thehegeldialectic

I got a call from one program and then an email from the rest. One of the schools emailed to set up an interview (unfortunately it went to an old email account from the previous time I registered and I luckily saw it at the last second!).

Good luck with your career having this attitude.

Only because continental programs aren't placed on the ranking. Fordham is a great program with a strong reputation.

Did you do it through the website, or email them?

Accepted Villanova. Declined Duquesne, Kentucky, South Florida, USI Carbondale, and removed myself from the wait list at Loyola and UC Riverside. So the final score is a5/2w/r7 out of 14. Pretty good season, I'd say.

Wow, that's kind of insane.

I know that some MA programs, especially the funded ones, do not practice grade inflation. It has something to do with the reputation/ability of the program to place their students and provide a measure of their ability. I made a 4.0 in my MA, but don't know what my colleagues are making. I think the standard practices is to give an A- if a student could have or should have done better.

Since we know that Leiter personally hates continental philosophy, this should come as no surprise. The rankings are bullshit. The obvious intention behind their design is to create the false image that all "serious" continental philosophy is being done by Dreyfus, Pippin, Rorty, or Brandom.

Both of these claims are false. The top schools listed are all "analytic" schools with a few continental people on the side. In the case of Irvine, there is LITERALLY ONE PERSON working on Husserl, and the rest of the faculty are analytic. They do not list the top continental schools, such as DePaul, Villanova, Duquesne, Emory, or Boston College. These programs aren't even mentioned on the list. Your second point is pure propaganda.

It's nice to see Leiter has learned to start using his words, rather than his poop, to make ridiculous ad hominem attacks. (For those not in the loop: https://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/professors-receive-packets-of-poop?utm_term=.rtkYRQWre#.xjEMn2qv0 )

Rejected Vanderbilt. Already made my decision and don't really want to go there anyways, so whatever. Wish they would have had the decency to tell me earlier.

I would also advise you to completely ignore rankings, especially Leiter's. Instead, I would try to determine (from talking to current students at Kingston) how much you actually get to work with these big named people. Of course, if you have a letter of recommendation from someone like Balibar or Malabou, this could be very good for applying to programs in the tradition of continental philosophy, especially programs that emphasize the French tradition. However, there's a growing number of programs that allow students to study with big name figures at a significant cost (such as the European Graduate School or the New School for Social Research) that can have some downsides when it comes to faculty availability, tuition rates, and the level of engagement/competition among your peers (I have heard there was a major controversy, which involved Ranciere and Badiou leaving the EGS). That's not to say that you can't go to one of these programs and succeed, nor is this to say that Kingston is like this (I have heard nothing to indicate this about Kingston). Just that sometimes programs that offer you a chance to study with the biggest names in philosophy sometimes are funded by the fact that people are *paying* for the opportunity to study under one of the greats, so you have to be careful. But again, I heave heard nothing to indicate this about Kingston, and if you are excited about the faculty (I certainly would be), it might be a great choice.

Nope. As I understand it, they had two tiers on the waitlist, those interviewed and those not interviewed.

Unless ... The person is famous and you're a big fan of their books (although I must admit, I felt like I was leading them on.

Still waiting on Vanderbilt, USI Carbondale, and ... University of Memphis (who I'd equally forgotten about). Have already accepted an offer, so now I'm just curious.

Declined Kentucky, removed myself from the waitlist at Loyola and UC Riverside.

Well said.

I have decided to go to Villanova. Just declined University of South Florida and Duquesne. Will be sending out an email to Kentucky soon. They removed me from the waitlist, so if you're still on the list, that's probably a good sign!

No, it's more common for people to apply to 20 and get into none.

From my brief period of studying with Brandom, I can say that I would definitely agree that it's better for doing "Pittsburgh Hegelianism" than Hegel exegesis. I like Brandom's work a lot, but his exegesis can be very forced in terms of making the text say what Brandom wants it to say. You will learn much more about Brandom than Hegel. I haven't studied with McDowell, but I get the impression from his articles that he's a bit closer to the text when it comes to interpreting Hegel through Hegel's own terminology. But I am not sure about his seminars. As far as students go, most of the student I met who were working on German Idealism were visiting from other universities. Most of the Pitt students seemed to be taking the course more to understand Brandom's work. The exception would be Kant. Students very much know their Kant at Pitt. Also, I know that they sometimes fly down Sebastian Rödl to teach Kant seminars. Last year McDowell did a year-long course on all three critiques, but apparently Rödl more or less taught the whole thing. I work on German Idealism and applied to University of Chicago, but not Pittsburgh. I think that Chicago might be a bit better in terms of doing exegesis, although if you want to be a part of the whole Pittsburgh Hegelianism debate, Pitt might be a better move.

I would take into account that not all students who finish an MA end up applying for Ph.D. programs. This might be worth factoring into looking at placement. It might also be good to try to find information about the specific programs where MA students from these programs have been placed. If they have taken MA students from a program before, they likely have a positive view of the MA program.

Solicited Villanova and University of Memphis. Also haven't heard from USI Carbondale, but I don't think they've sent out any offers yet anyways. Either way, the season is nearing a close, and 4a/3w/4r out of 14 isn't bad.

I just think it's pretty ridiculous to think that they key to getting a job is being from a program ranked highly by the PGR. From what I have personally seen at my own graduate department (and from talking to students about recent graduates), the students who aren't getting placed in programs are the ones who are burnt out, don't like philosophy anymore, don't care to finish, or are otherwise busy. The students who are still working hard, staying passionate, and are excited about philosophy end up getting placed. At the end of the day, it's your own hard work and perseverance that gets you a good job, not going to a PGR top-20 program. So I would choose a place where you can study for six years and still like studying philosophy after those six years, not somewhere that one thinks will look impressive.

Couldn't agree with this more.

Sorry, meant to mentioned I solicited over email.