thehegeldialectic

Accepted University of South Florida after sending an email asking about my application status. Edit: Also heard back from UC Riverside that I'm on the waitlist.

Just sent an email to ask my application status to University of South Florida. They replied that I was accepted with funding! I was not expecting that!

Hello everyone, I am considering making a list of pros and cons for all of the programs I am considering, so that I can make a final decision. I am guessing that others might be doing the same. Any thoughts about important stuff to include on such list? Some ideas to start: -Money -Length of Funding -Teaching Duties -Style of Teaching -Diversity of Course Offerings

No, because I do not believe that the PGR should exist nor do I think it provides any significant indication of the merits of philosophy programs.

I haven't heard this either! Got to say that I took a course with Brandom last semester and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Rejected Oregon. They can't afford me anyways!

Because philosophy majors score higher on the verbal than any other major, including English. If you have a verbal of 167+, then you have "good scores." However, if you just made it generally into the mid 160's, then you're in the same boat as most of the other applicants, and it's not going to be counted as a point in your favor, because it's not exceptional by any means. If you are below 160, and especially if you are in the 150's, you will encounter a problem. The school of humanities likely requires the philosophy department to meet a certain average GRE score. This means that they might only be able to take one student with a GRE score in the 150's. It also means that you will be less competitive for fellowships, as these often involve GRE requirements. So basically, a low score *hurts* your chances because the department can only take in so many people with low scores. But a high score doesn't mean you'll get in, because at the end of the day, it's the writing sample and general fit that matters.

Poor guy.

I am speaking at a conference this week where one of my POI's is the keynote. Should I mention something about why I haven't heard back? Because I probably will.

I thought this dude was an alt-right YouTube guy?

I am considering sending Riverside an email.

I would say that you shouldn't commit until you hear back from your other live options. The spot is still yours until April 15, and it's not like you're holding anyone up.

That sounds dope.

There are plenty of top programs that give $18k. I think that you have some bad information.

More like $18,000 I would say. I guess the best thing to do would be to try to find roommates or commute from somewhere far away, if you end up taking the offer.

Some give you four years, but usually give you teaching during years five and six. Not all universities have a ton of funding.

A ton of them ...

Have any of you found stuff out by checking the online portal that you didn't find out via email or phone call? If so, for what school?

Probably best to contact someone with a better ethical track record. Or maybe he will mail them poop!

If true, could you please provide the name of the program responsible?

I would present it at a conference or colloquium (several if possible). That should give you some really good feedback and let you know what parts are interesting and where you can look for improvement. Next, ask your friends or colleagues for feedback. Finally, it's hard to get professors to take the time (and sometimes for them to be honest), but it's worth a shot. I would say no. You might try to rework the argument of the current sample or improve the engagement with the literature, and take the same general idea to the next level, but I think it's a bad idea to try to play the exact same hand again. Some exceptions might be if: (a) You only applied to a few programs, enough to not rule out bad luck. (b) You were waitlisted at several programs, suggesting that they might have liked the sample, but couldn't squeeze you in. (c) You are applying to different programs, ones more suited to your interests. If you apply to the same program with the same writing sample, they might reject you for the same reason. I will say that when I applied two years ago before my MA, I thought my writing sample was perfect. Two years later, I see that, despite its strengths, it contained a major/flaw oversight that I was only able to recognize by engaging more with the literature. It's not the last minute, which means we can definitely rule out Vanderbilt sending rejections. Therefore it's either spam or they wrote the department and asked.

Absolutely. They know that international students are less likely to be able to visit.

I have never heard of either of these, but I will say that I did a MA at one of the top programs and it worked out well for me. If you can afford it or don't care about debt, then go for it.

I mean, if you're applying to programs that don't have people who work on Theresa Avalia, Meister Eckhart, Neoplatonism, etc., they might wonder why you're applying there to work on mysticism. But I think that, if you want to work on mysticism, you should try to find somewhere strong in medieval philosophy. There's a ton of great work being done on mysticism right now. A lot of it intersects with feminist studies as well. It's definitely worth doing, you just have to target the right programs.

Do they not have anyone working on the mystical tradition at UCSD? I remember their faculty being pretty big.