philosopher king

that IMO shouldn't happen and, to my knowledge, won't be permitted by most schools.

It's scary but don't give up. It could matter a huge amount for your future, if you get into the better program.

I see going to a school that has overall prestige outside of just the philosophy department as a small bonus to a program but not anything to worry about when you're considering a top 8 program like Pitt or Rutgers. You go there; you have a shot at a job ANYWHERE basically. You got to Brown, then it's a lot more difficult to get a job at some places that are only considering applications from tier 1 (i.e. top 8) programs. And, about the title of this thread (i.e. location) I just feel like you need to sometimes make the small sacrifice of perhaps living in a mediocre location if it means a better programs with better placement. I'd rather improve my odds of getting a much better job where I work 40 years (and where I raise my family), than settle for less later and have a nice location for a 5-year PhD program (much of which I spend locked in a room writing and reading).

I think an argument can be made for even 1 or 2 spots. It's really depends, I guess. Hard to generalize. The ranking are (obviously) a product of faculty, etc ... and when you consider those difference it becomes more easy to appreciate what 1 or 2 spots means.

The motto all too often seems to that when things are close "go wherever you think you'd be most happy." Sorry to be cynical, but it's just so difficult to predict "where you'd be more happy" and often even locations that seem at first glance less attractive end up being fine. My brother went to college in the middle of nowhere in the midwest (after growing up in NY... I don't mean to belittle the midwest but I hope you get the idea) and he was completely fine with it. We only get the chance to enroll in a PhD program once. Sometimes going with the prestige (over e.g. location) is the way to go.

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).