hector549

I've just declined a funded offer from Georgia State.

I've declined funded MA offers at Western Michigan University and the University of Houston.

Honestly, I doubt it. My understanding is that at most schools, the make up of the admissions committee changes from year to year. And even if it ended up being the same people, it seems unlikely that they would remember your application anyway. And even if by some chance they do, I doubt they would hold it against you. People may hold off on grad school for a year for all sorts of reasons, personal and professional. Also, they won't know why you declined admissions this year if you don't tell them. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I've been accepted to a handful of MA programs. My decision is looking like it will come down to Georgia State, Milwaukee, or Houston. The two most important criteria for me are placement and funding. Adjusted for cost-of-living, Houston's and Milwaukee's funding are roughly equivalent (assuming I get off the wait list at Milwaukee), though assistantship duties at Houston are quite a bit lighter, it seems, than at Milwaukee. Georgia State's funding offer is less than the other two, and has heavier (though manageable) assistantship requirements than the other two. Placement is trickier to compare; Milwaukee seems to have the most consistently solid record in the last four years or so, followed very closely by Georgia State. However, Houston's placement in the last two years is actually stronger than the other two programs. Before that, it's a bit spottier, though still decent. Does anyone else have thoughts on this? I'm leaning toward Milwaukee or Houston, but my mind is far from made up, and the clock is ticking.

Accepted to Houston's MA with an assistantship.

Waitlisted at Maryland! It sounds like I'm rather low on the list, but something could still happen!

Congrats for making plans early! Do you have three professors in mind for letter writers? I would continue to talk to them outside of class, go to office hours, and build relationships with them, so they'll be able to write you strong letters. It's a good time to think about what you'd like to use as a writing sample. If you have a paper you think is particularly strong, you could work on expanding it, revising it, and turning it into a strong sample over the summer. I'd recommend that you seek your professors' input as you begin, and as you're working on the sample. Not only will their suggestions on revision be invaluable, but it'll also be a project that'll further familiarize them with you and your work, which will help them write better letters! I'd also recommend starting to study for the GRE over the summer. Take an ETS practice test so you can assess where you are, and how much work you'll need to do to hit your target score. I'd also recommend taking a practice test periodically as you're studying to assess your progress. Some people will claim that GRE scores are very important, and some less so. But I'd aim to strengthen your score as much as you can! It's part of your application that you do have some control over. I used ETS practice material, supplemented with Manhattan Prep. I found ETS the best (they write the actual test) and Manhattan Prep was a close second. Hope this helps and good luck!

It should be against the law to charge that much for an MA. I'm not sure NYU's behavior in this case is substantively different from the recruiting behaviors of the "for-profit" schools. Does the program have any kind of placement history, just out of curiosity?

Declined a funded MA offer from Ohio University.

If they're offering you decent funding, I'd say that's a good sign. One thing I would want to know: what's their placement record to PhD programs from their MA program? Do students often move into their PhD program or apply out successfully to other good programs? If other students are applying out, then I doubt that there is the expectation that you would continue in their PhD program. It might also be a nice option to continue on into their doctoral program if you like the department, and find faculty you'd like to work with. If you're concerned about getting time and attention from professors as an MA student, you could talk to some current MA students and see how they feel about it.

It could be a good idea if you can get funding. I wouldn't do an unfunded MA. It might be tricky if you're trying to do an MA at a PhD-granting institution. Many will only award the MA on the way to earning the PhD, and will not accept master's-only students. Many will only offer assistantships and other funding to their PhD students, even if they accept you as a master's student. Some (e.g. NYU) may treat their MA programs as cash cows. MA students might also not get the same attention and support as PhD students at some institutions. Brian Leiter writes about that potential problem here along with some other sage MA advice: http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/maprog.asp I think getting an MA in philosophy is preferably done at a funded, MA-only program. There may, of course, be exceptions. I know Texas A & M, for example, funds its MA students, and has decent placement to PhD's for its MA graduates. In this case, it may be because its MA program has existed for much longer than its PhD program.

Accepted at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee! Waitlisted for funding.

@franz I'd recommend checking out this list of funded MAs (apparently complete). I came across it when figuring out where to apply. Leiter mentions a handful on his site, but they're primarily analytic. Many of the schools on this list are also analytic, but I know that some of the schools listed lean more continental--for example, Miami of Ohio and Loyola Marymount. Here it is: http://dailynous.com/2015/11/18/ma-programs-in-philosophy-fund-students/

Rejected from Duke. Big surprise there.

