Nichi

Speaking only from my own experience: 4) Some applications had places to write in all of your classes. On those I put "Independent Study: Topic". On the others I didn't do anything. 5) I don't know what you count as a "top school". I was told top 25 or top of a specialty or don't bother. I applied as such plus a fallback. I have heard the top ten or so tend to not accept many people who already have an MA. I haven't confirmed this, but if it's true, then straight out of undergrad may be your best shot. 6) Someone said make sure your writers are at least at the rank of associate. One of my writers was a post doc when I worked with him and an assistant professor (at a different school) when he wrote my letter. I also heard from one of the people at the schools I got into that his letter definitely helped me. 8) I've noticed most of my classmates come from pretty good schools. Whether that's the name helping them or a better education than most schools afford or the ability that got them into a good UG continuing to a good grad program I don't know. 9) I listed my philosophy relate extracurriculars to show interest. I doubt it matters much. I have heard someone who climbs mountains listed some of the bigger ones he climbed and it helped because that level of persistence suggests the level of persistence needed to write a dissertation. 11) I tailored my statement to each department. Though my statement included "I am especially interested in the work of Professors X, Y, and Z," so using the same each statement for each school would have been odd.

I attempt. https://thenichi.bandcamp.com I also composed a bit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KIBp0mFYBo&index=31&list=UUoAwkgXfbhPw46zeAVy45fQ But it's been so long. Grad school has decimated my time for music.

"I'm getting paid to do this really fun stuff. Suckers, I would've paid them!" And then try to drive the discussion to one of the many, many interesting options of topics within philosophy. This achieves two things: 1. It demonstrates how awesome philosophy is. 2. It lets me talk with people about philosophy. Which is totally better than some other topic.

Non-traditional almost seems like the norm at UCR. (Possibly because non-traditionals stand out a bit, but at the same time it was the only place I visited where my odd background got a "Yeah, we all have odd backgrounds" response.) The general rule is have upper-level or grad-level coursework in philosophy. Even if it's just one class to 1. Get an A and show you can handle it. 2. Get a letter from a philosopher who can say you can handle it. I only published in one undergrad conference proceedings and presented at undergrad conferences. My B.S. came from a school without much of a reputation. (It's a decent program, but I doubt the name was pulling much weight.) Nonetheless, I did get accepted to a top 15 overall philosophy program. If you do a little bit of searching in the subforum, you'll see some threads with stories of even longer shots. A top 10/15/20 program is a long shot for pretty much anyone. I wouldn't say you need to be publishing or speaking to get in, but at the same time, if you can be presenting your work and getting feedback, why aren't you? Several studies I've seen (thanks to the philosophy blogosphere being concerned with causal connections between studying philosophy and test scores) say you can't do much to improve your GRE. If you have the time and money, though, it can't hurt, especially since you know where your gaps are. (I was able to remember the problem I missed on the Q section and solved it on my way home. Prompt smack to the forehead.) Look at the averages to the schools you're interested in. At some you're solid. I've seen a few where you'd be at a disadvantage. As @Glasperlenspieler said, though, fit will matter. Spamming the top ten with little regard for fit is a waste. It's a survey of what many prominent philosophers think regarding which schools have the best faculty. The alternative is just asking the philosophers you know which schools are best. You can still do that, though. PGR just gives you an aggregate of what more qualified people think. This is why finding placement data is important. Last I checked, U of Memphis had a 100% placement rate despite being (iirc) unranked. Reading the part on the website saying what the PGR is measuring is important in using it. Really in using any statistical data, reading what the data is measuring is a good idea. 1. I'd be concerned about anyone who hasn't grown substantially in five years. If you're not getting better each year, what are you doing? 2. Why are there mid-tier journals, then? Shouldn't everyone be polishing until they get into Nous? The general rule is a letter from a philosopher is better than from a non-philosopher. Though the more damning rule is when more than three can be sent, three good is good. Three good plus one lukewarm may sink you. I would speculate two good letters from philosophers plus a good from religious studies is better than two good philosopher letters and a lukewarm philosopher letter. (This is also usually regarding PhD programs. I will note I know much less about applying to MA programs.)

Topic choice also seemed to be at least somewhat relevant for me, as well. When I talked with some of the people I was especially interested in at the departments I was accepted to, many of them mentioned liking my sample, usually the ones who research in the area I wrote in. (Of course, in my personal statement I also mentioned what I am interested in, so perhaps the correlation of topic and where I was accepted/rejected can be explained by AOI alone.) As far as popularity, I haven't heard anything about it, but there's likely some at least subconscious effects. Being memorable is probably easier with a more radical thesis. As is being interesting in a pile of writing samples. (I can tell the difference between "Libertarianism is compatible with the PSR" "Oh...cool...." and "Everything supervenes on the mental" "Wait, how did you get that?") Too far out may lose some charity from readers.

Decimals are yucky.

Worth noting FB Messenger now does this for free.

I went to undergrad at an SLAC that isn't super notable in the US. I still got on the ND waitlist. (I took myself off, so no idea if it would have panned out for me.) So not all hope is gone. Also, YMMV, but I've heard since ND is super popular for philosophy of religion, it's in your interest to show some love to your other interests.

Not for a Philosophy PhD program, but I've seen someone accepted by a school as late as a month before the start date.

A bit sad leaving my undergrad community in a week or so. Then leaving the place I spent the past 22 year in in a few months. Very excited for my adventures in Riverside.

Depends on how fast fall grades get into the gradebook. A lot of applications are due in January, so unless your school's fall goes late or takes a very long time to update your transcript, yeah, they'll see it. If I were you I'd see if a letter can explain away the C, make the writing sample show you in fact can do good work, and apply to some PhD programs that look like a tight fit.

Congratulations!

Echoing fuzzylogician, I've heard one popular strategy among those who can finish early is to try to get a job and stay in grad school just until you can get a good job elsewhere. I do know people who delayed graduation as much as a year to weather out a bad job market.

Fare well. I imagine I'll be seeing at least some of you around in the philosophy world. Since the next application season is coming around soon and I found the people who stuck around from previous years helpful, I'll probably pop in on occasion. And the other subforums look like they have some good info on the part that comes after making a decision. Song relevant.

I love how mutually supportive this community is. Replaces the sting of turning down a good offer with the pleasant knowledge someone else will get it. (While this could be true even without the community, it feels more personal this way.)