Naruto

Hello everyone! I wish I knew about this website before submitted all of my applications, but at least I have found it. I have been obsessively watching both the results feed and the forums here to see if anyone has heard back from schools I applied for. This morning I figured to join in on the fun.
I am finishing up my undergrad degree in philosophy (w/ a minor in astronomy) at the U. of Arizona, so if anyone has questions about the faculty here please feel free to ask. I did not apply to the U. of A mostly because I do not feel that my application would have been strong enough. I switched into the philosophy major around a year and a half into undergrad from astronomy/physics double major, and I immediately fell in love. Unfortunately, I think missing a year and a half to connect with faculty and take more courses in the end might make the difference between getting into a PhD program or not, even though I have a kick-ass writing sample, solid recs., and solid GRE scores. But I am not fretting! I think I have a great shot at getting into a terminal MA program and then applying from there. I think I will be much better off gaining an additional two years of study under my belt before embarking on a PhD.
Here are the programs I applied to: PhD: U. of Minnesota (rejected), UConn, Rochester, U. of Illinois at Chicago, and Carnegie Mellon. MA: Northern Illinois, Georgia State, and U. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
After just reading through the forums I can already tell I have not done enough research into the schools which I want to apply to, but at least I am more knowledgeable when it comes to applying next time (whether from an MA or from all rejections).
AOI: Applied ethics, metaphysics (specifically free will), and philosophy education. During undergrad I have worked at the Center for Astronomy Education (funded by NASA), and have loved to see how methods in teaching undergraduate astronomy courses are formed through research. This is non-existent in philosophy, but I really think that doing research into the proper teaching methods of undergraduate philosophy courses is crucial (especially general education classes).
I'm done rambling. Good luck everyone and I'll see you around!

Just accepted to the University of Oklahoma!!! Woohoo!

Accepted to Maryland with full funding!

Accepted to Calgary!!  I have a chance of staying in my land of healthcare!  I'm not shut out!  Happy day

Someone posted this list of questions to ask when visiting graduate programs on the Facebook group. With this person's permission, I am posting the list here, because I thought others who may not be part of the Facebook group might find it useful:
Topics to ask grad schools:
(1) What is the climate for women/minorities like?
(2) Teacher accessibility
(3) Opportunities to teach (TA vs. teaching)
(4) Are grad students happy?
(5) Placement / prep for job market?
(6) Guaranteed 6th year of funding?
(7) How long does it take people to complete program?
(8) Teaching workload (how many students; grading help if a lot)
(9) Summer opportunities
(10) Transition from coursework to dissertation
(11) Opportunities to do Phil outside classroom
(12) Course selection
Questions to ask professors:
1. Are there opportunities to teach or only TA?
2. How does [school] prepare students for the job market?
3. What is financial support like beyond the fifth year?
4. How long does it take people to complete the program?
5. What is the teaching workload like? (How many students? Is there grading help (if a lot)? / How onerous is the teaching + grading load?)
6. What summer opportunities are available to students? What do students typically do over the summer?
7. How does [school] handle the transition from coursework to dissertation?
8. What opportunities are there to do philosophy outside f the classroom on campus? (E.g. reading groups, talks, philosophy society, school-sponsored philosophy conference, etc.)
9. How is the collection of the department library? How often is it updated?
10. Do all grad students /TAs get office space?
11. Links of the dept with professors in linguistics and other areas of cognitive science?
12. What do people typically do in winter and summer vacations?
13. People retiring in the next 2-3 years? New hirings planned in the next 1-2 years?
14. How many students is [professor] planning to take in the next few years?
15. Proto seminar- what is it like and what will it look like this fall semester?
16. Support for publishing in the initial years at _______ university?
17. Department fellowships which one can apply for later which can give time off teaching?
18. Your (professor's) current research interests and upcoming projects?
19. How often do the professors meet with students especially during the coursework stage?
20. Do professors come to reading groups and other department activity apart from colloquia?
21. What is the level of support available from the Department to attend conferences, workshops and seminars? How far does the stipend go in that area?
22. Is the funding 9 month or 12 month? What are the avenues for summer funding?
Questions to ask grad students:
1. How often do you meet with professors?
2. How often do you talk about philosophy with professors when you're not in meetings/classes? (To develop as a philosopher, it is very important to develop your in-person philosophy skills--thinking on your feet, asking good questions, responding to objections, etc.)
3. Do professors come to reading groups? (Or any departmental events that aren't colloquia?)
4. Do grad students ask questions at colloquia?
5. Do you feel comfortable talking in group settings? Have you felt comfortable talking in group settings since you first came? If not, when did you start feeling comfortable?
6. Do grad students share their work with one another/give feedback with one another?
7. How often are people around the department?
8. What do you like most about being here?
9. What do you like least about being here?
10. Do older grad students spend time around the department?
11. What kind of guidance do you get from your professors/advisor? (very important- you want faculty who really read your stuff carefully and make your papers better. if the faculty are mia or not very careful when they read your papers, you may not get this.)
12. Does the culture feel combative or one-up-y? Do you feel like you have to be "on" when you're in a philosophical setting?
13. Are the students here happy?
14. What are faculty and student working on in [area]? What is doing [area, e.g. metaphysics] like here?
Questions about climate:
1. Is there a MAP chapter? (You can usually find this out yourself)
1. If so, contact MAP coordinator
2. What is the climate like at [school]?
3. What has [school] done for women and minorities in philosophy?
4. What percentage of grad students are women?
5. Sexual harassment issues? [prob best to ask a grad student discretely]

