MissingBlue

Hey, don't do that. Don't explain away and shove aside your achievements like that. You demonstrated original thought, you have a B.A. You have teaching experience, a decent GRE, and favourable letters. These are good things, to be proud of, and indicate your ability and talent. Own your success. It's yours.

Got mine! I was super nervous because our mailing service is very dodgy. On to the visa!

Go speak to one of your letter-writers--preferably the one you trust the most. They'll give you the same advice as everyone here, but I think you'll feel more comfortable following the advice.

I think these are right. The application process is lonely and obscure, and chances of getting in are low, even for those lucky ones that manage to put together an ideal application. I think most of us here are aware of this, so I think many people merely hoped to get in--genuinely expecting to get in seems excessively optimistic. I didn't even hope to get into what I called my 'pipe dream, you had to at least try' schools. I was hoping for UCSD--really good fit, and I know multiple faculty members, all of whom encouraged me to apply there. But I didn't get into UCSD. And I was crushed. I was starting to make plans to do my PhD in my home country. I thought the American option was over. And then I got into Pitt. Also great fit, and all the faculty members I've spoken to have pointed to my WS as the reason. But I'm from a nowhere school, with sub-par GRE scores, and no GPA (we don't have that). Hoping for Pitt would have been ridiculous.

Me too. I'm heading to Pitt, but I'm happy to connect with others too.

Hi! I'll be starting at Pitt this year (yay!), but I won't be able to visit before August so if anyone has any advice regarding finding housing from afar, please send me any info you have. Thanks

Also better than I'd hoped.

Might be worth checking out the southern hemisphere-- South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand are all English and have some excellent programmes. I know everything about SA if you wanna pm me.

Mine was 65, but the upper limit was closer to 130. But it wasn't a US programme, so take it for what it's worth. I don't think the length requirements are very strict so it can be as long or as short as appropriate for adequately presenting and critically evaluating your position. It's definitely a good idea to get some details on the thesis before deciding between the two schools. Regarding depth: yes go with depth. Almost every applicant will have done some ethics, some metaphysics, some epistemology etc. and everyone will have done some Descartes, some Hume, some Kripke etc. Breadth doesn't make you stand out. But a little breadth plus some proper depth might.

Oh, I see. Fair enough.

I don't think the concern here is whether seminars are better than a thesis; it's whether seminars+thesis is better than seminars alone. I agree that seminars are very important in a number of ways, but a thesis gives you something that the seminars can't--the skills required to do independent research. Seminars are too structured to offer an adequate level of practice at independent scholarship.

This is a good point, but I think a much longer thesis can still help with the WS, either with skills, or using a section of it for the writing sample. (E.g. I adapted the chapter of my MA thesis where I presented most of my original work for a writing sample--I tweaked it here or there, changed some things given objections and concerns provided by my readers, and added an appropriate intro and conclusion). I think if the thesis is a longer project it's important to keep the adaptation option in mind and produce chapters that could stand alone, or be easily adapted into a stand alone thing. This is also a good idea if you want to present or publish some of the work done for the thesis.

Thesis. At the school where it is common to do the thesis. A thesis will either give you a good writing sample or develop your skills to produce a good writing sample. And it will provide good material for a decent LOR. Also, writing a thesis is hard and lonely. Harder and lonier than you expect. You will need peers that are going through the same thing. Finally regarding the subject matter. What you cover in the MA courses will inevitably differ from what you've done already--even if it's the same topics, your thoughts on the topics will be new. I think it ultimately comes down to why you're doing the MA. If it's to get into a PhD, then skills are more important than subject matter. You'll do new material during the PhD, but you need certain skills to get there. Edit: I would also be VERY concerned about the claim that students find a thesis too hard. That doesn't sound like a place that places importance on adequate preparation for a PhD.

Well it's Pittsburgh for me! Just accepted their offer.

Do I spy a Stanford acceptance? Can anyone confirm it?

This is a very good plan. I've already spoken to one faculty member on the phone and I have a couple of Skype offers that I'll pursue this week. Thanks. I'm starting to feel less freaked out. And I heard from Stanford that they're just waiting on the Dean's office before notifying applicants. They are aiming to release as soon as possible this coming week. So one way or the other, this agonising process will end soon.

They offered. But there are several reasons that I can't go. Applying for a visa will take some time, I have a very full teaching schedule, and some personal commitments at the end of March, so it's just too impractical at the moment.

I'm definitely jumping the gun. Chances are that I won't be accepted at Stanford anyway. I can't visit though (South Africa is too far away). I've never even been to the states, so I think I'm just freaking out about moving there blind. And I'm freaking out about how late Stanford is in notifications this year. I really want to start the visa/bank accounts/housing processes now.

I wonder what will happen with Stanford. When I started applying, I thought of Stanford as by far my top choice. Now I'm not sure I'll accept their offer (on the off chance that I'll get in). I've known about my Pitt acceptance for weeks. I've spoken to and corresponded with a decent amount of Faculty members and current grads at Pitt and it just sounds like my dream school. I've also started looking into Pittsburgh city as a whole and I think I could be quite happy there. I've heard this is a common experience when one acceptance comes early and another much later. Are other Stanford applicants having similar experiences? Or has everyone else done the responsible thing and waited for news from all their schools before thinking about where to go?

No idea. It's getting very late in the season and their deadline was one of the earliest. Frustrating to say the least. Is it too early to start thinking of the possibility that none of the Stanford acceptees is active on Grad Cafe?

Got the infamous Ted Sider rejection :/

Maybe it was solicited?

California does not allow international students to become residents, so they can't take advantage of the tuition break available to residents. This means that Californian schools have to spend more money on internationals for the entirety of their degrees. UCSD also explains this somewhere on their website. So they tend to accept a higher rate of Americans (which makes sense if they want a bigger first year group). You'll notice that this is confirmed by the acceptances posted on the results page for UCSD this year. As far as I know, this is not the case in other states. As I said, I don't think it was a deal breaking factor, but it is the reason I was given over and above the generic rejection email that came yesterday. And I find an explanation more comforting than no explanation.

Just to add to the accepted high rejected low scenario: so far I've been accepted outright at Pittsburgh, rejected from UCSD, and presumably rejected from Cornell. Some possible explanations for this: Pittsburgh: I have very high Pitt-fit. My most recent work has been on Kant and maths (which I used as my WS) and Kant and language. UCSD: they have very little funding for internationals this year Cornell: I applied very early. So early that I hadn't heard of the Sider and North move. Both Sider and North are all over my SOP. This being said, I want to echo what has been said above--there are so many factors that can impact admission decisions. I think no single factor will outweigh all the others in most scenarios. This whole process is a complete nightmare. Speculating helps only a tiny bit. I hope my scenario provides some solace. And good luck everyone!!

It's starting to feel like I've been waiting for Stanford my whole life. Their deadline was so early, but STILL no news.