tuv0k

That was me who put up the Duke wait list result. They haven't sent out rejections as far as I know, which is weird given that they've sent out at least one acceptance and some wait lists. Wonder what they're up to... *suspicious face* Is this typical? (I'm very new to all this analyzing)

Btw, in case this ever helps anyone: from my experience, many admissions chairs respond helpfully and promptly to emails regarding substantive, non-shady requests. Things are less bureaucratic than one might think. For example: significant updates to my CV occured after I submitted my applications - including a good forthcoming publication where I previously had none, and a TA-ship. I managed to update my CV with almost all the departments weeks after the deadlines, by emailing the philosophy professors listed as Directors of Graduate Admissions / DG Studies (or, if no professor was listed, the administrative managers at the philosophy department). They were fairly pleasant about it too. Four schools even let me update a faulty writing sample that I had uploaded by mistake, and they were nice about it too! (Although - I'm NOT recommending that anyone ever find themself in this situation to begin with.) If you are ever very worried about anything important, I'd advise you to give a ballsy shot at contacting the department directly. ONLY substantive concerns that really require action though, and make sure it's done in an open, non-slimy way. No random brown-nosing recommended. Ever.

Ah, thanks so much for this detailed response. It's extremely helpful. And I just discovered your philosophy admissions blog! Ahhhh. I'm strongly disinclined (for now) to attempt what you mention in the last paragraph, although it's tempting and very possible. Beyond the possibility of it backfiring, I am also just uncomfortable with the idea. Somewhat relatedly, here's another idea that cropped up but I rejected due to queasiness. Professor A, one of my letter writers who knows my work well, is a relatively junior professor at my current workplace. Professor B, who is not one of my letter writers and is almost entirely unfamiliar with my work, is a senior professor, and the superior of both A and me at work. Before submitting the letters, Professor A asked me if I wanted them to forward their letter to Professor B to submit under B's name, since B was more senior and better connected to faculty members at the places I was applying to. Professor A ostensibly thought this was fine since B is pretty much my boss at work. It's not like B and I are unacquainted - B is simply unfamiliar with my philosophical work such that they wouldn't be able to write anything meaningful for me unaided, as I work mostly with A. I thanked Professor A, but declined their suggestion. I've been called an idiot for saying no, but have no regrets. I dunno though, can't help but wonder... what do others think? Would you have accepted the offer? Is it a common thing to do? Anyway, Ian, I will keep your suggestion in mind - who knows, I may find myself needing to do it! Blah. Thanks once again. Addendum: what do people think about emailing the admissions committee yourself if waitlisted, to let them know you're very serious about the department? I'm much more inclined to do this over asking one of my recommenders to do it.

Hello, been lurking passively at GC for some time, but finally signed up because I needed somewhere to direct my admissions-related neuroticism. Thought I'd introduce myself. Undergrad was entirely non-phil related, MA from a well-known philosophy department (known for its top-ranked faculty and PhD programme, NOT its MA programme, which they offer because the school administration requires them to. I leave it up to you to imagine the level of support MA students receive). Grad GPA was alright but unspectacular compared to what I've seen on this forum (about an A- GPA, with more than a few B+s), GREs were okay (164 verbal, 165 quant, 5.5 writing), recommendations were pretty strong and writing sample was a bit of a gamble (strange topic that departments would either be very interested in, or not at all). Applied to (gulp) 18 schools in the US (ya, I started saving up for this early -.- was the financial cost of applications a huge thing for everyone else?). News so far - wait listed by Duke on 26 January. (I'm VERY grateful this isn't a rejection. But can I just say, it's slightly annoying to have results season kick off so early with this, since other schools won't be releasing results for quite some time which means I'll just be stewing in this uncertainty, and also I probably won't know which direction I'll be shoved off the Duke list until April.) Also, I made lots of horrifying and ridiculous errors in my application that I only spotted after submission. Does anyone else have this problem? Just... involuntary blindness towards MAJOR things, despite going over everything a gazillion times? (e.g. I submitted the wrong writing sample to about 5 schools - a very early, typo-riddled draft. Yup. Fortunately managed to update 4 of the schools on this a couple weeks later) And also, does anyone know how large waitlists usually are in comparison to the size of the admissions group? I really have very little idea as to how waitlists work, and what committees have in mind when they form them. Other Duke waitlistee who posted their result.... are you here? Anyway. Congratulations to all the acceptees so far, and good luck all! Anxious to see how everything goes for everyone! (Sorry for all this word vomit. As I said. Admissions-related neuroticism. Lots and lots and lots of it :/)