herenowagain

Places are just now having their prospective visit day and I'd bet only 1-2 of those who come take the offer. So once they turn offers down, places will begin going into their waitlist. That is very normal. So if you are still waiting, keep your morale up. But places can't make more offers until people turn down current offers and that depends upon them making a decision and whether they get in to other places they are waitlisted at & they'd prefer going. My advice: get off of grad cafe and calm down. A lot won't be decided until the day of the final deadline (April 15th, right?). If I were you, I'd call those departments you are on the waitlist for on the 15th because that day can be a very hectic mad dash to replace students who only reject their offer at the last minute.

Yeah, I had pretty much given up the last time I was shut out. But I was able to muster the ambition to try at the one school that was my best shot. I wouldn't recommend anyone follow my example. Apply to lots of schools people! But it does show how tailoring your applications to specific schools and really selling them on your "fit" can benefit you.

I only applied to one program this year. I had been shutout from all the schools I applied in two years of applying, so this year I only applied to my best chance/fit. This gave me time to really tailor my application to Maryland's department. Plus, I really couldn't put myself through the process of applying to tons of programs and being rejected again. It paid off in the end. I was accepted to Maryland this afternoon.

If my tracking of acceptances/offers is accurate, as of today there are 3 spots still open at Maryland and 3 people with offers ahead of me. So I just need one of them to turn down UMD's offer. I'm on pins and needles.

You should accept your MA offer but not turn down your PhD waitlists. I know that can be viewed as a jerk move, but don't sacrifice what's good for your future/career. If you hear back from a PhD program on the 16th, then just call back the MA program and turn them down then. It sucks, but that's how the system works and that's not your fault.

I agree. Baltimore has a low-ish cost of living and that seems like a good sized offer.

I knew someone who a few years ago was accepted to School 1 and School 2, they decided for School 2 over School 1, but they never contacted School 1 to turn them down. He just let the April 15th deadline pass by. He never talked to School 1 again. I don't know if they tried emailing him or calling him on the 15th or... what. Any idea on how schools handle a "no response" to an acceptance after April 15th?

So I am on UMD's waitlist and I am just starting to get waitlist-fever a bit. I know there are 10 days left, but... agh! Here's what I know: * UMD hasn't accepted anyone off their waitlist yet (which I think is about 22 long). * UMD is admitting 5, but they sent out 10 initial acceptances (They are expecting 5-7 to reject their initial acceptance offers). * To date: 4 of the initial acceptances have definitely rejected the offer (1 from Georgetown, 2 from GSU, & 1 from gradcafe-IWokeUpLikeThis). * To date, at least 1 of the initial acceptances have accepted (an aesthetics person). * That leaves 5 of the initial acceptances I don't know the status about... Of the 5 left, 1 has an offer from UW-Seattle that they are deciding between and another 1 is waitlisted at Madison which I suspect they will take if offered. I am not sure what the other 3 might be deciding between. It's probably gonna come down to the 15th for me, but I am kinda losing my mind here. I guess I am just looking to express my situation to people who would understand and sympathize. Anyone else on UMD's waitlist?

It looks like NYU is accepting many (all? most?) of the people rejected from the PhD program into a MA bioethics program. If it is a mistake, then there are quite a few rejected PhD applicants that are getting unsolicited acceptances to an MA bioethics program at NYU. My bet is that NYU set up a MA in bioethics program as a "for profit" graduate program. A number of public schools have these for-profit sub-departments now. They are probably accepting people unsolicited because they are trying to get the program up and running and because... well, it's for-profit, so the more the merrier. (this is all speculation on my part) I'd say it's worth it if you don't get in elsewhere. I'd probably choose normal MA programs like Georgia State or WMU or Tech or one of the others over this strange out-of-thin-air NYU program, but it's better than nothing and maybe with a MA in bioethics from NYU you can get a job outside of academia.

"should I apply to PhD programs, or should I only apply to MA programs" My sense is that it is becoming less and less common for students to be accepted into a PhD program without a MA first. Maybe 75% of incoming PhD students already have a MA from a terminal MA program while 25% are fresh out of undergrad (note: I am making up these numbers, this is just my sense). Nevertheless, I would suggest that you apply to both MA and PhD programs. For MA programs, I've met many PhD students from Western Mich and Georgia State, each of whom seem like they benefited greatly from their MA programs. I would suggest you apply in the range of 10-20 programs. I I would talk to your letter writers about where to apply. Their letters will carry more weight for programs that know them. That can help add schools to your list. The most important thing is your writing sample. Your GPA and GRE scores just need to be good enough that they aren't a red flag. Departmental fit is hugely important. If you can tailor each of your "statements of purpose" to each department you apply to, you greatly increase your chances. Lastly, this process is a lottery. That's why it is important to apply to many many programs. You will get rejected for a number of reasons having nothing to do with your qualifications. E.g. the professor you said you wanted to work with there is hated by the other faculty, the area you work in is an area the department is moving away from, your writing sample defends a position your reviewer hates and can't take seriously, due to budget cuts the program must accept fewer people this year, etc. I'd apply a few programs in each range area on the Leiter Report (1-10, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, and terminal MA programs) that fit your interests. And maybe apply to just the 3-4 best fits in the 1-20 range.

My rule of thumb is someone with a publication in a peer-reviewed philosophy journal. You can like biology and not be a biologist. You presumably constitute a "biologist" when you know enough to contribute to the field and do contribute to the field (with things like monetary contributions not counting and publications in lay-public publications like TIME magazine not counting). So I apply something like the same measure for who constitutes a philosopher.

Many programs won't accept unfunded grad PhD students. So you might automatically get funding if you can get off the wait list.

I think the rule of thumb is that you can expect them to go as deep into the waitlist as there are spots. So if the incoming class is 5, then (generally speaking) you can wager on them going 5 deep into their waitlist. But this stuff is so random and crazy, the rule of thumb here might be useless folk wisdom.

MA Thesis should be 30-70 pages. Mine was stupidly like 150, but don't emulate my dumbass.

Some UMD rejections went out today, have you heard back from them? If not, then you might be on the backup-waitlist.

Probably only if she was the only person you put down you wanted to work with. I aim to mention my intent to work with a few faculty in my letter just in case 1 ends up leaving, being hated by the rest of the faculty, not actually work there anymore, etc. As long as you didn't explicitly say you were coming to work with her and no one else, you are probably okay.

I think if someone is ever willing to pay you to do philosophy (and give you a PhD to boot), you should take the offer.

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So this is a bit playful, but "Cabin in the Woods" has a great Kantian ending. That is, not letting yourself be used no matter the consequences.

I don't think there is anything weird about bringing your SO. There might be a few occasions where they have to stand awkwardly in the corner while you do something, but that is going to be true of any work function you bring them to. You definitely should bring them.

Well now I can't sleep.

Wait, wait, wait... did you just say you turned Maryland down? I am high on their wait-list. So I owe you a cake or five.

The grad school general admissions office won't be much help, you need to talk to one of the philosophy faculty involved on accepting/rejecting grads. It is totally fine to ask (you should, asking puts you on their radar for next cycle), but you'll probably get some generic non-response. Somebody above me suggested that you ask for advice for how to improve your chances in the future. Asking for help might be a good way to go about this. Then they can't just respond "we had many qualified applicants" but have to make a suggestion, plus asking for help seems psychologically a better way to invite a response. Wait-listed: Maryland