Theodore8

My MA was in theology and I was admitted to a philosophy PhD program, although my undergrad was in philosophy, so I at least had that. It’s difficult but doable. I chose to use a writing sample that was not related to religion in any way in order to demonstrate my interest in philosophy proper as well as to show I had a firm handle on philosophy. I also chose not to advertise the fact that my MA was in theology. Of course my CV listed my MA in theology, but I never mentioned theology in my SoP; I just referred to my graduate work or my MA. And of course I was strategic about what programs I applied to. I’d recommend Notre Dame, Georgetown, Fordham, Baylor, Notre Dame, Boston College, Saint Louis University, and Villanova as programs friendly to philosophy of religions, but others are as well. I have friends doing philosophy of religion at places like UT-Austin and USC, but they did MAs in philosophy, so that makes a difference. Hopefully this helps. My bottom line advice is to be strategic about your application and where you apply, but also don’t limit yourself. You never know what might happen.

It’s usually better to make one thread for acceptances and waitlists and then a separate thread for rejections.

Think of it this way: if you do poorly, you'll end up in the same position you are now -- no offer. If you do well, you could get an offer. There's really no downside.

It might benefit you to send a brief email that says something like, “Thank you for this helpful information. While I do have standing offers I am currently considering, I would turn them down for Indiana if I were to be offered.” This might move you up the waitlist if they think there’s a sense of urgency. Also, departments really dislike giving offers to those who won’t accept them, so knowing for sure you’d accept if offered might make them more likely to offer you than someone else on the waitlist. As as for the likelihood of you being offered, I don’t think it’s a big stretch. People are going to start removing themselves from waitlist really soon so you’ll move up quickly. And 6 spots is a lot to fill. I’d take the word of the DGS that there’s a good chance you’ll be offered, but that there’s no guarantee.

The short answer is that where you do your PhD has enormous implications on what kinds of jobs you're likely to get when you finish. Given the dismal job market, you want to make your chances as good as you possibly can. So if you're accepted to an average PhD program out of undergrad, you might opt to get your master's degree, fine tune your writing sample, and generally improve your resumé. That way, you have a better chances of getting into a top-tier PhD program, and consequently, land a better job after you're done. Even though some are hesitant think about it this way, a PhD is really just a means to an end, and it's best to remind oneself of this. Sometimes the short-term payoff gets overvalued in this process.

Just looking at the Placement Record page, it doesn't look like it has been kept up very well. I mean, they list the only person in 2017 as an Assistant Professor. There's no way that a person would be hired straight out of an MA program. So whoever is supposedly updating that page is not doing their job. For students who actually apply to PhD programs out of FSU, I'd suspect their placement is rather rate is rather high.

Was this solicited?

What advice would you give to someone who has been accepted to someone who has been accepted to a couple of 40-60 PGR programs and a funded MA offer from a school like NIU or FSU? Would it be better to go straight into a PhD program, or should I do an MA and aim for top tier schools once I have a Master's under my belt?

Since it hasn’t been posted yet this year, post here if you have been accepted or waitlisted at a school but will decline the offer.

I talked to a student in the program and he told me that their search for the new department chair has pushed everything back. They haven't even been able to look at apps yet, but they're going to start this week. Hopefully they'll send out decisions sometime between Monday-Wednesday next week.