steve3020

Hi,
I've been recently accepted to the MA programme at SPTH and would like to learn more about it, about funding, relationship with the faculty, where to live, etc. As I can't visit the school I'd like to talk to someone who is in the programme or knows about it well. Anyone?? 

Hi there, sounds like we have a similar range of interests. I also come from a background outside philosophy (politics), and study 'continental' philosophy mainly. I'm not too sure about philosophy as I am doing research on where to apply myself, but last year I applied to comparative literature courses because they tend to be very flexible with disciplinary boundaries. I ended up applying to complit because I followed certain authors I'm interested in such as Bruno Bosteels, Joan Copjec, Kenneth Reinhard, Kristin Ross, etc. who all happened to be in Complit or Cultural Studies departments. 
I'm not really answering your question about transitioning into philosophy, but you might want to have a look at other cognate fields (complit, literary theory, cultural studies, etc.) which seem to be more open to interdiciplinarians. I'm not sure about analytic philosophy but they tend to be very much theory-oriented with people working in political thought and contemporary european philosophy including Deleuze. 

Ah, so good to see a couple of replies to this one...I've been thinking about it as it lingered and languished here for a while, I suspect just because of how genuinely tricky this situation is. I was in a similar situation, and while I appreciate the other replies, I'd strongly suggest considering the prospect of taking turns with your degrees. Not a very sexy option, but it did work for me. My partner and I found the odds just too damn tough to deal with, even by focusing on similar schools and/or similar geographic areas; it was too hard not to envision the scenario in which one acceptance didn't align with the other acceptance - or the other non-acceptances - and in turn, that anxiety alone was too great to even begin us going down that route. By taking turns, you really turn the situation back into a one-step-at-a-time kind of approach. Granted, it is an early step, and it doesn't solve the later step of how to gain employment in the same geographic region. But that later step would be waiting for you in any case. If you're willing to take turns, one of you has to be willing to wait. That was me, the waiter, and I can tell you that it wasn't that bad. I waited 3 years, which gave me time to save up some money and really fine-tune my applications. Yes, there were times when I just really wanted to get moving on the process, but then again, I was moving on the process, if we spin things around to the positive light. In this way, one of the unfortunate aspects of higher degrees in this field, wherein one must be hyper-professionalized in order to gain entrance into a program that has traditionally been designed to impart the professional skills that one must already have, actually becomes an advantage: you get a crack at independent scholarship, and with a purpose and an end-game to boot. If you have a job, you also get money...the independent scholarship thus happens on nights and weekends, and so you don't really ever sleep, and viola! It's just like you're already in grad school with the silver lining that you're not totally broke!
There are those who would see my optimism as forced or strained...the truth is, this is not an easy situation, and my proposed solution is not an easy fix. But it is a doable one. For those of a certain temperament, I actually think that it can galvanize two commitments at once, since you'd have to be truly in love with your partner as well as your scholarship to do something like this. And those commitments do get tested here - I view these as something like a long-distance relationship, which, for me, is like the last thing I'd ever want to attempt, or to wish on my enemies, yet sometimes there is simply a shortage of great options, in which case sucking it up and keeping the faith is about all you have to go on (in fact you can see through these comparisons that I'd rather wait on my dream than attempt long-distance from my partner, which in itself implies a hierarchy of my own personal priorities). But commitment is commitment, and if it's real on both counts, then you don't question it, you just do it. And hey, if it's not real on either count, then finding that out earlier rather than later is not such a bad thing, either. 
Whatever you choose, I wish you luck! Just know that it can work, and for my money one step at a time - literally - is what makes the difference. Both of you applying at the same time would literally be two steps at once, presuming you're a permanent unit who will go the full distance together, that is, degree, employment and beyond.

Hello! So, here's my story. I graduated high school in Florida. They have a generous scholarship program where if you get a certain SAT score and GPA, you get a full-tuition scholarship to any public FL college. I stayed local and attended a public FL college with a direction in its name. It wasn't until the end of my junior year that I learned I probably should've gone to a "better name" school. That's when I learned from professors and other students that it would be highly unlikely for any of us to get into a top graduate humanities program from my undergrad due to our lack of prestige.  I should've persevered and gone that route anyway, since my heart was fully in my majors: English and philosophy. Fear of not getting into a good grad school and then not getting a job at the end of my PhD won out though. I gave up on that dream, despite it being the best fit for me.
At that same time, I'd heard that law schools didn't care about undergrad prestige much, since they so strongly weighed the LSAT. So I took that, scored in the 99th percentile, and decided to go that route even though I had my suspicions from the start that it was the wrong fit. That was confirmed once I got there! I loathed it and became depressed. I did ok though, gpa in the middle of the class and all As in my legal writing course. This was at a top ten law school.
Near the end of my second semester, I requested a leave of absence. My school was wonderful and granted it, said I could come back at any time. Not long after that,  my mom was diagnosed with ALS. I was her primary caregiver for a few years until she passed away. At that point, I decided life was too short to do something I disliked. So I decided not to return to law school. 
I instead got my master's in English Education, since some of my strongest interests are learning and instruction. (I discovered this during years as a tutor and professional trainer.) I now have the guts though to go all the way and get my PhD in English so that I can teach at the college level. That's what my heart most desires and always has. Teaching and publishing my own work. I was scared for so long that it wouldn't work out, but I want to at least try!
I come here for advice on where you think I should apply. I only want to apply to schools where I'd have a shot at full funding. I'd appreciate a heads up on the best schools you think I'd have a shot at. By "best," I mean the schools I'm competitive for that give me the greatest chance at landing a professor job when I'm done.
-- My undergrad GPA was 3.65. I was also named "The Outstanding Philosophy Graduate" for my class.
-- My grad GPA is 3.96. I graduate this month.
-- I haven't taken the GRE yet. I took a practice test for the English part and scored in the high 160s. I haven't even attempted the math part yet because I've forgotten everything beyond fractions, it seems.  I'll definitely need to study up for that big time! 
-- I have work experience in tutoring (writing, LSAT) and also in business (training, management).
I currently live in Buffalo, NY and will be applying to University at Buffalo's program, but I wanted to check with you guys on where else I should include.  I'll be applying this fall for admission in Fall 2018. Thank you for reading!  
 

