Adequate Philosopher

Congrats on your acceptance! 
I have not applied yet, but will probably apply to on-campus housing. 
Based on my research, all furnished apartments in the College Station area are around the same price. Nearly all (significantly) cheaper apartments are unfurnished. Some people I have spoken with recommend looking at apartments in Bryan, which is close to College Station. Apartments there tend to be slightly cheaper, but if you figure in driving and dealing with traffic it seems to me to even out. 
I hope this helps. 

I will have an MA in comparative religion by the end of this year and want to apply to both religious studies and philosophy PhD programs. I like the interdisciplinarity of religious studies, but philosophy is my first love, and I can't honestly choose which would be the better fit for me academically. My interests are broadly speaking philosophy of religion and history of philosophy. 
Does anyone have any advice for me in terms of applying to the philosophy schools? Also, what schools might you recommend? I've done my own research but pose the question to see if I may have missed some. I'm more concerned about getting in with funding than with being in what somebody considers a top program. 

Hello any and all,
I am an applicant from a small liberal arts school, however I have presented at several conferences, been published, and won scholarships and awards-- but I am quite nervous that I might be taking the wrong approach to the upcoming app season.
To explain, I am concerned that maybe my interests are too narrow. I do like certain fields of philosophy, but I do most of my work within the the history of philosophy. My biggest interest is medieval islamic philosophy. In fact, I am SO interested in that specific area I would not want to consider a school that did not have a medieval islamic philosophy scholar in the faculty. Other interests include medieval philosophy more broadly, philosophy of religion, and existentialism and phenomenology. 
But again, those are small interests compared to my long standing infatuation with the conversations being had in medieval islamic philosophy. 
I guess my question is this: how do i address this in my statement without sounding too rigid/unwilling to do work in other topics? I have done work in Islamic philosophy more broadly as well as many other fields, but if I am going to spend 5-8 years getting an AOS, well, i know for a fact what I want it to be in.
Thanks for any comments, concerns, or scathing indictments you all may have to offer.

Great point.  I made the mistake of buying a non-business line Dell laptop during undergrad and it was a terrible mistake, lasted a week past the 1 year warranty expiration. At work we have business line Dell laptops and desk tops that have held up for 5+ years. I have a business line Lenovo laptop and absolutely love it, a little more expensive but the machine can take a physical beating and can do some heavy stats lifting. Also, I have found that business line computers come with longer warranties. 
 
ASUS is a decent brand, but make sure you check out the specks for what SeanDDavies recommended and model reviews.  Some models are excellent and some are not good. 
 
This is what my IT department recommended that I look for when I was shopping for a laptop:
 
Yes.  Here’s the things I’m very specific to look for though:
 
Screen resolution: 
·         Please try to avoid 1366x768 screens (which you’ll find on the cheaper options).  You just can’t fit enough information on that screen resolution for real work.   
·         1600x900 should be the minimum chosen for these, with 1920x1080 possible if the user wants it and the price works out (typically found on the larger T/W540). 
 
Hard Drive type:
·         SSD vs. HDD  (Solid state drive vs. “spinning disk” drive).
·         SSD if you can afford it and the user is OK with the smaller size of 128, 180, or 256GB commonly available.  There’s really very few users who need more than any of these sizes. 
 
Processor:
·         Stick with i5 for typical users, i7 if the user will be doing heavier statistics work or graphics work.
 
 
Here’s one laptop that might be just right:
http://www.cdwg.com/shop/products/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T440-i5-4300U-180GB-SSD-8GB-14in-Win-7-Pro/3181263.aspx
 
i5, 180GB SSD, 1600x900 screen – only $1,171.
 
 
Warranties:
·         Most of these will come with a 3-year mail-in warranty.  I prefer to buy an on-site warranty, and typically with accidental damage coverage as well:
o   For “T440 20B6” and “T440s 20AQ” laptops: Search for this part number and add it to the order for 3-year, on-site, w/accidental coverage: 5PS0A22983
 
Hope that helps

What was valuable to me:
-1TB hard drive to back up to
-Bookcase (you accrue a crap ton of books)
-Scanner (why have a filing cabinet when you can have a digital one that takes up no space at all)
-Google Docs account (20GB for $5 a year ain't bad when you can access it anywhere)
-Laptop (unless you are really stationary or you need the extra power of a desktop)
-Alcohol (lots of it)
-Specific hardbound notebooks (I use Black 'n' Reds) individually for taking notes in seminars and notes from meeting with the boss. It helps for refering back to stuff.
-Digital recorder for class
-Dry erase/combo corkboard (I leave myself profanity-laced messages in the morning so at least I'll smile when I get back home)
-Sleeping Bag (one day shall come when you are working O/N at school so be prepared for it shall come and it shall come quickly)

if you haven't already bought this book, it is a very handy resource, from the application process through completion.

Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an MA or PhD

filing cabinets are good. any sort of filing system.

corkboard and coloured notecards. especially helpful for visually mapping out a long-term research project.

a calendar of some sort. do you write in an agenda? use your computer's calendar? want something on the wall? time management will be key in your life and you'll need this. badly.

external hard-drives and thumb drives. back up everything. save it on your computer and your thumb drive at all times. back it all up on the external HD once every two weeks or whenever you remember. keep updated copies of your work in two or three places. i had a friend who left everything on a thumb drive, and HE LOST IT (he luckily had a month-old version of his work saved in his email). i had another friend who used his laptop and his external HD only, and spilled coffee on both while he was doing a back-up. he promptly quit graduate school and he was ABD. (he claims the decision to quit came two days before the terrible spill, but i don't believe him).

a laptop. if you've already got a desktop, then get one of those little netbooks. they're light and they have long battery life.

several different comfy chairs. you will spend most of your time sitting down. get a variety of "feels" with your chairs. hard and upright, soft and sunken in, good for stretching your legs out straight, something that reclines, an ergonomically correct stool. trust me.

I'm watching this thread with interest now too, and not just because I love buying school supplies...

For filing cabinets, they look like they can be pretty pricey but craigslist typically has a lot of people selling them cheap or giving them away for free.

Good topic! A lot depends, of course, on what program you are going into. I agree with the file cabinet suggestion. You probably will need at least one floor-to-ceiling bookshelf for textbooks--I haven't bought a single textbook that I plan to sell, since all of my classes are directly related to what I'm going to be doing long-term.

When I started last fall I didn't know what to get so I limited myself to the usual "back-to-school" stuff: binders, notebook paper, pencils (I use mechanical), erasers...

Things I didn't have and ended up buying in a hurry:

*Laptop (I only had a desktop--a nice one, mind, but I really needed something I could take everywhere--home, office, lab)
*Lab coat. (Only for scientists.) I had one years ago but it was trashed. Then I worked for a theoretical chemist and didn't need one. When I started grad school I suddenly remembered how handy lab coats were. I have a cheap one right now but want to get a nicer one later.
*Colored pens. If you're a TA, that is. Grading in black pen just doesn't cut it, as your comments don't really stand out. I prefer the traditional red, but I have friends who grade in green and/or purple.

@Adequate Philosopher yah me too. I am looking for housing options amd literally have no idea. I will be moving to College Station too. Did you apply for on-campus housing?

@Adequate Philosopher Thank you! Congrats to you too! Considering the fact that not all grad students who applied for on-campus housing will be accepted, we should probably look for off-campus housing. I don't know about Bryan and haven't researched its housing yet.
I am currently residing outside the States and will not be there until July. I don't own a car in the US so I guess I will depend on the bus to take me to school. I have no problem whether the room is fully furnished or not. Shall we look for available housing (as a team, yes!), that may do nothing but increasing chances of getting better deal . I would do anything to stay away from undergrads' parties
Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't own a car, prefer places with shared kitchen and bathroom. If there is a gym or a pool to swim that will be lovely but it is totally optional. Safety is a must! I will spend most of my time on campus so it would be nice if that place is near a bus stop/ or well-lit and safe to walk at night. Any suggestions will be really appreciated!! Thank you guys

I've been accepted into Texas A&M's MA program in philosophy. Will gladly be accepting!

Hi all,
We had some funding come available after the April 15 deadline; if anyone's interested for consideration, please email me.  Congrats to those of you who have made plans for next year!
Best, Fritz
Fritz Allhoff, Associate Professor

This just isn't true. (Or supertrue.)

Absolutely!
 

Shhhh, some of us have already infiltrated the hive mind.

The Facebook group for applicants turned out to be very supportive, friendly, and entertaining, so we've decided to keep it going, but changed the name to Philosophy Graduate Entrants 2016. The idea is that as we go through the no doubt challenging years of our PhDs we'll have a group of friends at different departments going through the same things, and it's great to have a friendly network of students at just about every department you can think of. Feel free to join! https://www.facebook.com/groups/503589463155698/

I received an offer of funding from The University of Tennessee today. I declined that offer, and I have decided to attend UC Santa Cruz. 

I have accepted my offer of admission at Cornell. Good luck all!

Just accepted an offer from Michigan Ann-Arbor. Declined Cornell wait list and UC-Boulder (fellowship). Really happy (and still a little shocked) to be in at Michigan, but declining Boulder was kind of crushing: everyone there has been so kind and helpful and it seemed like a great program, too. 

I accepted Indiana.  I believe 4 of the 5 spots are now full.  Good luck, everyone.

I've just declined Harvard in what has been the most difficult decision of my life. I hope one of you fabulous folk gets a nice Friday surprise.

Thanks! Same AOI!

Just accepted an offer from Rutgers! The season is over for me. Best of luck to everyone!

From what I can tell, Virginia Tech usually offers a mixture of both. http://www.phil.vt.edu/courses/fall_2016_coursedescriptions_GRAD.pdf
For example, this fall they'll be offering advanced introductions to the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language. However, they'll also be offering a seminar on David Hume's political philosophy and how it was influenced by Adam Smith.
I suppose we can compare survey courses and seminars on particular topics to swimming in a pool. I prefer to start at the shallow end, dip my big toe in the water and make sure it isn't too cold (i.e., survey courses), then gradually swim to the deep end (seminars on particular topics). However, it's perfectly reasonable to prefer jumping in the deep end of the pool and splashing about a bit. There are virtues to both methods, I suppose.