gughok

Is anyone else a little annoyed at how late some of the visit days are?  I'm choosing among Columbia, Cornell, and Stanford and will almost certainly pick Columbia.  But since the three programs are pretty comparable in what I want to do (ancient and comparative epistemology--if anyone else thinks there's clearly a best choice among these three for that, though, do let me know!), I want to visit all three and at least have a chance to meet the people in the departments before I make my final decision.  But the visit days are all in April (Stanford's is super late at April 10-12) and I feel bad since I'll be formally declining two offers so close to the deadline and I know people are hoping to hear from wait lists  anyone else in this situation?

Harvard said yes
omg

I'm glad to see you're warming up to Harvard, @gughok  
I think a large part of my decision is going to come down to how the campus visits go. Last year, I only made the decision to do an MA rather than accept the offer I had after spending a few days visiting the department, so I think I can trust my intuitions to one extent or another - but at the same time, it seems incredible that I'm deciding where I'm going to spend the next five/six years of my life (and, in many ways, how my life is going to unfold after) based on a couple of days hanging out at a department while its professors and grad students are trying to put their best foot forward. I mean, visits are surely better data for reflection than email conversations with current students, or whatever else one might have access to... but it still seems like such a small data set for making such an important decision!

I started a thread on this, called "Choosing between offers". It didn't take off though, so I'm happy for a new one to start. 

Yeah, I agree with you, particularly since it was an op-ed in the LA times. I agree with (and am happy to have read such a good articulation of) everything they've said. I just wish it came a cross more strongly that this acceptance of poorer philosophical form from archetypal philosophers is something that has been hidden from view (in virtue of the command that these individuals have of the cultural apparatus of smartness,or however they put it).  I know some misogynistic philosophers who have admirable clarity of thought and argument form. But they don't read feminist literature, and they don't have women's experiences, and so they manage to come to false conclusions despite reliable rational faculties. I think the sort of thinking demonstrated in this article represents a jump forward in philosophical objectivity, where the aesthetic, cultural, and other variables of the thinkers themselves are being brought into the foreground for critical evaluation. I just think this article (if read by someone outside of the profession who isn't familiar with the history of philosophy) doesn't give the problems its addressing enough context within the history of philosophy, and it does this in a way that makes philosophy sound like sophistry. 
 

In at Boston College after totally expecting a rejection.

I want to collect all of you so dedicated to thinking and loving wisdom and start some sort of freaky think tank...

This is so sad.

Obstinacy under the guise of philosophical caution is a really frustrating thing to observe.
First, nobody "exploded" at you. One person said she agreed with you, save your use of the masculine generic. You asked why, we explained in moderated terms, and you resisted with complete denial.
Second, we're not here to reinvent the wheel, so I'm not going to type up an essay. Here you go:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_neutrality_in_English#Rationale
https://www.academia.edu/1597246/The_extinction_of_masculine_generics
https://www.pomona.edu/sites/default/files/elliechestnutthesis.pdf
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148068580921132
http://web.stanford.edu/class/linguist156/Gastil_1990.pdf
http://www.bustle.com/articles/96831-supposedly-generic-uses-of-man-are-not-actually-generic-says-survey-so-here-are-6-words
This is what I could find in ten minutes. That's all it took: ten minutes and google. I don't think this is at all an exhaustive list.
 

My program is probably having the best year on record! Of course, I'm literally the only person applying to PhD programs out of my program this year... but hey! That's a 100% placement record for this year! 

STANFOOOOOOOOORD!!!! =D =D =D

Of course this is an excellent sum to be a philosophy grad student! To be fair and charitable to dgswaim, however, he or she was clearly referring to the fact that 30k a year is considered a rather low income across almost every category for those with bachelor's degrees. Most college graduates will immediately making more money than we will even five years from now -- that's the depressing part, and why it's a bit laughable that we drool at the idea of 30k a year. (I think I speak for dgswaim when I say that those who work hard for low sums to support their families are admirable, and no one was trying to say otherwise). 

I applied several schools around NYC but haven't heard from them so far . I just want to take a moment and congratulate everyone who was accepted.

To be honest, I've noticed this interesting correlation about people who didn't think they'd do well this admission season, who end up doing extremely well this admission season, and it turns out they're from some of the best places to do philosophy -- with letters from P.V. Inwagen, for example. The correlation is interesting to note because one expects more confidence from people who underwent an excellent course of study with good professors in a (presumably) great community setting, but the betrayal of insecurity might lead us to believe that attendance at such programs is tough due to the pressure to be excellent and to compete with excellent peers.

As for me, I went to a small liberal arts college on a need-based scholarship. My department peers would tease me, very rarely, only because I'd turn my philosophy papers in on time when the norm was to turn it in a few days late. The environment was chill, and I was doing relatively well. Now, I'm getting waitlisted for funding at MA progams (despite having higher expectations), and I kind of just feel chill about it . . . how the world works, I guess.

What do you guys do in your free time? Together?
Do you discuss what each of you works on a lot, or is it more solo? And if you do discuss, is there a lot of helping one another? Basically, on a scale from zero to MIT, how intensely competitive is the culture?
Are there any really cool places to read books around here? Are there any really cool places to buy cheap books around here? (I love used bookstores) (substitute with your favourite activity/item)
How's the weather usually?
How's the town? Is it worth leaving campus for? How much worth?
How accessible are the professors?
Do you have cookies?
What's the best thing about this university? What about the city?
How cheap can you get a decent, healthy meal around here?
What should I be most wary of?
Is there a lot of bigotry around here? (as a Middle Eastern who looks Middle Eastern, the US feels less safe every day, cf. Trump and Super Tuesday)
I'll see if I can think of more.

