Duns Eith

This doesn't help me, because I'm not even applying this season. But you are amazing. ❤️

That sounds like a legit reason, and this isn't what I have in mind. I hope the visit helps!

To echo what MtnDuck said: the effect cascades. By your decision impacts hundreds of people indirectly, and at least one person directly. Your decline opens up a spot which enables someone to decline their lesser offers. If most shifting happens in April, there just isn't enough time for adcoms to go down the waitlist. If there is on average 3 day per offer turnaround, the adcomms can't get through 10 people on their waitlist in 3 days -- when the declines really happen. Objections: But they are willing to fly me out! This is a great opportunity to visit schools and network with professors I am interested in. This is really an unfair tease. If you know you aren't taking their offer, then you're going on false pretenses, wasting their department's money, and making people wait for minimal gains. Is it really a good idea to use people to sight-see? It isn't like you're going to get a letter of recommendation. Just add them on PhilPeople for pete's sake. But if I decline that doesn't impact you. So what? For some people, if they were given an offer before the 15th, they would accept your school's offer. You are literally impacting someone's ability to get into a school or get into a better school. It doesn't have to be about impacting anyone you know. The sooner the impact, the sooner others can impact others down stream. I am under no obligation to make any decision before April 15. If I wait, that's my prerogative. True. Nothing is forcing you to make a decision, and definitely not to rush you. But if nothing will change your mind about the decision, then why take the time? If you are still unsure, that's one thing, but if you already have an obviously better offer, then this shows a character defect when you know this impacts other people's futures. Comparative harm account: you're harming people. You have a right to harm people, but that doesn't mean harming is right. Whatever my choice and whenever I decide to notify them, such course of action would be statistically normal. You cannot expect me to act otherwise. Okay, I won't argue that it is obligatory, but clearly you don't see supererogatory actions as worthy of aspiration. I hope you're not working in ethics. It seems like it could be in my interest to hold onto the offer. I can use it as leverage. Sure, if you think they are really comparable. But I'd argue it might even be in your interest to decline. The school might come back with a counter-offer that would not have been available if you didn't give them ample time to put together a more lucrative package.

I think as long as you're well groomed (shower, clean clothes, professional dress), you won't get significant flack or stigma from any professor. Maybe a harmless joke from a traditionalist, but you don't need to be worried about that. Haters gonna hate.

That's rough. By now even some MA programs in the US (like WMU) have their deadline past too. Can you secure funding independently at an international school? Also, what might you do if you just took the next 9 months to work full-time and try again next app season?

UC San Diego gets a disproportionately higher application pool, and it is speculated (by one of my profs) that it is due to the nice weather and beaches. Meanwhile, UPenn gets about half as many applications as similarly ranked schools. I dunno why. Philly is a great city.

Not necessarily. You might be waitlisted.

Sometimes there is a legitimate reason for this. Often an applicant will meet all of the conditions necessary for admission but the AdComm could not make an offer initially or in the long admissions process. Sometimes this happens for those who they don't want to reject but they think it is possible that they will get through the entire waitlist. Imagine having 25 people on a waitlist, and you normally get down to 20, but almost never past 25. So what do you do when you think you might get through to making an offer to each of them eventually, even like a 10% chance they'd make an offer to the 25th. If you rejected the 26th because it was improbable, then when your admissions season is anomalous, you're out that funded line. So, since the admissions process can be unpredictable, you'd rather neither waitlist, nor reject. This happened to me, according to one DGA. They never officially rejected me. Sometimes this gets extended. For example, I was on a waitlist, and I was next-in-line. And sometime in July there was a possibility of funding opening up because a student who accepted their offer ended up flaking out. If the admissions committee would formally reject me, the decision is final, and then they have no possibility of offering the funded line to any student who applied. They ended up giving the funding to a current grad student in their 6th or 7th year rather than me, according to the DGA. They never officially rejected me.

This was sent via the PhilUpdates Google Group. It might be of interest to some of you. I am not at this program but completed an MA there some time ago. PM me if you have questions about the program from a grad student perspective. Dear all, As we approach our deadline, we wanted to mention that, *in addition to* the TA’ships and other fellowships we have already advertised, we have had a strong track record of extramural funding that has been used to provide additional funding to our graduate students. Such funding can be disbursed as cash, or else to provide research support for graduate students (including travel—though myriad other possibilities exist for travel funding as well). Much of this funding has attached to projects in applied ethics, with an emphasis on technology ethics. Additional projects in development lie at the intersection of moral psychology and the philosophy of emotion. Beyond these, other faculty members may also be developing extramural funding—we’d encourage any interested students to reach out to potential advisors. Or just feel free to ask me or Dr. Charlie Kurth (director of admissions, charles.kurth@wmich.edu); and we’ll help answer questions. Deadline is February 15. More here: https://wmich.edu/philosophy/academics/graduate/financial-aid Best, Fritz

Did y'all try WMU? https://wmich.edu/philosophy/academics/graduate/admission Deadline Feb 15.

This. But a 9 mo stipend may mean more opportunities to teach or fulfill graderships over the summer above and beyond the guaranteed stipend. This is been the case each place I've been, and I have always sought out those opportunities (and usually got them).

I think Ohio University's fees were like $1600, whether a semester or year I can't remember. But the stipend was also pretty low. Where I am at right now we have about $750 in fees per semester. It seems ridiculous. (Stipend is $13,600)

Yes. Thanks. I just edited to make that clearer. I shouldn't have left it unstated. Besides the one that @hector549 mentioned, there are some US programs, such as my own, that may or may not offer 4 or 5 years of funding. I was offered 4.

Yes. All of these I am suggesting are for PhD, not MA. (in the USA) Ideal package All of tuition and fees covered Stipend for living expenses; >$22k in a high-cost-of-living city, >$17k in a mid-sized city, or >$14k in a small town A year (or two) of fellowship, so that you have no duties grading in order to work on courses or dissertation (Supplementary scholarship) Funding for 5 years, with a potential for a 6th year of funding if necessary Common package: All of tuition covered, but not fees Stipend for living expenses; >$20k in a high-cost-of-living city, >$15k in a mid-sized city, or >$12k in a small town Funding for 5 years, with a potential for a 6th year of funding if necessary Sub-par package: >50% tuition covered, few to no fees covered XOR (exclusive or) healthy stipend for living expenses Supplementary scholarship Potential for full funding or extra work in the department Avoid-me-like-the-plague package: Must pay out of pocket Tuition discounted less than 50% off No stipend As you can see, there's quite a range. Most are in the "common package" and deviate in some way or another from it.

The best we got, but it sucks