I think the Immigration Canada amount is the minimum that they need in order to allow you to come here and study. The school's letter indicates how much they think your actual costs will be. $10,000 is not enough to live on for a whole year in most populated places in Canada, but that's what Immigration Canada wants you to at least have, with the assumption that you can probably earn more to meet your needs after you get here.
Whether or not there is a visa required depends on your country of origin. So, the letter is probably a generic one that is issued to all international students. Recently, Canada now requires an eTA (electronic travel authorization) for many foreign persons to enter Canada. Main exceptions are people from the US. So, you should check if you need an eTA, based on your passport and nationality. To check visit this page: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp. An eTA is basically a visa.
Note that a visa or an eTA is only permission to enter the country. You also need a study permit to stay in Canada and study. For information on how to get that, see: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/study/index.asp. Again, the procedure depends a lot on your passport and nationality.
Note also that the application is often combined to help you get things done easier. The study permit page says "If you received your initial permit on or after August 1, 2015, you were automatically issued an eTA along with your permit."
So, that makes things a little confusing, because you are really getting two documents: a visa and a study permit, but you only need to submit one application. Maybe this is why many people think Canada doesn't require visas? 

I guess you are right! I'm going to Canada btw - I didn't apply to any UK courses because there's no funding at all in most cases which is appalling. 

Oh right! The SPT conversation! I remember that now! Congrats on your admit, lol! I was in Socio-Legal Studies at York.
The bursaries don't amount to oodles of money in the MA, maybe a couple hundred bucks, but I don't think that's 'arbitrary'. It's not really enough to count on as part of your budget, but it's enough to provide opportunities that you wouldn't have otherwise (I went to some conferences in my MA thanks to some bursary money, and there's no way I would've been able to afford that otherwise). The bursaries are easy money, once you figure them out. The bursaries in my PhD have been quite a bit bigger (like, I'm eligible for one that takes care of half my tuition this year, which is several thousand dollars), so it's worth it to figure out the granting bodies and their bureaucratic process now.
Anyway, good luck and let me know if I can be of further help!

Hi there! I'd like to extend a pre-emptive welcome to Toronto!
I did my MA at York and am currently doing my PhD at U of T, so I'm familiar with living on those funding packages! I didn't get into any debt at either (though I'm domestic, so my situation is a bit different).
I've always lived with room-mates and my partner, which has cut my costs regarding rent and food quite a bit (my partner and I spend about $100-$150/week on groceries). I usually recommend that people coming from outside the city to grad studies here try to get into designated grad housing at either institution, because it totally sucks to try and secure a place if you're not already here - the vacancy rate is like, 1.5%, so competition is fierce and it's risky to rent a place sight unseen. If grad housing is a no-go, I would recommend getting acquainted with whatever social media groups you can find that are comprised of fellow grad students at your institution and put a call out there for someone to room with or to recommend a place (the grad students in my program, for example, have their own Facebook group) - it would be easier to secure a sublet or move into an empty room of a place on someone else's lease, rather than trying to secure your own. You could also join the Facebook group "Bunz Home Zone", there are lots of opportunities there.
Also, I note that you're an international student, so you'll have to add a monthly UHIP cost to your budget, just FYI.
I have two other pieces of advice:
-First, take a good look at your offers to see if there are Teaching Assistant or Research Assistant opportunities associated with either. You get paid $20-$40/hour for those posts and they are generally designed to be about 10 hours/week (though you'll work some long weeks around 'crunch' periods like exams). This hourly wage is quite good and you'll get a lot more bang for your buck than picking up a part-time job somewhere that pays like, $12-$15 an hour (and again, as an international student, you might be restricted regarding what/how much work you take, and the RA/TA stuff is more likely to be above board).
-Second, you should get familiar with the bursary/grant opportunities offered by the School of Grad Studies for each university, they offer quite a few. Also, if you DO TA at either, as I recommended above, you will be a part of the CUPE locals at either of those institutions, and the unions at both York and U of T are quite strong and offer multiple bursaries and funds, in addition to strong hourly wages and labour protections (CUPE 3902 at U of T, for example, offers a fund to international students to offset the UHIP costs).
Good luck and, once again, welcome!

