[Venting Thread]

6 hours ago, TheChosenOne said:

I'm here to vent about the severe racism and sexism among admissions committees. ...

And it's no small matter. My white male friend and I have received only rejections and anticipate many more. I applied to a ton of schools and anticipate maybe one or two acceptances (but only after sitting for many weeks on a waitlist). But we know two gals at our program, of equal caliber with ourselves (perhaps lower), who each got into nearly every program they applied to, some within the top 10, with full funding. In fact, when one of these gals was flown out to a top university, they practically begged her to come. ...

 

6 hours ago, TheChosenOne said:

I know these two personally, know their scores, their letters, and their writing samples. I actually helped one write hers. I've also got better GRE scores, and an MA. (She's only an undergrad.) So it is frustrating to watch her get in to so many places while I've gotten pretty much nothing.

In Jungian psychology, what we do not acknowledge in ourselves (our Shadow Self) is projected onto others.

This person, who aptly calls himself "TheChosenOne", complains of special treatment yet secretly desires this special treatment for himself.

I deplore this attitude and all those who sympathise with the content of his post.

No one (and that means no one regardless of their gender or race) is entitled to a PhD, no matter how brilliant, smart or excellent they are (or think they are).

Lose the sense of entitlement and you will, remarkably, also lose all the frustration and anger that goes with it. 

[2016 Rejection/Plan B Thread]

22 minutes ago, Hermione27 said:

I understand. I was not trying to be judgmental as much as cautious because I know law school is a big commitment. I worry about taking on a lot of debt and then ending up not being a lawyer. Not to mention the time commitment in studying whilst in law school and for the bar. I am still in debt for my bachelor's. Because of the aforementioned I feel I should be careful on embarking on such a huge commitment when I am not even sure about law school. Mostly I was extrapolating from my experience in political philosophy.

But you did make contract litigation sound  more appealing.  

 

No worries.  I completely understand that pursuing law school is a big commitment, and it's important to consider it in its entirety. 

Whilst I know that it won't be your decisive factor, I just caution basing it on the type of law you hope to practise in - which to my, and my peers' experience, has been the most unpredictable element in our legal journey.  Where you end up, that's an important consideration for sure, but what you do when you end up there - to be honest, it really depends on the demands of the legal market at the time, as well as the colleagues you'll end up working with (who you get along with, whose working style suits you etc.)

The chief questions that I would consider if I were to decide about whether to go to law school again (with the benefit of hindsight) are: (1) do I have what it takes to get into a top tier law school (~ T-14)? (2) if so, do I have what it takes (in terms of grit, determination etc.) to work hard during and after law school (in terms of looking for jobs, working etc.) to get to where I want to end up, knowing that it is not going to be pleasant and enjoyable all the time? (3) and, lastly, would I find satisfaction at the very end?

[2016 Rejection/Plan B Thread]

1 hour ago, Hermione27 said:

My backup plan is law school. However, I am not sure about law school because it is something I only kind of like. I find certain aspects of law interesting but I know a lot of it, or so I heard, centers on contracts and I am not interested in that so much. But I will start studying for the October LSAT soon. Right now I am working on a paper for an international conference on Hegel. It is time consuming, because the research includes psychology, namely Jung, and I have never done psychology before. 

Lawyer jumping in here.  Whilst I understand why you might be attracted to certain types of law and not others, I'd say that it is way too early at this stage to make any judgement calls on what you would end up enjoying practising as a lawyer.  True, contract law features heavily in the commercial context (particularly if you want to work in biglaw), and I confess I wasn't particularly enamoured studying it in my first year of law school, but it's actually one of those areas that allows for a lot of creativity, which I am starting to believe more and more is a hallmark of a great lawyer.  

There is a craftsmanship to drafting and a skilled lawyer in this regard is like an artisan.  Even litigating contract law cases is particularly interesting because there is often a wealth of interpretation in those disputes, and the arguments that you put forward can be interesting (and quite important in the wider context of precedents, common law etc.)  I've been on both sides of the equation. 

Not that I'm pushing contract law or anything, but just citing it as an example of not judging a book by its cover.

(Btw, i should add for clarification that there is no "contract law practice group" in a law firm - it is integrated with the firm's practice groups based on other subject matter, e.g. M&A, telecommunications, banking and finance etc.  I had a potential applicant, a law school student, enthuse to me about working in the "contract law practice group" in one of those recruitment events - it demonstrated a real lack of awareness of the commercial reality, not to mention a lack of bother to do a simple Google search on the firm that you are supposedly so "excited" about (or even any other law firm) to reveal that there is no such thing as a "contract law practice group".  Needless to say, he did not even make it to the first cut). 

[Favorite Rejection Quotes from the Results Page]

Not funny rejection responses from the applicant (rejectee?) but from the universities themselves - 

University of Calgary (Philosophy, Masters):

• "Your application has been cancelled for the following reason: More Than One Reason" lol, thanks for the info, that's very helpful...

I agree.  If that was me, I'd be relieved to know that my rejection was thoroughly warranted on the basis of problems too many to specify by the university ... 

Harvard University (Philosophy, PhD):

• Letter from Dean of Admissions: "Naturally, Harvard's doors are now closed to you, but I'll pass your file along to Brown."

Rofl.  The applicant must be kidding on this one ... 

DePaul University (Philosophy, PhD):

• too bad I got rejected from the "PhD Program program" I was really looking forward to getting a PhD in PhD programs

I wouldn't stop there - I'm aiming high for the PhD in PhD program of programs.

Finally, Rutgers University (Philosophy, PhD):

• I was taken aback by how kind and personalized the 11-word notification was.

[Favorite Rejection Quotes from the Results Page]

This thread is hilarious. It makes me feel better about the future, no matter the outcome

My contribution from browsing last year's philosophy notifications to alleviate my waiting boredom:

Penn State (Philosophy PHD):

• 0a/0w/8r (of 10). I got 99 problems, but deciding which program to attend ain't one.