machineghost

I don’t think any top 20 schools besides Berkeley have announced. So I think you are right.

I would suggest writing to the schools in question and asking for their advice. I’ve emailed with several DGAs and have always received helpful replies. My bunch is that your GRE’s don’t need to be extraordinary but you should try to get your verbal into the 160s If at all feasible. Spend a few months studying and take practice tests so that you know where you are at. Pay special attention to time management/question-skipping strategies, as your test-strategy alone can make a big difference to your score. Also, I think that your writing sample and your letters will be the most important factor, and while your publication record might help a bit, I doubt it will make much of a difference without a great sample and strong letters. i would prioritize those things over trying to publish more papers in undergraduate journals. But, again, don’t believe me. Email the schools and get their advice. Best of luck!

You might find this helpful: https://www.dropbox.com/s/61qgeway2nyhr7x/APDA2017FinalReport.pdf?dl=0 And this: http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2017/10/placement-in-phd-granting-program.html#more If memory serves, the upshot was that Leiter ranking did correlate pretty well with placement and that the APDA placement rankings didn’t take into account prestigious post-docs that routinely lead to placement into desirable tenure-track jobs. But I might be misremembering. Still, that discussion and the one on dailynous are probably worth checking out.

Yes, assuming it isn’t a clerical error, it usually means you still have a small chance (or at least did have a small chance when they sent out the rejections). If you were definitely rejected, they would have rejected you when they rejected everyone else.

There’s a book called “Philosophy for Graduate Students” that I found helpful as a review of some important areas (epistemology, metaphysics, mind, etc.). It’s available on Amazon. For political philosophy, you can’t beat Kymlicka’s Contemporary Political Philosophy.

Something tells me that ain’t nothing gonna slow you down. I’ve enjoyed your company as well.

Your background in economics might serve you well if you studied political philosophy. But I’m not sure if political philosophy is something that you are interested in.

Sorry to hear that. I have not yet heard anything from them. Perhaps they are just going through them one by one. I know better than to assume that I’m safe just because I haven’t heard anything yet. Sometimes they process rejections slowly. I also haven’t heard from UT-Austin. If history is any guide, they should be sending out rejections soon and then operating on one transparent waitlist and one hidden waitlist. Good times.

I agree with the others in general. Don’t be *overly* concerned. At the same time, if you plan to actually go into academia, bear in mind that how you conduct yourself, including how you dress, can and will be used against you. So dress how you want bearing in mind that non-philosophical factors such as how you conduct yourself will make a difference in how your professors perceive you and it might influence their opinion of your philosophical ability as well (rightly or wrongly).

I agree, and the whole point of it is to help people like us make informed decisions. I think most of us would be lost without it, especially as it relates to speciality rankings. Take it with a grain of salt, to be sure, but to act as if it’s useless strikes me as bizarre.

You should reply promptly thanking them for reaching out, telling them that you are excited for the offer, that you are still making your decision, and that you will be sure to let them know as soon as you decide. But I do think you should reply soon and you should just be honest.

Some students do get into top programs from schools that are not highly regarded, but it’s definitely harder. As you mentioned, lots of people in your situation go the MA route, and you have a good shot at a top MA if you have a philosophy degree and a high GPA, especially in philosophy, even if you didn’t go to a highly regarded school. Lots of people do get into top MA programs from schools that are not particularly highly regarded.

This might be helpful. It was 2009 but I don’t think that most of the packages have changed much. I was admitted into a PhD program listed on this page in 2016 and the stipend was exactly the same. Others might be a bit different but I’m guessing that they are pretty close.

Looks like you forgot what is alleged to be the most important component of an application: the writing sample. Where does that fit into your theory?

I think it is appropriate to say something like “Thanks for reaching out, Professor X. I will let you know if I have any questions.” I doubt they expect any more than a prompt reply. Contact them again if you do end up having a question.

UT-Austin has historically used secret waitlists. When I applied there a couple of years ago, I did not receive an acceptance or a waitlist notification but also did not receive a rejection notification when the rejections initially went out. I assumed that I was rejected and a month or so went by and I needed to make a decision, so I contacted them just to make sure I was rejected but I wasn’t. I was told that I was in a pool of strong applicants that they might draw from if need be. I got the impression that I was actually quite close to being admitted but, in the end. I wasn’t. So, you will know a bit more when they send out their initial rejections. If you don’t receice anything then, it is safe to assume that you are on a not-so-secret waitlist.

They did announce a waitlist, at least based on the results page. I’ve presumed a rejection from UT-Austin, or, at best, a hidden waitlist. Either way, your goose is probably cooked if you haven’t heard from them.

No, they will inform the applicant, but maybe not until well past the time when the applicant figures out that they’ve been rejected.

I think the right choice here really depends on the extent to which you regard the prospects of teaching community college instead of a tenure-track position at a research university as no big deal. If you hardly care at all, then I’d go with the PhD offer since Memphis is a good fit for you. But if there is a substantial part of you that wants the TT gig at a research university, then I’d consider GSU. But based on what you said, I’d lean toward Memphis.

I’m wondering the same thing. I hope they finish up soon.

I happen to think that there are some pretty significant differences based on what I’ve seen. Also, you have give greater emphasis to the last couple of years, I think, to get an idea as to trends that might be emerging. It seems to me that NIU is outperforming most over the past couple of years, including what I’ve heard from NIU students this year. I say this as someone who is not at NIU! I don’t think that it’s true that a student can expect to get into the same programs (or programs with similar rankings) without regard to which program they enter.

With eventual success?

Thanks for the encouragement. That is good to know.

If you get shut out, you should definitely reapply. Getting that close at several top places is a good sign of things to come if you hang in there. But it’s really bizarre that you were that close to admittance at the best place to do philosophy (NYU) but not admitted at GSU. That must be frustrating.

Yep, it’s a frustrating process, and given the randomness, it’s not clear that trying again will yield a different result. At some point, it probably would, but who knows when. Somebody posted in the admissions page that they were waitlisted at NYU and GSU (MA) but rejected from Michigan and some other places. With that sort of randomness, it’s hard to have any hope that the outcome will be favorable next year.