Adequate Philosopher

Accepting Stanford's offer now. I can't believe this entire process is over. It's been one hell of a ride.

Ugh I can't believe the deadline is tomorrow! So much stress! Come on people, turn down your offers...and also mention (when you turn them down) that you would like to give your offer to currentphilgrad.

Just declined UCSD. 
Interests in phil sci / epistemology

Officially declined Indiana (HPS)

Just declined Wisconsin, Arizona, and UNC. 

Declining Cornell and will decline Stanford tomorrow once the system is set up for me.  I cried a little…super hard decision for me.  But I'm excited to be at Columbia!

I just declined UT Austin.

Just declined USC and asked to be taken off the waitlist at Yale and Michigan.
 
Rutgers class of 2021!!!!

I have just declined Yale and MIT. They are both amazing places, so I hope this helps someone!

just declined UConn. 

I just declined DePaul and Duquesne. 

Declined Kent, Toledo, Boston College, Boston University, Loyola Marymount, California State University Long Beach, and University of Florida an hour or so ago. Will be declining funded offers from Florida State University or Marquette University on Tuesday.

I have now declined UCSD and UCLA, so that I'm down to my second choice and my wait list choice going into this last week.

Just declined UT-Austin. Sorry it's a bit late in the process, but I hope this helps someone.

Today I declined my offer of admission at Johns Hopkins... I found it emotionally draining, as I've really enjoyed my visit there and their community, and I've been treated really kindly by them during the whole process. So, whoever ends up at JHU - it's s wonderful and supportive place, and you're choosing well!!  Good luck to everyone wait-listed by JHU.

Just withdrew my application from ND. No direct benefit, I know, but it will hopefully prove helpful down the road.

Haha, I've accepted Cincinnati's offer  They're an excellent fit for me as I'm a diehard Gibsonian and everyone there seems to be as well. 

It's all over for me, folks. I've declined offers from Syracuse and Rochester. This is the weirdest mix of emotions I have ever felt.

Just declined Tufts. Good luck!

I haven't read all the replies to this thread...so I post this at the risk of repeating something that's already been said:
I've been rejected by a lot of programs this year and may have to reapply next year. My GRE scores were 165v, 158q, 5.0w. From what I understand, these scores are not excellent but they are also not bad. In any case, in thinking of the possibility that I may reapply, I've thought that the most important thing I'd do is just work on a different, better writing sample. Perhaps I'm wrong in thinking this, but I do not think my GRE scores were a crucial factor in my receiving rejections.

I've just declined Arizona and Brown. Hope this helps someone!

Just declined Brandeis last night. Good luck!

Just declined my Toronto admission. Hope this helps someone!

Removed myself from the UMass waitlist.
/cry

This was the first time I’ve done this and I was struck by how much I learned, so I felt compelled to share the info (and even make an account here to do so). Overall, I’ve learned that (1) it’s important to visit schools and (2) the schools I visited were quite different than I had imagined them to be.


 
I’ve been very fortunate enough to get into Berkeley and UCLA, as well as a few East Coast schools “ranked” a tiny bit lower. So far no schools in the “very top tier” (in the sense of top 8 which are mostly Ivy League etc). I didn’t imagine these results, and perhaps I’ve always had an unrealistic and romantic image of the schools I just visited.  So…after visiting I guess I’ve learned that my East Coast options (though slightly lower “ranked”) are worth considering carefully.


 
My interests are in mind, metaphysics, and epistemology.


 
1 – Berkeley. Really great place, very welcoming…and awesome opportunities for metaphysics and epistemology. With regards to mind, Alva Noe’s work---and I guess I should have known this beforehand---is completely foreign to me (and honestly although I don't know much, I kind of think that some of it is questionable philosophy). He seems to be doing tremendously experimental work---and not in sense of empirical---that I can’t begin to engage with. Searle is also probably retiring by the time my dissertation would come around. There are some others that specialize in mind, but really the strengths seem to be metaphysics and epistemology and related fields---and everyone working in these fields seems AWESOME. The school and department also have a wonderful atmosphere (the buildings, the resources, the school at large etc) which makes me feel motivated and determined. Call me superficial but most state schools are huge, etc.


 
2 – UCLA. Kind of what I learned at Berkeley but to an even higher extent. Some of the faculty got tenure and now they’re studying really cool stuff, but stuff that I know little about (e.g. philosophy of language and film).  Also, Burge is taking on fewer and fewer students now (I think he’s almost 71) and it seems very likely that it would be very difficult to have him as an advisor for my dissertation once that comes around in 3 or more years (or at least he wouldn’t be as accessible as younger or more middle-aged faculty). Unfortunately, it looks like there are only one junior faculty at UCLA who I could do mind with and there isn’t much metaphysics and epistemology happening. I’d be surprised if UCLA kept its reputation for Mind in the next few years…and I’ve come to realize this is an important consideration because during the first few years at pretty much any school I’d be fulfilling my disruption requirements (i.e. not specializing much), so it’s important to think about what the department will be like 3-4 years from now (and unfortunately I don’t think Burge will be very accessible then). Overall, it seems more like an awesome place for language, logic, history of philosophy, and ethics...subjects about which I don't feel very confident.
So, I never in a thousand years imagined this but GIVEN MY INTERESTS these two programs turn out not to be a great as I thought they were (I guess especially UCLA).