Indeed. Thanks for sharing.

I can't identify with this specific experience, but I'm happy to share my own experience, which I think may have some similar features to yours, @curious_philosopher. I'm currently going through the process of applying to/choosing graduate programs. I'm nearly 30, and there have been times in which I've felt frustrated with myself for not having gone to graduate school sooner. Even though I did very well in my undergraduate program, I've also sometimes felt frustrated for not having had quite the "ideal" set-up for going on to graduate school. If only I had taken those classes with tenured professors instead of the visiting lecturers, perhaps I would have gotten stronger letters, though I didn't know any better at the time. If only I hadn't taken time off in the middle of getting my degree, and after I got my degree, and transferred institutions, I wouldn't have large, weird gaps in my educational history. Why didn't I take that graduate course on Kant when my professor suggested it and offered to waive the prerequisites? Why did I leave school after that semester for a three-year break instead? I came from a very non-academic family, and didn't have much support along the way, so there was some trial and error involved. I've been accepted at one of the very best terminal MAs this application season, with funding no less, and it would seem that the things that concerned me haven't mattered as much as I thought they would. However, those counterfactual thoughts haven't entirely disappeared, although they don't weigh me down too much. It's hard coming to terms with the feeling of having been pushed along sometimes by circumstances that may be far outside of your own control. That is a feeling I can identify with. Therapy helps enormously, and I mean that with the greatest sincerity.

I have to say that in many fields it may be the case (or so I hear), but from what I've read and observed in philosophy graduate admissions, I doubt that it's something that much happens--at least in terms of the PGR top-50 ranked programs. I know the numerical ranking is for faculty quality, but small differences in the rankings probably don't mean that much in terms of actual difference in applicant quality, or at least the difference in, say, the top 25%ish of applicants across those 50 programs. There may be outlier candidates, those who stand head and shoulders above the rest, but I suspect that they're rare. The best candidates are close enough in terms of quality, that a candidate who's a good fit at, say, #15 and a good fit at a program ranked around, say, #30, will, I suspect, probably not have a dramatically different chance at both. At least that's my sense of it. Maybe there's more possibility for this effect if the difference in rank is greater. But I suspect it's not so pronounced in the top 50 philosophy programs. I do think that some higher ranked programs get more applications than do the lowest ranked programs, from what I've gleaned from department websites (I'm not sure, though, that this pattern is true across all the top 50 programs). But I suspect, once the the bottom 75% of applications are discarded, that the top applications for higher ranked programs are not significantly different enough from top applications at lower ranked programs for overqualification to have much of an effect.

Accepted to the MA program at The University of Missouri-St. Louis with an assistantship!

I think this makes so much sense. If I've learned anything from reading many, many old threads on this site, and from my own application process, it's that different members of admissions committees weigh different aspects of an application differently. If you've strived to make every aspect of your application as strong as possible, all that's left is to apply as widely as you can afford (with respect to programs that are a fit for your interests), roll those dice, and hope for the best. And if you get snake eyes, roll again next time.

@franz I believe you acknowledge that you didn't apply to any terminal MAs in philosophy this cycle. If you apply again, it's probably a good idea to do so. I applied to 7 PhDs and 7 MAs. It's looking like I'll be shut out of PhD admissions, but I've already gotten two funded offers from MAs, and a third MA acceptance that will likely include a funding offer as well. I applied to programs that were analytically inclined, because that lines up with my interests. It sounds like your interests are focused on more continental thinkers, so maybe it would be harder for you to find a funded MA that fits your interests. Nonetheless, I'd recommend trying for a funded terminal MA if you're able to do so. Like me, perhaps you'll have better luck.

Rejected from Johns Hopkins. Also just checked the portal.

Any one else whiling away their time while they're waiting around endlessly reading old threads? For some reason, I find them so interesting. Also, I keep getting these "status change" emails from Milwaukee, and it's kind of frustrating, because I keep expecting an admissions decision when I open the email.

Accepted at Ohio University with an assistantship.

Rejected from UVA. Better to have some resolution I suppose..

KU Leuven's one-year MA program is taught in English, and is very inexpensive, even for non-EU citizens. Leuven is also very well regarded. I was going to apply myself, even though my background is in the analytic tradition. There is one drawback: they don't participate in the US federal loan program, so in order to get a student visa and pay the small tuition, you'll need to take out a private loan or have enough savings to show that you can support yourself for a year in Belgium.