tuv0k

Awesome, congratulations! What's your AOI, only if you don't mind saying? UCSD is my top choice, and I'm waitlisted. Mine are ethics / history of philosophy.

Ho hum, looks like the season has brought only waitlists for me. Currently waitlisted at Duke, UCSD, and Penn.. Rejected / presume rejected from the rest, except for Stanford (which I'm pretty certain I won't get into, given the other schools I've been rejected from). Could be worse. Is anyone accepted at Duke thinking of declining? Also, is anyone accepted to UCSD / Penn with AOIs of normative and/or applied ethics thinking of declining?

I wouldn't take that as bad news at all. Being on 6 wait lists gives you a pretty great chance on being admitted off at least one of them.

Did anyone else see this message go up on the results board for a few hours, and then disappear?: "Postings (or alleged offers) about NYU Philosophy are false. We will not be making offers before the first week of March." Wonder what's going on. The same announcement was made last year, and it seemed credible - this one wasn't deleted, and the 'offers' that came before that were deleted instead. UPDATE: as I am typing this post... this goes up: "Why was the post deleted which read 'Postings about NYU Philosophy offers were brought to our attention. These postings (or alleged offers) are false. We will not be making offers before the first week of March' ?" 0.o *grabs popcorn*

Stanford is killing me!

Question for the UCSD admits: did your acceptance come with any information about funding?

Not sure if this is an option for you, but I'm on a gap year right now working as a 'research associate' at a non-US university's philosophy department. If you could get a research assistant / associate-type job near where you are, that might be something to consider. The pay may not be great, and you may not be able to get a full-time position etc. but at least mingling with philosophers will keep you sharp. You may also get recommendations out of this - that is, if the work you do with them is substantively philosophical (as opposed to administrative), or if you manage to frequently engage them in philosophical discussion. Do continue to hold out... as many above have said, it only takes one. Wishing you all the best.

I did specifically ask about how long the list was, but that question went unanswered. According to the website, in recent years they've "made offers of admission to anywhere from 11 to 15 students, with a target incoming class of 5 or 6". If the 11-15 students included waitlisted students who were later admitted, it doesn't seem like the list would be very long.

Update: waitlisted at UCSD. 8 people on wait list. Numerically unranked, slots given on the basis of area. Weird.. website said they didn't operate with a wait list

Aw man, such a busy day... congrats to all the acceptees!!

Interesting. Come to think of it, someone I know who graduated from Stanford once told me that while he'd gotten into MIT, Berkeley, Pitts etc., he got rejected by UC Irvine and Davis. I wonder if it's common for mid/low-ranked departments to reject exceptionally strong applicants who are likely to enrol higher-ranked schools, so as to make their admissions process go smoother and boost their enrolment stats. I've heard rumours of this. Stories like yours seem to make it almost certain that this happens.

Ok, solicited and received confirmation from Penn that their wait list is unranked, and slots open up according to area.

I see! Good to know. Perhaps that's something to do with why I got (presumably) rejected by Georgetown then... they have "particular strengths in bioethics, ethical theory, the history of philosophy" (right off their website) and well... you can take a look at my AOIs below. Haha sigh. Oh well! C'est la vie

Update: waitlisted by U Penn. Really nice, informative and realistic email from Prof Michael Weisberg.

Does anyone know if Georgetown does waitlists (for admission, not just for funding)? I did a search on the gradcafe survey history and it seems like only one waitlist that was clearly for admission was ever posted in the past few years. I'm pretty crushed not to have received anything today :/ Not only was Georgetown a great fit, it also happened to be the lowest-ranked programme I applied to. Not a good sign at all.

Interesting. Were all 8-9 on the visit initial admits, or were some of them waitlisted / off the waitlist due to someone else declining early? (I've been told that the department is open to visits from waitlistees). I've been trying to figure out the stats that Duke posts: http://gradschool.duke.edu/about/statistics/philosophy-phd-admissions-and-enrollment-statistics I'm wondering how waitlists fit into those numbers. Does the Total Offers of Admission reflect the number of initial admits only, or does it include waitlistees who are later offered admission?

Thanks for starting this thread. Waitlisted at Duke. Was told by the school that the number of initial admits is very small, and that the waitlist is very short as well. I'm in the 'middle' of the waitlist. Anyone here accepted at Duke, and thinking of declining / accepting?

I know... it's driving me insane. All the best.

B-b-b-brown? Anyone wanna claim it? That came outta nowhere.. congrats everyone who got accepted.

Probably international. It's 11 Feb afternoon where I am right now (but only 12+am EST, I believe).

Hmm, what *are* you intending to do with the Masters - is it primarily for self-enrichment, or something else? I don't think an MA in Philosophy of Science is a good fit for your interests. If I'm not mistaken, the King's College philosophy department has close ties with the psychology / psychiatry / medical departments. They appear to offer MAs in philosophy of medicine, and philosophy of psychology: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/philosophy/study/pgt/index.aspx

Hehehe, nice one. Unfortunately, I got a B+ for the only logic course I ever took. Now I feel like I have to change my handle...

Hi, I'm an applicant for this season with more than a few B+s on my grad transcript. My GPA was 3.67, but I only received one actual A-... yeah. I'm pretty certain this will hurt my chances, although I've stopped worrying about it. I'll post on this thread to let you know how things go. So far, wait listed by Duke.

Thank you Ian! I think the reason I declined Professor A's offer was more a matter of me being caught off guard and then following my intuition without thinking too much, than any real, well-thought-out evaluation (moral or otherwise). On another day, perhaps I'd have accepted. As for responding to Duke, I definitely want to do so personally. But I'll wait for more results before doing so, since my results will certainly affect what I wish to communicate to Duke. Otherwise I'd just be saying something to the effect of, 'Hi Professor(s) X, just wanted to tell you I'm happy to know I'm on the wait list and like everyone else I'd love to move up the ranks, although I don't know anything about my plans yet. Yeah... *sound of crickets*'. Personally I don't feel the need to say this. I also feel less pressure to respond immediately, because the wait list decision came in the form of an impersonal template letter from the graduate school, and not the philosophy department. Just to clarify, I don't think anyone's motive must be shady to engage in the practice you mentioned, or that anyone who does so necessarily makes a questionable decision. It's just that at this early point in the game, my own motives for doing so would definitely be questionable (by me, at least). This may, of course, change. Thanks for your advice and the information. Good to know all this

I applied for 18, which isn't too far away! Was originally going to go for 20 as well, but dropped 2 at the last minute for various reasons. I believe my recommenders still submitted all 20 letters though Congrats on the great news so far Best of luck ahead.