What sorts of questions are you guys planning to ask on your visits? I was thinking it might be good to hear what others are thinking about in case there are questions we haven't thought to ask. For example, here are a few of mine:
 - Where do grad students tend to live? What is typical to pay for a shared two-bedroom apartment?
 - Do incoming grad students tend to find apartments together?
 - Do I need a car?
 - Is health insurance included in the fellowship? Is there any sort of premium?
 - How much does the fellowship generally come to after federal, state, and city taxes?
 - Is Professor x planning on retiring soon? Are any professors going to be leaving soon?
 - What is the completion rate for the program?
 - Is it possible to complete a JD/PhD at a law school externally? Or can one only apply to the joint degree program at the school in question.

These are just a few, and obviously some are very specific to my interests, but I'd be interested in hearing from others!
 

You're right, of course. I understand that my choice of venue was insensitive and my phrasing, tactless (not sure there is a sensitive venue for it other than a silent, unscrutinizing piece of paper, and I've already scribbled on one of those). I do wish people wouldn't imply, in incorrectly associating my frustration with my offer of admission, that I have the emotional capacity of a lightbulb and can only either be happy about the totality of my current state of affairs or unhappy about it. I'm pretty sure, and I hope I'm right about this, that I'm capable of being happy about one thing and unhappy about another. Nevertheless you're correct that I should refrain from going on about the comparatively insignificant bad that I'm experiencing when I've got it as good, in one very significant respect, as I do. I was being sincere in my apology above and I'll say it again: I'm sorry for the way I came off.
I've gotten similar lashings from friends and acquaintances who've scoffed at me and called me "stupid and irrational" for my current emotional state, and I don't doubt they're right. I feel like an arrogant, thoroughly dislikeable and genuinely horrid prick right now, and all I can do is hope it'll fade along with my disappointment. Self-applied tough love is probably the best mindset to adopt insofar as I can, and I know that. Thank you for speaking so understandingly. I'll have some tea for my sore throat now. Tea really is a beautiful thing.
 

They wouldn't pay for a visit if you didn't have a good chance of getting in! 

Cangratudolences! 

As above, I would expect something this week. Top secret ultra classified high value intelligence says so.
i.e. my advisor asked her friend at Rutgers

I don't know of a comprehensive list, but UCLA is notorious for this - if you look on gradcafe you'll see people had to solicit rejections on April fourteenth.

Pretty much sums up this whole process...

You're right, of course. I understand that my choice of venue was insensitive and my phrasing, tactless (not sure there is a sensitive venue for it other than a silent, unscrutinizing piece of paper, and I've already scribbled on one of those). I do wish people wouldn't imply, in incorrectly associating my frustration with my offer of admission, that I have the emotional capacity of a lightbulb and can only either be happy about the totality of my current state of affairs or unhappy about it. I'm pretty sure, and I hope I'm right about this, that I'm capable of being happy about one thing and unhappy about another. Nevertheless you're correct that I should refrain from going on about the comparatively insignificant bad that I'm experiencing when I've got it as good, in one very significant respect, as I do. I was being sincere in my apology above and I'll say it again: I'm sorry for the way I came off.
I've gotten similar lashings from friends and acquaintances who've scoffed at me and called me "stupid and irrational" for my current emotional state, and I don't doubt they're right. I feel like an arrogant, thoroughly dislikeable and genuinely horrid prick right now, and all I can do is hope it'll fade along with my disappointment. Self-applied tough love is probably the best mindset to adopt insofar as I can, and I know that. Thank you for speaking so understandingly. I'll have some tea for my sore throat now. Tea really is a beautiful thing.
 

I emailed ASU HPS to ask about my status, and they said they've sent a recommendation to the school of life sciences that I be admitted with support, and that the approval of their recommendation is "largely pro forma"... so it looks like I have an admit from ASU HPS! 

You're right, of course. I understand that my choice of venue was insensitive and my phrasing, tactless (not sure there is a sensitive venue for it other than a silent, unscrutinizing piece of paper, and I've already scribbled on one of those). I do wish people wouldn't imply, in incorrectly associating my frustration with my offer of admission, that I have the emotional capacity of a lightbulb and can only either be happy about the totality of my current state of affairs or unhappy about it. I'm pretty sure, and I hope I'm right about this, that I'm capable of being happy about one thing and unhappy about another. Nevertheless you're correct that I should refrain from going on about the comparatively insignificant bad that I'm experiencing when I've got it as good, in one very significant respect, as I do. I was being sincere in my apology above and I'll say it again: I'm sorry for the way I came off.
I've gotten similar lashings from friends and acquaintances who've scoffed at me and called me "stupid and irrational" for my current emotional state, and I don't doubt they're right. I feel like an arrogant, thoroughly dislikeable and genuinely horrid prick right now, and all I can do is hope it'll fade along with my disappointment. Self-applied tough love is probably the best mindset to adopt insofar as I can, and I know that. Thank you for speaking so understandingly. I'll have some tea for my sore throat now. Tea really is a beautiful thing.