The_Last_Thylacine

Hi. I'm a lawyer. Affirmative action is very legal. What is illegal is having quotas for admitting certain groups. See Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978). Moreover, state universities have a compelling interest in promoting class diversity. Favoring minorities in a way that makes an applicant's minority status just one factor of many to be considered does not amount to a quota system. See Grutter v. Bellinger (2003). Are the laws moral? This is a philosophical question, but I don't think it's academically credible to say that there is anything illegal about promoting diversity.

Waitlisted at Florida State. I'm one of four people on an unranked waitlist.

Also waitlisted at Syracuse. The waitlist has 20 people on it, and I am in the "final third" of the unranked waitlist (so maybe it's more of a stratified than a ranked waitlist). Apparently Syracuse almost always goes to their waitlist, but some years they accept 5 people and other years they accept 15-20 people. The DGS told me that he would be in contact, but that I shouldn't expect to hear anything until April 15th. My chance of admission was compared to a coin flip, which was both funny and terrifying! An hour after I got that email, I was waitlisted at UC Davis, but at Davis, the waitlist is ranked, and I am third in line for a domestic slot. I know of at least two people who will decline their offer from UC Davis, so an acceptance seems likely in the near future. Davis's application has an odd feature that requires you to copy and paste your statement of purpose. It also has a word limit and will not allow you to type past the limit. My statement of purpose was truncated, and I also esteemed myself to be a very poor fit for Davis, so I was surprised to learn that I was waitlisted. Still very nice of them to consider me, and I am certainly appreciative of both these opportunities. I also thought I was a very poor fit for Syracuse as well, but again, I'm very happy they're considering me nonetheless. To me, it would be a great honor to be able to attend either of those places.

Don't forget about the optional question: "Where else did you apply?" Boy, that was such a hard pass answering that question.

Oh my! I'm so sorry.

From my understanding, what motivates the use of the PGR is that many academic philosophers believe there is something helpful about the way the programs are evaluated. So, the way in which the PGR will most likely affect your life regards the kinds of job interviews you will receive, and the kinds of jobs you will ultimately get. Because there is a large enough contingent of philosophers who think the PGR is a useful way of judging the propensity of an individual to be a good philosopher, and these same people are likely to be on hiring committees, it is good to pay attention to the rankings for these reasons. For example, Arizona has done a particularly good job of advertising their strengths in social and political philosophy (and the PGR is evidence of their specialty in this area), and they are able to secure a lot of jobs for their graduates based on this reputation.

Pretty sure there was a report on an antecedent acceptance. The classmate of someone who was accepted to Minnesota posted in the Facebook group.

Ha! Got 'em.

Nope, I totally get it! I was just hoping your excitement about the acceptance could get you through the weekend before anxiety set in again!

BUT YOU JUST GOT ACCEPTED TO VANDERBILT YESTERDAY!

Are you in the right forum?

All three in my program (including myself) were rejected too.

Now that's confidence!

They snapchat message you, "Sry, it's not u. Its us."

According to Grad cafe reports, the University of Colorado, Boulder almost always emails rejections. https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=boulder+philosophy&t=a&o=&p=3

At least this post was thoughtfully and respectfully exhumed by a philosophy applicant today, on opposite day.

Hey MtnDuck, you reported an acceptance to Florida State, but where is this information?

I've been accepted to UCSB! I'm ecstatic to have the opportunity to continue studying philosophy.

I have never heard of a ranked program doing interviews, except maybe U. Chicago.

It was putatively yesterday. I'd wait for another report to confirm, but I heard this from a reliable source.

Also, I know of somebody who was accepted to SUNY Buffalo.

We could just all form a pact to not use this thread any longer. Haha!

???

If you were rejected, come here to tell us about it. We can't empathize with you if you don't tell us about it first.

Post here if you were waitlisted.