Swann

To the DePaul admit: had you previously had an interview? Or is this the first you heard from them? And congrats!!

yikes. well looks like some emails went out........none for me, though

Wow. If this is right, they are meeting to review the final apps right now! And, that Skype meetings are next monday-wed. So...does this mean that theyll notify potential candidates today?? (I hope)

Hey schools...

Oh wow. Berkeley has been that consistent? Thanks for the info!

any hopes/guesses for decisions to come out on Monday (or any day this week)...?

Yep. Same. rejection. I was really hoping for NW

Nope not yet...I just checked my app and it just says "submitted". Hopefully they'll send a few more emails out? Though, it looks like they went out at like 4am? That seems strange. At the very least, hopefully they still have WL to send.

I'm coming late to this thread, but oh well... I've recently become somewhat interested in philosophy of race...or, at least, I'm exploring the topic. I'm really enjoying it! I've just read Alcoff's The Future of Whiteness and Yancy's Look, a White!, both of which were great. Yancy's style is amazing...I'm kind of regretting not applying to Emory after reading his book. Also, I'm about to start Mills' The Racial Contract. If anyone has any suggestions for reading on this topic, I'd love to hear them. I also just started watching the new season of Bates Motel, and it is intense!

I hope you're right about tomorrow :). And yea, I'm feeling the same about when I should stop thinking about it. I feel like 6pm is a safe bet...(but I don't know, I saw that some acceptances went out last year all the way up to 10:30 pm?!?) Luckily, I have some work to keep me busy. Its not, however, enough to totally distract me from checking my emails constantly!

I know the predictions are only that—predictions—but I am getting so anxious here waiting for Northwestern!

So...next week is the first week with some predictions! (Northwestern, Ohio, Duke, and UI-C [whats the "jan 27 deadline" about?]) Anyone getting anxious? I'm crossing my fingers for NW, UIC, and Duke!!

burn out is tough. i was shut out last year. and i was surprised that rather than not being accepted and not knowing what i would be doing for the next year, maybe the worst part of not getting in to any program was thinking about how much work i put into my applications. (not to mention all the $!) but best of luck to everyone this year. the application process is difficult. but, i must say, applying for a second time has been much smoother: not only do i think my application is stronger this year, but i have also been much less stressed by the whole process. heres to hoping we all get in, and the hard work pays off!!

Mine UR schools are DePaul, Boston U, and Vanderbilt. And, to be honest, DePaul is among the programs I hope to get into most.

just curious: if you don't mind my asking, what is your WS on? I ask because I have a side-interest in those figures (relating to aesthetics).

Your score looks decent to me (for whatever that is worth). If your WS is quality work, then I'd imagine that the 4 on AW would become less of something to worry about. This post is encouraging. I also don't have a "strong pedigree". I feel I have an okay-not-excellent score (165/157/5). Its not a score I feel will hurt me, but it won't help that much either. I am pretty confident with the quality of my writing sample...but you can never be too sure. So I'm trying to not be all too confident.

Oh ok, that makes sense. Thank you. I am used to only hearing people talk about "Student Conferences," which are grad or undergrad (or both) level conferences, or "Professional Conferences" that include professors, researchers, students, etc. anyway, nice job presenting at so many. I would think (though I do not know for certain) that that would help your chances of admission somewhat.

just out of curiosity...what do you mean by "peer-reviewed conferences"?

Why do you wish you had waited? To change some parts of your app? I wish I had been ready to submit before the deadline! haha great! Congrats! I also hope to have the rest of mine submitted before the new year. But even just having a few submitted already feels like such a relief.

I"VE SUBMITTED MY FIRST APP. it'll all be downhill from here (until the end of January, when I start dying from anxiety)

Just a few days until my first app is due! I've got most of my stuff together, but I'm definitely beginning to enter full-anxiety mode. Hows anyone else feeling? Good luck to all those applying to Stanford (or, any other program with a deadline on the 6th)! and, to those with the international Dec 1 deadline, I hope your first apps went smoothly!

Its exciting that there are only three weeks until my first application is due (Stanford). I'm so ready for these applications to start being done with! That said, maybe this thread could be used to discuss the pressures involved in submitting your first apps...e.g., any finalization details, technical questions, or just venting. How specific do you get—regarding the department you are sending it to—with your SoP. That is, how much time do you spend describing specifics of the department (faculty, courses, whatever)? I have been given differing advice on this: 1) just describe your interests in good detail and it will be obvious whether or not you fit the department, or 2) describe your interests, but then name professors, or highlight specific reasons why you know X department would be an excellent fit for you. Any obvious reason to choose 1 over 2? Also, Does it seem important, helpful, or worthwhile to include an abstract with your writing sample even if the departments do ask for one? And, if it is not necessarily important or helpful—does it seem like it would actually hurt to include one when they are not requested? How about cover pages?

Something I've been thinking about during this application process is the role of students play in culture or society more generally. What I mean is, I am wondering if students, qua students, serve a productive role in society. The reason I've been wondering about this is because of the reaction I get from acquaintances or relatives when they hear I am applying for further schooling: "Oh...you're still in school?", "How much longer before you get a real job?", etc. The comment that sparked my thought on the issue was when someone asked, "What do you do?" and I said, "I'm a philosophy student." "That sounds interesting," they replied, "what are you going to do after that?" "Well," I told them, "I've been in the process of applying to PhD programs, so hopefully I will start that in the fall." What they said next offended me initially (though, they didn't mean it to come off as offensive): "No, I mean, what are you going to do in order to be productive." At first, I thought, "well, I am already being productive. Academic work is real work." But then I started really wondering about the extent to which students are—despite my belief that academic work is real work and not just homework, busy work, mere training, etc.—playing a productive role in society. I've been a little stuck not only on how to answer this question, but even on how to approach it. The application process is stressful enough, and now I've been stressing over the role, or nature, of what it is I am even applying myself towards. The question is not really what philosophy does for society, or philosophy's real application(s); rather, its about being a student more generally. I'm curious if any of you have thought about this question. We have all decided to take our lives as students very seriously, so I'm guessing I'm not alone in wondering about this question. I'm also curious to hear from those of you with MA(s), since you've spent more time in school without reaching your "real job", and have probably had to put up with comments like these for a while longer. So: are students, as students, productive? Is the life of the student just a preparation for real productive work?

As someone with similar interests as you, I am curious why you would almost certainly choose Columbia. It seems to me that, at least in regards to ancient philosophy, Stanford seems to be a much better program (but, of course, all three programs are great overall); and as far as epistemology goes I would again opt for Stanford...although, it is true that as far as faculty interest goes there are more professors at Columbia that have epistemology listed as their interests. For me: it seems I unfortunately have been totally shut out this year. And, like I said I have similar interests as you, so I envy the choice you have to make. But I guess I am just curious if there are specific reasons why you're learning towards Columbia, or if its just a general intuition you have.

I'm rooting for UCR today, too! Although it is good to know that they are sporadic when it comes to days of the week they release on. For some reason I thought they had a history of releasing on Thursdays.