'll have a chance to fold the two interests together during my doctorate - I'm really interested in the interplay between 'religious' and 'philosophical' commitments in the works of ancient philosophers (I put the terms in scare-quotes because I'm convinced that no such rigid distinction was recognized by the ancients, and modern attempts - primarily by analytic historians - to separate out 'philosophical' positions from other theological beliefs are hopelessly misguided). In particular, I want to look at the divinization of truth over the course of ancient philosophy, from Plato (where the Forms exist, at least in the mythological framework of the Phaedrus, beyond the realm of the gods) to Augustine (who repeatedly declares in the Confessions and elsewhere that God is Truth) and the influence that this divinization of the telos of philosophy had on philosophy's development. My writing sample is hopefully representative of one of the first steps in the developmental narrative I want to investigate in the coming years - I look at Plato's Meno and present (what I think - hope? - is) a novel interpretation of the underlying epistemic commitments that shape the theory of anamnesis as presented in the work, and show how these commitments represent Plato's first attempt at providing a theoretical foundation for the Socratic practices captured in the early dialogues. I've spent the last couple months working on the paper, and am quite happy with it... but am trying to reserve judgement until some of my profs have had a chance to read it over for me. I'm applying to a ton of places, from smaller Catholic schools where I could focus more on Aquinas and other Scholastics (e.g. CUA, SLU, Fordham), to Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, to all the major American ancient programs (Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley etc.). I really appreciated this community during my applications last year - I hope things start to pick up again as the application season begins in earnest!

Congratulations to both of you - this is absolutely fantastic to see =)