DontFly

L13 is probably more accurate than I was. What I know is that LSE doesn't fund its international students or about half of its domestics - the main reason I didn't apply. Other schools might be better, though. Plus British MA's are shorter than Americans, so it might worth it. Not all American MA's give adequate funding either.

I think it's fairly typical for British schools not to fund their students. I think only a very small portion of them fund a very small portion of domestic PhD's.

Same situation here with both Columbia and Toronto. I'm presuming rejection at least from Columbia. It could've been an "internal waitlist" of sort - if enough people decline/remove from official waitlist, we'll hear from them. Nevertheless, I'm not holding my breath.

Now seems like an unusual time to send out notifications?

Even though I come from an MA background and benefited immensely from it (to the extent that I wouldn't continue doing philosophy if I didn't go through that MA program, somewhat accidentally), I think Ian has a good point. There's a certain degree of unnecessary risk associated with turning down a good PhD in the hope of a better phd after an MA that you'd have to be willing to bear. I guess it also depends on the degree to which you see Washington U as being unfit. If there really isn't much going on at all that you're interested, I see no reason not to take that risk. Edit: I misread something. It was HegelianThomist who didn't see a fit with the phd. If there's a fit, I agree with Ian's point.

Oh, suddenly remember there's something else you can try - you can Skype them. A couple of school that admitted me has offered to skype or call (in addition to visit). You can try to do that with a couple of profs who work in your area, and also with a couple of grad students. They should be able to accommodate you (you're saving them travel money, after all). Good luck!

That does sound stressful. Well, if you do phil of science, there aren't many places that'll top Pitts. I also heard that it's a decent student city. Not expensive to live in and all.

Pitts is a great school! Have you visited? Two of my letter writers have been there at some stage of their careers, and they both loved it. Too bad I didn't get in Anyway, congrats! If you've visited and still love it, I think it's pretty on par with Stanford reputation-wise (also depends on your AOI, of course). That said, there's no hurry in making that decision now, is there? I'd say at least wait until Stanford gets some news out?

Lack of fit, that's all. I pretty much do exclusively science related stuff (maybe plus some science related epistemology and history of analytic). My criterion for choosing schools was to have at least two philosophers of science and at least one in phil of a special science that's not math or physics. McGill didn't get on my radar for that reason. (I don't think its hps program has a grad component.)

Yes! So far through correspondence it seems like a great department! I have been to both cities, but neither of the schools. I used to be very much opposed to the idea of a gigantic department like that of Toronto, but chatting with a friend made me realize it has its advantages. The faculty-student ratio is one of them; you also get more options if initial supervisor doesn't work out. The IHPST is also a lot smaller too. If you have been to both of them, try use gut feelings? Someone told me gut feelings is the best when it comes to important decisions. They are also pretty on par reputation-wise, so it won't be a big tradeoff either or.

In my opinion, Montreal is a better city than Toronto to live in. But maybe it's just me. I've also heard that Toronto has a *huge* department, which makes it hard to talk to everybody. But it also has a near 1-to-1 faculty-student ratio, which presumably makes it easier to talk to the ones you do want to talk to? ---- I've also just realized your acceptance is from IHPST, which means I'm probably either waitlisted or rejected (haven't heard back from them.) At any rate, congrats!

Hi all- It strikes me that people will probably start to go on visits soon, if not already. I want to start a thread that's a little less practical. Since there already is a thread giving advice on questions to ask during visits, I thought it'd be fun to share some stories (including maybe ways of indirectly getting information, behavioral indicators of politics, serendipitous findings, things caught you by surprise, etc.). You don't have to reveal the names of the school or the people involved if you don't want to, though you can (especially if it's a positive story). If it's a story about a city, it's probably helpful to tell us which city it is. Some other things people might want to talk about: - things you immediately wish you had done differently - how travel reimbursement was handled - how do faculties match or don't match your prior expectations based on reputation - the information you get from faculties vs. from students (are they different?) - whether this visit has changed your decision/ mental ranking of places etc. (I'm going on my first visit by the end of this week, so I'll have more substantive things to add a bit later. So far I've received overwhelmingly friendly contacts from this one institution, and nearly no contact from the other that I'm visiting. It's hard not to read too much into this )

Given the simultaneity of all the waitlist posts, I think it's a generic email. It seems like at least a couple of people have expressed high degree of interest in UWM, and I would be surprised if they don't at least take a couple of waitlisters at some point. That said, the situation is unclear with those who're not on gradcafe.

Just got an offer from York University (in Canada) if it means anything to anybody I'll probably decline both this and my spot on the UWM waitlist by the end of this week, unless my visit goes irretrievably wrong (which is unlikely). Good luck to the UWM waitlisters!

Haha, funny how many people rush over here within 5 minutes of the notification email..

Thanks philstudent1991! A part of this is also that almost all of the "it's unusual for them not to have anything out by this time" schools are ones I've applied for. So.. Wisconsin-Madison has just sent out a bunch of wait list emails. (I received one and saw a bunch here on result page.) Anyone have any experience of their wait list structures? Is it AOI-divided? (Given how my visit next week goes, I might take myself off the list, but I'm still curious.)

It's usually a good idea to spread out your priorities, but it's especially important to spread out supervisor options. I've heard some true stories of people who are brilliant philosophers, great researchers, even nicest colleagues, but who are never around for their students, don't read their students' dissertations, don't ever give comments, can't place anyone. Some people have wasted a couple of years before having to switch supervisor. Don't gamble on that.

It's probably a good idea for you to state your AOI here, and also whether you're looking at North American schools or European ones.

Anyone applied to the HPS at U of Toronto? I know the results from phil department of Toronto are already out, but haven't heard anything from HPS yet. The application deadline was Feb. 1st (though I applied really early, along with all other applications)! Seems like they're running on a different schedule entirely..

