twinkie_eater

Thanks to those of you who gave me your thoughts! Here's a general question, with perhaps some relevance to me. How true is it in terms of job placement that "oil rises to the top." Do talented people come from top programs because the program made them that way or because they were talented to begin with? As I write this, I realize its probably a case of both nature and nurture. But supposed somebody was talented enough to go to NYU (i.e. was admitted) and opted to go with unranked PhD instead. Could we expect him/her to do pretty well in terms of job placement? I guess as this applies to my own case, is there reason to believe that I'll sort of "naturally" (with a lot of hard work, of course) end up placed with a job which reflects my potential? (Note: I do not claim to have high potential, I merely mean a place that reflects my talent whatever that is.) I guess can I (and flickering.light and the rest of us) have lest angst about getting into a top program and this concern for getting admitted into the best place we possibly can? Can we have some hope that things will work themselves out in the end, the oil will separate from the water, and we'll end up with a job in a place that is on our level in the end? Interestingly, I was looking at the placement for one of the unranked PhD's I was admitted to, and one of its graduates recently was hired at my alma mater (a top 20 department). That's by far an exception, rather than the norm, but it does show you that outstanding talent isn't going to be kept down.

Hi guys! Long time lurker here. I curious to get your feedback on my own situation. I graduated a couple years ago from a national top 20 university with a top 20 PGR department with essentially a double major in philosophy and theology (that probably gives away the university). I had a high GPA, but only a medium-high philosophy GPA (3.75ish). Anyways, in this round of applications I aimed high and didn't get into a PGR top 50, although I didn't really apply anywhere between #'s 31-50. I did receive two funded PhD offers from unranked schools, which seem like good fits from my research interests (virtue ethics, ancient philosophy). Included in these is the unranked school I would be most happy to attend were I to apply anywhere outside the top 50. I was also waitlisted at Brandeis' MA (the only MA I applied to). Having gone through this process, I have come to believe that my philosophy background rather than my raw academic potential may be the reason for my lack of success (as defined by getting into a top 50). My writing sample was a version of my thesis which was done jointly in philosophy and theology and deals with both Plato and Christian Neo-Platonist ideas. Many of the classes I took in philosophy had either a literary or theological slant to them, which meant I didn't/don't have a "traditional" philosophy term paper to draw on for a writing sample. The choices I had besides my thesis were either too literary or too theological. Further, my letter writers had only see my work in these types of classes, rather than types of papers or coursework which is more typical of academic philosophy, and my work for them tended to be A-. And in general, I'm not as conversant in philosophy as I get the sense that many of you are. On the academic potential side, I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from a top 20 and scored 168/167/5.0 on my GRE. I looked at the placement information from the programs that I was admitted to and I am okay with my prospects. If that is my only chance to get involved with academic philosophy, I've decided that I'm okay with landing a teaching position in a SLAC where graduates of these programs seem to end up. However, I am not convinced that an unranked PhD is the best that I can do. So it basically comes down to this: Do I a) accept the unranked PhD or b. apply again next year, focusing on more MA programs. I think the fact that I was waitlisted at Brandeis lends some credence to that hypothesis that I have the potential, but not necessarily the background to do well in MA and hopefully, in time, PhD admissions. If I get accepted off the waitlist, this all might be a moot point (if I can afford Brandeis). I don't really want to go through this whole process again, however, and there is certainly no guarantee that I'll do better the next time around. Thoughts?