Coconuts&Chloroform

Rejected from Stanford. Another unsurprising one since the fit is minimal. I'm now wishing I hadn't spent so much money applying to poor fits just because they're highly-ranked on the PGR.

Now that Stanford acceptances are out, I'm starting to get a bit concerned that all of the top-10 programs to which I've applied that have sent out acceptances have not yet accepted me (though only one outright rejected me, I'm not terribly hopeful about the rest). I know it's silly to complain when I have three acceptances, including a program that is top-ten in my AOI, but I'm pretty hopeful about CUNY and NYU, and not even getting waitlisted at Berkeley, UCLA, Pitt, and Stanford concerns me.

I do indeed have a masters (or, at any rate, will once I enter the program). I'm sorry to hear about the pittance that you've been offered. This is such a frustrating situation. As you say, it is an incredibly enticing program in literally all respects but the financial one. I will probably try to negotiate with them in the near future, but I don't think that much will come of it, and not for any fault of theirs: if they had more money that they could spend on their incoming PhD students, I suspect that they would simply have funneled that money into their offers, low as they are. Maybe this isn't right, but it seems sadly likely. I just don't understand how the administrators who have decided to fix the stipends for Philosophy PhDs can allow this to go on. UT is one of the best programs in the country - in my view it's substantially stronger than its PGR ranking - and yet its stipend is commensurate to that of programs that aren't even ranked.

This was my thought too, and the only thing preventing me from doing it is this: I still haven't heard back from some programs that I might accept over UT Austin, e.g. NYU, Harvard, possibly CUNY or Stanford. It have a feeling that it might be a bit rude to try to negotiate with them, only to turn them down anyway later on. This would especially be the case if they do up the offer. Any thoughts on this?

Also a current Tufts MA student willing to take any of your questions.

Keep waiting in the sense that you do not accept an offer from another program if there are schools that have not yet rejected you before April 15th that you might choose over some other school to which you have been accepted. People often receive acceptances in April, sometimes on the 15th or afterwards. Do not keep waiting in the sense that you hold out high hopes. But don't make it impossible or difficult to accept an unexpected offer, should one arrive. It happens.

I don't understand why programs that can't offer competitive stipends don't simply admit fewer students.

Thought I'd get this started now that a good number of schools have gotten their acceptances out. I'm in a tough spot with respect to UT Austin and WashU. UT Austin seems to be a great fit for me, given that my primary interest is in consciousness. Michael Tye, Galen Strawson, and Michelle Montague are all people whose work on consciousness I admire. In fact, UT Austin is probably the best fit for me overall aside from NYU (fingers crossed). WashU is still a great fit, since I'd be doing the PNP program, but cognitive science is really my second AOI. UT is also a bit higher-ranked than WashU overall. However, UT has offered me 15 grand over six years, and WashU has offered me 27. I'm not sure that I can convince myself that the merits of UT are worth a 44% paycut, especially since Austin is a slightly more expensive city than STL. But then again I would probably enjoy living in Austin much better than I would enjoy living in St. Louis. Anyone have any thoughts on how to make a decision here?

Formal acceptance received from UT Austin. The stipend seems very low - $15,000 per academic year. Up to $200 'may' be reimbursed for a campus visit. Sadly, UT Austin's strengths, which I think are many, do not seem to include financial comfort for their PhD students.

Congrats! I feel much the same way as you on all these points. UT Austin is a phenomenal program, and looking at their faculty and placement record one struggles to think why they aren't even higher-ranked. I would likely accept UT Austin over quite a few of the top-ten programs on my list, though of course this depends on the funding details (which I am waiting for with bated breath). Perhaps I'll see you there!

Likewise. What's your AOI? And any info about funding?

Accepted to UT Austin

Mind/cogsci

What's your AOI? This isn't even the case for me. I think I just applied because it's well-ranked on the PGR, even though I've only heard of a few people there. And because 'Yale' sounds prestigious.

Rejected from Yale via email. Not too disappointed; the program wasn't a good fit, and I'm not really sure why I applied.

Lol yes I have this too. Why they chose to notify us of this fact now, I don't know.

So, these next few weeks should bring a lot of news for all of us - whether good or bad, I can't say. But the long weeks of hearing nothing are probably more or less over by now. I hope.

In at WashU (PNP). Email from John Heil.

Congrats again!

Anyone claim the WashU PNP acceptance?

Did you write your writing sample in bold font?

Man, it is impossible to focus on schoolwork while waiting to hear back from these programs. I'm feeling more confident now that I have an acceptance under my belt, but confidence =/= patience...

Anybody claim the Berkeley rejection? I haven't heard anything from them at all.

Gone from mine as well. Good luck! It's hard to know what to make of this. But in any case, the fact that he or she was interested in your work and advocated for your acceptance bodes very well for your other applications.

Who knows?