MentalEngineer

Option C (warning, cynical): Send it to the journal your adviser tells you to send it to - their former student/grad school roommate/spouse is the editor, and at least you won't get desk rejected. Option D (warning, depressing if you like good philosophy): Find a narrower subfield that nobody cares about to decrease the quantity and quality of your competition. I'm having one of those days, OK?

FWIW, I think UIUC is significantly weakened by Dan Korman leaving for Santa Barbara, so probably the right move on your part. Even if you don't do metaphysics, he's a really good person to have around and he'll be hard to replace.

Does your top choice school know that you have another offer? If not, I would tell them. They should understand that you need to make a decision and do their best to give you as much information as they can as quickly as they can. If they don't, that ought to be valuable information in making your choice.

I know two people who got in; one has definitely taken the offer and the other is almost certain to do so.

Of the two, I only got into/visited Cincinnati, but I was really impressed. If you're interested in phil of mind, especially new and interesting approaches, it's a great choice. Plus it's starting to draw some notice in the rankings, so whatever value that holds is likely to increase during your time there.

I made my decision between three largely equivalent programs mostly on the basis of yearly average temperature, and secondarily on a desire not to move back to the city I grew up in. You might be able to guess something like the first criterion. But weird individual things like the second? Good luck. Get to the Winchester, have a pint, and wait for everything to blow over.

Looking specifically at PhD chances, I would say FSU is the better option. Completing the MA here essentially guarantees admission to the PhD; you basically have one PhD offer in the bag already as long as you do well in the MA, and then you can apply out and aim higher if you like. Unlike at many PhD-granting schools that offer an MA, FSU also puts quite a bit of effort into offering MA students the same support as the PhD students. UF's course offerings are a little bit more well-rounded than ours IMO, but I don't know what their PhD placement is like. If I met you last weekend, I would have told you this at greater length in person If I didn't and you're in Florida (which I infer from your choice of applications), I hope you'll have the chance to get up here before you make your decision!

This issue comes up every year. It is basically a scam, at least if you want to get into academic philosophy. Someone in my MA cohort took the offer after having been told about how it would get him visibility with the faculty, a chance to write papers to their standards, etc. He has yet to secure admission to any PhD so far as I know, let alone NYU's. The money was a drop in the bucket to his family, but that doesn't make it acceptable for NYU to do this.

Having attended a high-level terminal MA program with perennial funding issues, I have a somewhat different take. While I completely agree with posters above that the purpose of graduate study in philosophy is, or at least ought to be, focusing less on academic job placement, the purpose of terminal MA programs is not changing in this way. While other options are (lightly) discussed at my program, and choosing not to go into academia isn't stigmatized, the curriculum, organization of the department, and baseline social expectation is that students will at least be attempting to continue into a PhD program. This is an explicit primary goal of the program, and funding someone who wasn't on that pathway would, to a degree, run counter to its mission. With this in mind, here's what I want to ask you: why do you need the degree? Is it because you think having an MA will be good for a nonacademic career? Unless your specific situation gives you strong evidence for this, it's probably less true than you think (cf. here). Just in case you do in fact want to adjunct later? This may be harder to do with just an MA than you think. Because you want to do some graduate-level work and/or write a thesis? You can do this without even formally enrolling in many cases - my MA has a guy in it who's been auditing classes for more than 10 years, and he works just as hard as everyone else. Because you want to be able to get the formal reward for the work you plan to put in? I think this one's actually a decent reason for wanting the degree, but I'm not sure it justifies seeking a funded spot. I think if you have the ability to sit in on or audit some graduate classes, you should start there. Departments are often very accommodating of people who want to be in their classrooms just because they really like philosophy, especially if they're also actually good at it. I suggest this as a starting point because you may find that this is "enough" for you, solving your concern about taking funding without costing you a lot of money. If you still want more, you can always formally apply to programs, at which point having audited grad classes can only help your applications - and at which point you should have no qualms about accepting funding.

Yes! You're getting in this year, I can feel it.

I know someone who did his undergrad there. Nothing but good things to say about it!

The ~$2000 in academic fees. There's bipartisan support for a reduction, including from the governor, so those are likely to fall by some as-yet-undetermined amount. The union will continue lobbying for a 100% waiver, and might actually get it. (Yes, I'm heavily involved with the union, how could you tell?)

And I thought my voyeurism was bad!

A note on funding for FSU acceptees (@Naruto, @Nichi, @PhDorBUST, and especially any others who haven't posted): annual collective bargaining between the GA union and administration and possible Florida legislation on graduate student fee waivers are both likely to affect the value of your funding package between now and your visit/final decision. You don't have to talk to me specifically, but please keep abreast of this somehow before you commit - the shift might be on the order of a couple thousand dollars depending on how things go, and you should know where things stand before you lock yourself into anything.

Yay! You should message me! And come visit if you can!