D-NixRT

I definitely agree with this. I believe my writing sample and letters were the strongest parts of my application. I had pretty poor GRE scores and I was still able to get into an MA program that I'm very enthusiastic about with funding + teaching assistantship. I think applicants worry about the GRE way too much, but good scores can't hurt.

Location is definitely most important to me. I only ended up lucking out with my dream schools being Madison and Milwaukee. I probably would have applied regardless of rank because I love Wisconsin and the faculty are focused in my primary philosophical interests. You gotta be happy where you're going!

I got a TA position for my program right out of graduating, so I get to lecture a few times a semester and do all the grading for two classes. Everyone says grading is super dry, and it is, but I also really like it. I spend about 40 minutes per paper so naturally it takes up a lot of my time. The rest of my waiting period is spent playing Fallout 4, slowly working through a book on metalogic, and stress eating. RIP.

I was looking at the faculty and I am very interested in phil of science. I really like what IUPUI has to offer (though I don't know how much funding, if any, I'm getting), so your advice is very helpful. Thank you so much!

I was told the waitlist was very short (about as many WL as there were accepts), so you might have honestly gotten me an admit. Thank you!!

WL at Illinois-Urbana Champaign!

I got my letter from the department chair. That's very (oddly) reassuring to know that they don't always give explicit details in those kind of messages. I also received my acceptance letter today. Would it seem overly desperate to ask right away? Thanks a lot for your input!

Hi all! I was lucky enough to get my first acceptance letter (IUPUI), but the letter did not specify whether or not I was getting any funding. I could contact the graduate director asking about the funding opportunities decided/available to me, but I'm worried it might come off the wrong way. I want to wait until I have some other letters back before deciding for sure, and the same person that I'm supposed to contact regarding my acceptance is the same person that is supposed to answer funding questions. tl;dr - acceptance letter not specific with funding/grants/assistantships; anyone know the best way to ask about this w/o sounding greedy or rubbing the wrong way? Thank you!

Just got an acceptance letter to IUPUI!

Honestly, that is exceptionally reassuring. Thank you for that! I just regret accidentally sending my scores to places that didn't require them. :|

I don't think there's anything wrong with listing 2-3 primary interests and then noting some areas that are of interest that you haven't been able to study extensively yet. For example, my favorite areas of philosophy are philosophy of mind, logic, and applied ethics, but also make note that I'm interested in learning more about philosophy of science. I agree that finding a middle ground is difficult, but I think that as long as you give them a general idea of the direction you're aiming to go, you'll be fine. Delivery and wording might be key here.

I'm super late to the discussion, but I was astonished to see so much feedback (I was new to the site, so coming back didn't set into habit yet). I just wanna post and say thank you all for the insight. I took the GRE again and did better (but not much), so the people that are saying GRE doesn't matter really reassure me! haha. Really though, thank you all for your thoughtful comments. I regret not getting back to you guys sooner.

joined! Thanks for making the group!

Hello everyone! I just graduated with a BA in philosophy from a school not known for philosophy. Before philosophy, I was a delinquent and a slacker in school, so I'm pretty surprised I became as entrenched in academia as I've been. My GPA is only a 3.4 (my Phil GPA is something like a 3.8) and my GRE scores are less than desirable (only thing worth mentioning is a 5.5 on analytic), but I consider myself a hard worker now. I'm hoping to get into a Ph.D program somewhere in the midwest, particularly UW-Madison, and I know it's a long shot. I have a publication under me in philosophical counseling, and I've had some experience lecturing already. I've taken (literally) every single phil class offered at my school, plus a ton of independent studies with professors (4 or 5, I lost count), so I'm hoping I have an adequate philosophical background for applications. Here's hoping I get lucky! My favorite subjects are in personal identity, philosophy of science, and logic. I'm interested in exploring the metaphysics of gender, but I'm not fond of feminist philosophy, so I'm often hesitant to dig for reading material. Dan Dennett is one of my favorite philosophers, with John Perry a second, and I typically prefer contemporary philosophers to the big names throughout history. I really want a Ph.D, but I don't aspire to be some world-changing philosopher. I'm perfectly happy becoming a professor and teaching -- being responsible for that eureka! moment that I got in my first philosophy classes.

I'd love to be a part of this. I don't frequent here enough and I'm always on Facebook.

Hi everyone! This is only my second post here so if I'm posting in the wrong section, apologies in advance. I just got my GRE scores back and while my verbal was not what I preferred to see (only 67 percentile), my analytic tests scored in the 93 percentile. Aside from "as high as you can aim for," what are good percentiles to shoot for when applying to philosophy Ph.D programs for each section? I know quantitative isn't really looked at much, and I've heard stories of 80 percentile in verbal being the cutoff some places. Does my analytic section compensate for my verbal? For background information, I'm applying to most programs in Wisconsin, then IU Bloomington, Bowling Green, and some miscellaneous programs in Illinois. Thanks in advance to anyone that replies!

Hello everyone! First post here, and it might be too early to start asking stuff like this, but I've been heavily discouraged from having faith in getting accepted into anywhere I apply for Fall 2016. Let me try to paint a picture of myself as a student so you guys can get a clearer idea. I have a 3.3 GPA (ouch) with a Philosophy GPA of 3.7-ish. I come from an undergraduate school (graduating this December) completely unknown in terms of philosophy placement. I go to Purdue University Calumet. I have not taken the GRE yet, and am very intimidated by it, even though I probably shouldn't be, as long as I refresh on some basic math concepts. I've taken about double the required philosophy courses needed to graduate, as well as taken more top-level courses offered than any other undergrads here in the history of the program. None of the other majors or minors were rigorous or gratifying for me. I've done several independent studies. One of them this Fall will be with the chancellor of my school who is a philosophy professor emeritus. During this Spring semester, since I will have graduated, my philosophy department really likes me and is willing to give me a section of symbolic logic to teach during my semester of down-time, so I'll have prior teaching experience by the time I'd arrive at whatever grad school I'd be admitted to. I've been a supplemental instructor, president of the philosophy club at my school, and leader of other philosophically oriented extra-curricular activities, such as informal presentations, being invited to lead philosophy events that faculty attend, etc. I've been published for work in philosophy, but in a field completely irrelevant to most schools' specializations (philosophical counseling). My dream school is University of Wisconsin - Madison's Ph.D program. Most of my interests lie in metaphysics (specifically personal identity), advanced logic, and philosophy of science. I'm also planning on applying to PhD programs at IU Bloomington, University of Washington, Bowling Green, and some other lesser known schools that are only a state away from me (REALLY wanna go somewhere in Wisconsin though). Basically, my grades are nowhere close to what the average applicant is, but I'm trying to use my experience with philosophy, the connections I've made with faculty at my school, and my personal statement as ways to outshine the grades. What I'm asking is, do I even stand a ghost of a chance applying for a Ph.D program anywhere that I mentioned? I'm trying to avoid having to get a "leverage MA" to get somewhere else, but I'm also applying to the MA program of Milwaukee. I've heard of people getting into PhD programs straight from undergrad with 3.0's and those insane stories give me only the slightest glimmer of hope. Thanks for reading the wall of text, and I'm extremely grateful for any responses I may get here.