Kaykaykay raised some great questions to consider. I've heard some bad stories about people moving with their supervisors, so definitely be cautious (but you probably won't need me to tell you this). You're still in first year, so it's still possible to change supervisor without damaging your progress too much. That said, if you really love what she does and love working with her, maybe it's a risk worth taking?

Being in the same program as you, I can assure you: it is not sensitive at all to ask this. That said, do be careful on several grounds: one is how to frame the question. Make it so you're excited by that faculty's research and want to know if they're teaching anything soon. Also mention that you're interested in knowing if other faculties are working in similar areas (ask this even if you know exactly what others work in). Usually as soon as you express your interest, people will understand and start to give you information about whether the person has plans to go on leave/exchange/retire/whatever. If you're visiting, this is also a good chance to request a meeting with this person. Another important thing is that you should not go to a place because there is one person with whom you want to work. I gather that this is often what's done in the sciences, but should not be the case in philosophy. You're spending half a decade in the program, during which many things may happen - the person may leave for another job, may suddenly decide to retire, may suddenly fall ill, may be a horrible supervisor, may just not click with you philosophically, etc. I've heard quite a few stories about people being brilliant researchers/philosophers but are horrible, horrible at teaching students. Asking if someone else work in similar areas is a good way to broaden your horizon. You could also ask this very friendly faculty if they can introduce you to that person, and try to correspond with them, if that's something you feel comfortable doing.

I second jenste. McGill is a great school and Montreal is, in my opinion, about one of the best places to live in North America. That said, it's usually not a good idea to base your choice on geographical locations Ultimately it depends on the trade-off. Do American schools give you enough advantage over Canadian schools to justify the loss of family time? Obviously only you can answer this question. By the way, is it possible at all for you to visit? If so then that would be ideal. Another thing is: maybe you should try to contact current students or recent alumni from your country (or rough region), and ask about their experience. If no one is from your region, try to find someone not from North America, and preferably not from western Europe. Ask them whether they think it's worth it. Ask them what they think their career prospects are as a result of their education. That sort of thing. People are usually quite sympathetic and are willing to share these information. Although there is a hard decision in front of you, congratulations nonetheless!

Being someone just moving from a terminal MA to a PhD program (elsewhere, as my current department doesn't have PhD program), here's what I want to say: I take it that you are aware of funding issues. The key thing is that it is very difficult as well as uncommon for a department to adequately fund its MA students - they don't get a bad reputation if they don't fund them, and it's hard to justify to the university to fund them (since it is extremely common outside philosophy not to fund MA's, and also philosophy MA usually takes longer than other disciplines). So if this is something important to you, do ask very detailed questions and don't assume anything. (E.g., in many places you do get TA-ship, but you have lower priority.) My impression has been that places with only terminal MA tend to treat them better than places with PhD. That takes me to my second point: the purpose of the MA program and the purpose of you going into an MA program. From the way you frame it I take that you're in a terminal MA? Many places (especially good ones) have an MA process as an initial step towards the PhD, and some still call it terminal (meaning you'd have to apply again if you want to stay for PhD). The problem is that many (by no means all) treat their MA students as lower-level PhD's, and this is bad because it means they're not preparing you for application. MA programs that are structured to familiarize you to their PhD is wildly different from programs that are structured to get you admitted by PhD elsewhere - you get less "cv-polishing" or networking opportunities; your project is usually too big for writing-sample-sized papers, etc. On the other extreme, some terminal MA's are really "terminal" - people take it because they want an MA degree in philosophy, not as a stepping stone towards a higher degree. Places like these tend to be more expensive, take you longer to graduate, and, again, don't prepare you adequately for PhD programs. But on the plus side, they usually offer better courses. One last group of programs: some programs (especially European ones) are extremely short. They're one year long, with little to no course work, little to no financial support. These programs can be good (and efficient) if all you want to do is to have a polished paper by the end of the year. I've had friends in these programs who tell me that it's not really "doing philosophy". It's very practical, but you probably wouldn't learn too much that you didn't know before or couldn't figure out on your own. Depending on your purpose of pursuing an MA, I would recommend really try to figure out which of the above type does a program belong. This can be trickier than you think, because people inside the program tend to just take it for granted and assume everywhere runs like they do. Here're some questions you might want to consider: - what's the percentage of people coming into the program / graduating with plans to move on? (You will get all types of people in any program. The key is the majority.) - (This is something you'll have to figure out talking to students, rather than asking them directly): what kind of people come here and why? Is it just that they didn't get into any PhD programs? Or did they want more time to contemplate a life in academia? Are they from other disciplines wanting to go into philosophy and taking this as a stepping stone? - how long does it *actually* take for people to graduate? If they take longer, do they come out better? - what is the placement procedure? Is there one? - How much attention do MA students get, as opposed to PhD students? - Do MA students get to go to conferences? Are they financially supported to go to conferences? - Do Ma students get offices? Do they interact with each other often? (what's really at issue: are they treated as an important part of the department? It's surprising how many departments treat their MA students as undergrads.) BTW, I'm somewhat familiar with Canadian MA programs. If one of your admissions is from here, I'd be happy to answer questions you might have! Finally - congratulations!

I want to ask a maybe naive question: it seems that people are presuming rejections from places they haven't heard from. Is it common for them to hold off on rejections? A few people have been posting rejections and/or acceptances from places I haven't heard back from. Is this a wait list of some kind? Or they just don't care so much about rejecting people in time?

Thanks for all the replies! I won't quote all of them as to not flood the thread. Now that I know others are on the same boat, I'm not worried as much I've already planned my visit to another place on Davis's tentatively scheduled dates, only because I can't afford to wait any longer. If they reschedule the dates, I might see some of you there Congratulations by the way!