The_Last_Thylacine

Welcome back to the admission cycle, @Turretin. I have 17 programs on my list, so I feel your pain- I've made a spreadsheet detailing the cost of apps/gre (plus a lovely 8.25 fee per transcript from my undergrad school).
What's your AOI?

Hi all!
I'll be reapplying this year (I only made it onto a couple wait-lists last year). I've written a new writing sample, so I hope it serves me better! I'm still in the process of deciding on which schools I'll apply to. But I'll probably send out around 15 applications. 

Good luck! Although I'm sure you'll do just fine.

Posting something you don't like =/= a troll. Posting in a fashion you don't like =/= a troll. 
 
On a forum with a number of people with a number of different, non-US cultural backgrounds, including a number of whom do not speak english as a primary language, asking questions that might seem obvious is not being a troll.
 
Constantly following someone around calling them a troll? I'd say that's pretty much being a troll. But that's just my personal definition. 
 
I'd hope that among the educated, mature prospective graduate students on the forum, they'd be able to either politely respond or individually ignore someone who's posting style or frequency they don't like, rather than further sidetracking the thread with non-productive incriminations of said individual. 
 
For those people who truly bother you for some reason, there's even a forum-wide ignore option you can use. 
 
I would hope that most of us have a more productive use of our time than tracking someone through their posting history to down-vote them. 

Just gonna post a blanket warning here, as there are too many people to PM:
 
Consistently trailing someone and referring to them as a troll, while downvoting comments that are not in themselves offensive, bad information, or incorrect.... Is in itself borderline trolling/harassment. 

Hello, everyone! 

I found this website today, and I really couldn't be happier right now! I've been reading all the posts from the 2016 application season and it's all very encouraging to me. I really don't know what to expect from this application season because I have such an atypical background. I try to talk to my friends and family about all the stress I feel, so I'm elated to know that there is a community for people experiencing the same thing. My favorite philosopher is an epistemological philosopher who graduated from USC in 1978. I want to go to USC very badly because it was his alma mater and because of the department's specialty in the philosophy of law, but I don't necessarily like the cost of living in Los Angeles. As such, my ears are not closed to other departments, and choosing amongst any these incredible programs will be difficult. My research interests are in (1) epistemology, (2) the philosophy of law, and (3) the philosophy of religion. 
Here's where I applied, along with the corresponding [Philosophical Gourmet Report] ranking: 
University of Southern California [9]; University of Texas at Austin [19]; University of California San Diego [23]; University of California Riverside [29]; University of Colorado Boulder [32]; University of Virginia [36]; University of South Carolina [not ranked].  Here's the "not so good" about my application: 
I majored in criminal justice, rather than philosophy, at an obscure undergraduate institution. I had a 3.84 GPA. My GRE score is not awesome (162 V; 153 Q; 5.0 A).  Here's the better stuff:
I will be awarded the Juris Doctor from a mid-level law school in May; I have two years of experience working as an editor for an academic journal (it's an international law review);  I have a published article on the dialectical tensions within the ECtHR's law of discrimination; My writing sample was personally edited and supervised by a brilliant law professor with the highest GPA from the University of Chicago; My letters were graciously written by the dean of my law school, the associate dean, and my favorite professor.  I received the highest grade in Jurisprudence in law school; I will only be 23 years old when I am awarded the J.D. and sit for the Virginia State Bar. 
I am so nervous and apprehensive about the future, but it will be an exercise in patience for sure. I look forward to hearing from you all, in addition to taking joy in your stories and successes!