thatsjustsemantics

Thanks Nat! This is really helpful. I'm sure they're just testing the waters to see how their top choices would respond to an offer.

Did the DGS mention how many people were initially notified? I don't see how that makes sense since some people will wait before April before they are ready to make a decision; in any case, thanks for asking!

Can we contact Wisconsin-Madison? There was one release last week, and then an insider posted to the forum saying that the person responsible for sending out admissions got sick. I'm wondering if applicants will hear back soon or not?

Don't fret! I actually don't know how many people they waitlist in a given year, so nvm my first statement. You could still be e-mailed.

Claiming a waitlist from FSU (PhD) (e-mail last night around 9:30pm EST). No mention of how big it is, but from the looks of previous years it was 6 (not true, I must have looked up the wrong program).

Aww, 'tis a shame. Merci quand-même.

Here's hoping for notifications from UNC, CH & UW-Madison tonight!

cute cat? have my upvotes.

Anyone claiming Wisconsin? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Oh my. I hope they feel better soon: (hint) tomorrow.

Any love for French music? https://youtu.be/yFdYZQmQtcs

After a presumed rejection from Arizona, I'm hoping that UNC and Madison will notify applicants this week. I'm also hoping Cornell will release early, considering that they may have received fewer applications after that poach by Rutgers.

The explanatory value justifies the inference. There is criticism of the explanatory value, but the criticisms are not helpful because they may risk provoking semantic debates that do not illuminate the topic. Let's shy from generalities. Take the truth-making principle. It states that the existence of objects is what makes ontological statements true. The corollary licensed by the principle is that objects are those things which make propositions true. According to this principle, objects are truth-makers, so what it is to be is taken to be the truth value of a proposition. Let's shy further from generalities: it's true that the Mona Lisa exists. The existence of the painting makes the proposition about its existence true. In turn, I might ask: what makes the painting Mona Lisa art? To respond to this question, I'll mirror the truth-making principle: the x, y, or z of some object is what makes a particular object art (you don't actually think I know what art is, do you?!). According to the foregoing "principle," objects that bear the characteristics x, y, or z are art. This is a rough sketch of the inference, which I hope I captured in my explanation; why should we follow this inference? One suggestion is the explanatory value. It's just clear. The other suggestion is that there really isn't anything else to metaphysical realism except this, so the inference is necessary in order to do work that others might endorse when it comes to picturing our world. There's a correspondence between our conception of existence and the objections that fall under that conception, unless there are good reasons to reject this view. There usually is not. At some point, when metaphysical realists gather around the dinner table after having escorted those who reject the existence of objects, there will be further disagreement over the diversity of objects. With a glass of red wine in hand, mereological nihilists state that there are only simples arranged according to a certain pattern that corresponds with our conception of an object. Raising their objections those who believe in composition think that composition is real and falls under the concept of 'object,' etc. There's a lot to it.

I suspect that they're finished making initial offers of admission at this point. I've been told that they will notify applicants (WL or R) via e-mail in the coming two weeks.

Acceptance.

Can confirm that friend got a phone call from Fordham recently.

LA? Although I'm leaning towards interpreting this as bad news, it's ambiguous -- how could they not care about evaluating your grades, if you paid the fee?

That's for the HPS program, I think; isn't there a distinction between that specialty track and the standard program?

Cheers. I'm also from the Middle-East (born abroad, naturalized USA), but I don't think that's very helpful for us as far as census boxes are concerned on application pages. Instead, in my diversity statements, I highlight from which culture my family originates, and I talk about why it's wrong to dump people from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, or Lebanon into one shallow group called 'Arabs.' Arabic people and Middle-Eastern people aren't underrepresented in academia, it's true, but people within the ME 'white/caucasian' class can merit the description of a 'minority' once they make salient how their particular origin gave rise to experiences that are not shared with groups overrepresented in academia.

I think the user you quoted addressed your concern about shallow surface diversity when he or she says "they need to find better questions to ask if they want to legitimately increase diversity."

1. Yes 2. Yes. 3. Near perfect GRE scores. A good writing sample. The problem: not only do you have to convince departments that you're qualified, but you have to convince graduate schools. For most applicants, doing the latter is easy because GPA requirements tend to (at minimum) be 2.8-3.0 GPA. In any case, it's not out of the question; however, I would look for external scholarships as an incentive for programs to bring you on their first year. You may be able to secure good funding for the rest of the program.

Let's use UC Riverside as an example. In one of their admissions FAQ responses, they write: "7. Typically a score below 310 (or 1250) is a strike against an applicant, whereas a score above 325 (or 1450) is a bonus." But you see -- at 310, it's just a strike against an applicant; not a cut-off. I think that programs would choose somewhere between a combined score of 300-310 as a cut-off iff the applicant doesn't clearly show strengths in other components (cumulative gpa, philosophy gpa) to offset the lower GRE score.

I don't think you should worry too much about your quantitative score; is your combined score atleast above 300? If so, then great; if not, then that will definitely count against you. Your verbal is very high. To give you some context, I received a 166 verbal (96%) and a 151 quant (45%). I'm not worried because I have good reasons to believe that GRE cut off scores are much lower than most applicants expect (300 combined). I'd be more worried about your cumulative GPA than your GRE scores, tbh; however, don't dare count yourself out. People with below average GPAs or GREs still do very well in the admissions process. Numbers don't help us out here as much as the strength of your writing sample, the supposed fit between you and your schools, where fit might be understood as "the student's potential to develop and succeed as a graduate student at this program, where clearly there are potential advisors who may be interested in supervising the course of their study" etc. If the discourse wasn't that helpful, I would also recommend applying to schools that do not require the GRE: Wisconsin-Madison, UM Ann Arbor, and Cornell U. are the two schools that come to mind (I think?). Good luck.

4.2k words-ish checking in here. I'm hoping it's not too short, tbh.

I plan on reading a lot of books; watching a lot of films. I just finished Johnathon Franzen's Purity, and now I'm reading Donna Tartt's The Secret History. I plan on reading her next two books once I'm finished with the first. I'm waiting for Tarantino's The Hateful Eight and Inarritu's The Revenant to be released here in France (I'm teaching English for now). Otherwise, you can find me watching shows dubbed in French on netflix or playing League of Legends.

Hi everyone, Thanks for the input. I haven't yet submitted my application, so I'm not too sure if I want to spend the extra 90 bucks to attend the school. It was especially a great place when Sider and North were there, and when Eklund left and they haven't hired someone with an AOS/AOC in metaphysics since his departure, I'm concerned that Cornell is just going to get weaker. I might end up not applying there.