Duns Eith

This is something I had no idea would be true. This, as with other programs, (I think U Chicago comes to mind?) do see the program as cash-cow in function. The fact that they have a scholarship converts my advice from a strict prohibition to a "probably a bad idea." Where probably is almost solely determined by the likelihood of that scholarship.

Funding is on a scale. Even among the programs that are "fully funded", some offer tiny stipends and full tuition remission, others give majority tuition remission and hefty stipends. These are probably the underlying concerns: Don't go to any program that makes you foot the entire bill, unless you can do so without taking out student loans. Don't go to a program that won't give you TA/GA experience, but gives it to PhD students. Don't go to a program where, in order to survive, you must work another job in addition or take out over $2000 in student loans each semes

I want to take this back. Your GPA may be lower than average, but not wrecked and certainly not an outright defeater for applications. Most schools admit all-things-considered, even if there are some arbitrary "cut offs" (GPA, GRE, etc.) at some schools. I want to take this back as well. Sort of. If you have a PhD in hand and at a good school even while adjuncting, your pay might be very well above $30k. Not tenure-track, not permanent instructor, etc. Just adjunct. For example, making $4,000 per class, 4 classes per semester, not including one in the summer, you'd make about

P.S. you didn't mention anything about what other MA you could do instead. Theology? Literature? Computer science? P.P.S. if you're from the UK, you'll definitely get more subscribers than from the US, because everyone thinks a UK accent is intelligent.

First off, I am sorry that you have needed to pay even a cent for an MA in humanities. I would strongly advise against anyone who considers such a route of entering any grad school for humanities, without funding. It makes so little financial sense. Second, your GPA is definitely wrecked. Most people I know working on an MA in philosophy had about a 3.7 or higher before moving to PhD. Maybe they were not normal. Maybe the programs are not typical (maybe there's grad inflation). Third, if I am honest, whatever you want to do in philosophy almost certainly can be done without credentia

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2026228?seq=1 Maybe it is not worth it to be as ethical as possible "I don't know whether there are any moral saints. But if there are, I am glad that neither I nor those about whom I care most are among them. By moral saint I mean a person whose every action is as morally good as possible, a person, that is, who is as morally worthy as can be. Though I shall in a moment acknowledge the variety of types of person that might be thought to satisfy this description, it seems to me that none of these types serve as unequivocally compelling personal ideals. I

That would be about half of a normal admission year, I believe. COVID has had long-term effects on universities. Many of them are still reeling from budget cuts. Miami's grad student stipend is quite high, so I wouldn't be surprised if they cut back the number of lines were to be taken.

As a Berkeley scholar I was mildly disappointed that this was about the school (that was named after the city, which was named after George Berkeley from one of his poems) rather than on George Berkeley qua philosopher. Not surprised, but mildly disappointed.

Don't worry, there are plenty of other people in departments who want to make sure you feel like like crap and an imposter while their own work doesn't receive the accolades as they hoped either. Narcissism is not uncommon among academics.

I hope you get into a great program. Just because you have met a pile of necessary conditions, I hope it is clear we make no pretense to claim to have found jointly-sufficient conditions for your acceptance. If you have 20 applications in at schools with about a 5% acceptance rate, you've got better odds than a coin-flip! May the odds be ever in your favor

To echo what others are saying, you should not be worried about that GPA. It will meet all of the cutoffs that exist at any school that matters. But you might be cut out for other reasons. You should be most concerned about your writing sample and your letters of recommendation.

I'm at UB, but in Philosophy!

You're right the optics don't look good for undergrad. But it is possible to get accepted. It needs to be balanced against everything else. Your grades in grad school are not bad, not the best, but it is possible to get accepted. Again, all things considered. Your letter writers, though, should mitigate against this. They should be able to say that your grades put you in the 85 percentile or 90 percentile, or ideally, >95 percentile. Make sure you have excellent letter writers with plenty positive to say about you. The things you need to work on: writing sample should be immaculat

To add to what @you'll_never_get_to_heaven said, if you have very distinct interests and it pigeonholes you in the department, this could work in your favor. All the faculty will know who you are, because you're that guy. All the grad students will give you an opportunity to be the butt of jokes and take it with grace or respond with wit. When opportunities arise for your interests, they will tend to get forwarded to you. The opportunities would be there, but you've got to have the right personality and character to make the best of them.

You're welcome In all seriousness, I sometimes wonder if I should've taken warnings a little more seriously. I went into this with eyes wide open as a newly married guy. But now I have a child. And the idea of gainful employment and security increase in their value to me personally each day. This is doable to some extent with an MA. There are plenty of applied philosophy programs. For example, if you're into ethics, there are programs that are intentionally interdisciplinary and geared toward application. Medical humanities, business ethics, engineering ethics, etc. S