I'm one of the Wisconsin acceptances. Very excited; very relieved.

I'm also one of the Wisconsin acceptances. Super relieved to get one this early in the season. Congrats to everyone else!

Accepted to UVA

Syracuse University! Offer with funding. 

Got accepted into the University of Tennessee, Knoxville -  full funding for 5 years!

Haven't heard anything from the 11 other programs to which I applied..

It was me! Very excited. Not sure if they've sent out others.

JUST ACCEPTED TO UCSB!! I needed this badly. I was shutout last year, and this was my last shot. My only worry now is funding. No word on that yet. If I can't get the funding, I can't go. Hoping it works out. 

Excellent- congratulations! I'm the Loyola-Chicago acceptance, so we might be neighbors

I'm the one who reported a UChicago acceptance. I'm shocked and thrilled!

Wait-listed to Miami! I'm not sure if the waitlist is ranked. Very excited!

Congratulations!! Also got an acceptance! In my SOP for Cincinnati, I listed 8 faculty members I want to work with, so I'm super excited!

Just received an email from the University of Cincinnati. Accepted with funding! 

I have an update on the Yale rejection. On the blog, the person who posted the rejection commented, "I mistakenly entered Philosophy in The Grad Cafe survey although I had been rejected from the German department. I was unable to change my mistake. Sorry!"

Wait-listed to Miami! I'm not sure if the waitlist is ranked. Very excited!

My friend is told it is not ranked.

Wait-listed to Miami! I'm not sure if the waitlist is ranked. Very excited!

Wait-listed to Miami! I'm not sure if the waitlist is ranked. Very excited!

Wait-listed to Miami! I'm not sure if the waitlist is ranked. Very excited!

Wait-listed to Miami! I'm not sure if the waitlist is ranked. Very excited!

Hi all! I just finished undergrad at a top 10 PGR-ranked school. I took the year off between undergrad and grad school to really settle on a path going forward (I was considering law school, as many philosophers do). I'm currently working full time, reading up on feminist metaphysics, and worrying about admissions results!
AOI: metaphysics, philosophy of language, social philosophy.
I applied to 12 PhD programs: Harvard, MIT, NYU, Princeton, Rutgers, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UNC Chapel Hill, U Michigan (Ann Arbor), UT Austin, Yale. 
Best of luck to you all!