Euphoria5L

Do you have a degree right now? Just apply to CMU's MS program. Because you didn't say where you were, I'm not going to guess publicly, but if you are where I think you are, your letters will go a long way, along with a good writing sample. Take a few more math courses where you are, do well, and apply to CMU. They do allow for screw-ups in undergrad if you can explain it well enough, you know. As for jobs after that, you'll need some other skills. And while I'm not sure about Berkeley's program, yes, an MS in the field will help quite a bit. You should definitely talk frankly with your letter writers and ask them what they thing you should do. They know you better than we do, and a strong writing sample coupled with strong letters can offset a low GPA. They can help you with that, too. What sort of logic background do you have, anyway? What are your interests? I assume it's up through standard metalogic and probably includes a course in modal logic, yes? People from logic departments end up everywhere. Math, philosophy, and computer science departments all like logicians. It will entirely depend on what you end up doing in your Ph.D. program. You should also not discount some other schools, like the Institute for Logic, Language, and Computation in the Netherlands, CMU, CUNY, and UCLA. Here is a list of philosophy programs in mathematical logic; that should help you a bit more. Also, CUNY offers an MA program, so that's an option as well. But get that math background! It will help you more than you know!

I'm not sure that I'd really want to do anything different. But if I started over or if I had more motivation as an undergrad, I'd have probably studied some combination of linguistics, mathematics, and philosophy. I love what happens when you throw them in a blender, and if I were better at the linguistics and math parts (I'm alright with the math and linguistics, but my knowledge is pretty piecemeal and restricted to what philosophers normally talk about...), I know that I'd be a lot better off than I am now. But I absolutely love what I do, so I'm really not sure where I'd end up if I hadn't gone down this path.

I'll hear from every school that's not a safety this month. Good luck, everyone.

Welcome to my life. I actually dodge the question now. I tell them I study philosophy, and if they press further, I tell them my interests are in technical things that they won't really care about. If they continue, I start telling them about various technical things. I avoid saying 'metaphysics' completely. Half the time they don't press further and will either express wide-eyed amazement or say something like "well, isn't philosophy just thinking? why do you need to go to school to do that?" The latter essentially involves me agreeing and asking them technical questions. It's fun.