I taught at both programs, one course per semester and each and every summer. Most of these classes were classes I taught completely on my own. When I taught composition, I had 25 students per class. When I started teaching literature surveys, I had 50 students per class. I never did the "TA a big lecture class" experience. My first "fellowship" year came when I was working on my dissertation and won a national fellowship. 
It's definitely doable, but you really have to compartmentalize, and that's hard to do at first because it can take some time to get used to teaching. The most important thing is to keep your eye on the prize and constantly remind yourself that you're there to get a degree, not to bond with undergrads or change undergrad lives. Prioritizing your own work is necessary for survival in a high teaching load program. 

I am starting an MA and even so, I have to teach my own class starting this fall  I didn't think such a thing was possible. 
I was an elementary school teacher so I know what it feels like to lead a classroom, but the thought of 23 college freshmen staring back at me (in a foreign country!!!) makes me quite nervous. 
I guess we will be fine?! 

Depends on where in Toronto you'd like to live!
Usually, rents (for rooms) in the downtown core are in excess of $750+ (will ofc necessitate transit expenses) whereas you'd be able to find a room in the Village (near York U) for around $550+. As a single person, I usually budget $300 for food per month and am able to stick to it by cooking at home, snagging deals, buying in bulk etc. If you have specific questions, let me know! 

Well, there are several options.
One is that they made more offers than they want students in their cohort. That's actually extremely common, even among the most competitive programs. You'll make n offers and expect a yield of m<n as a result. If you don't get enough students after this first round, you might go to the waitlist, but you will want to wait until you have a better idea of the size of the cohort, it's not enough for one student to decline. 
Another is that the waitlist is not strictly ranked, so there will be some politics that goes into who is offered a spot off the waitlist. If so, this will depend on internal complex power struggles. It will possibly matter not only that someone declined, but also what their field was, to try to accept someone else with similar interests to keep a balance.
Yet another is that there needs to be an official department meeting or some other official and complex bureaucratic shenanigan that needs to happen before the department can move to the waitlist, usually involving several people, some of whom busy and/or slow. (This is actually quite likely.)
It might be that some student was offered more money to try to attract them to the program, but that holds up more money so even though someone else declined, they're still waiting to figure out the money situation. 
I don't think it's common for this to depend on some university-level decision making at this point, although it is of course possible that changes in budget will affect how many students can be funded this year -- but that should have been decided long ago! It could still be that something changed in the funding situation, but I don't think that's likely the case. 

Apparently. Just got and email asking if I'm still interested. Well, faculty have other things to do besides informing applicants.

I don't know what's normal, but I called the program for which I was waitlisted, and she said that the graduate director was out of town, so they had yet to solidify admissions decisions. I think it varies by department, but some people never respond or wait until the last minute to accept or reject, so some programs consult the waitlist after the 15th. Best of luck!

I suck at real life. 

This is conjecture on my part, but I would assume that for someone going into a graduate program in English, learning new languages is most useful when it allows you to work with material that's relevant to your project but not widely translated. So, for instance, I would assume that a few terms of university German would not substantially improve your understanding of Freud; you're probably better off working with a good translation. But, let's say you're interested in drawing on cultural sociology for your dissertation: reading knowledge of French will probably significantly expand the amount of secondary material available to you (+ open up opportunities for research travel and transatlantic exchange), since that is an active field in France (from what I understand) and much of the work hasn't been translated.

For anyone waiting on Boston College, I just heard today. I removed my name from the waitlist, but they should be notifying all remaining waitlist candidates of your status by April 20. I also received an official rejection from North Carolina - Chapel Hill, so if you were waiting on final notification for that program, you might check your email. Still no word from Indiana, but I'll post when/if I know more for those who are waiting!

Who STILL hasn't heard back? God, I thought they would let me know by now...

It's the final countdown, folks -- good luck to those of you still waiting on waitlist movements today!!

Hey all,
 
I've just accepted my PhD offer from the University of Michigan! While a lot of people I know have pressured me to hold out for Princeton, just in case, I think I would probably end up choosing Michigan anyway because it is a MUCH better research and temperamental fit. So yeah.
 
Good luck everyone who's still in the throes of uncertainty!

And counting...

I'm on the waitlist at UTK and my fellowship fell through at Temple, so I'm on a waitlist for funding there.
 
Please, someone throw me a bone and decline offers from either school. I don't care which. Look, I know it's sad, but if you decline and get me into either program, I'll send a card to your parents and/or guardian(s) telling them how wonderful you are due to their fine parenting. I'll also high-five you at every conference we attend together. I guarantee I look super cool and others will think more highly of you to be seen in my company.
Till then, it's margarita time.

Based on my experience, the dominant subculture of academic philosophy may very well be one where people do not regularly use deodorant, tbh. 

To my compatriots on various waitlists waiting in panic for April 15 -- GOOD LUCK, I'm in the same boat & I'll be sending y'all good vibes!