akraticfanatic

FYI: In an informal poll in the facebook group in early September, 68% of respondents said they're planning on applying this year, and 18% said they will wait for next year or upcoming years.

Confirmed Stanford has cancelled.

Confirmed that MIT and Michigan have cancelled.

in my what?

Who did you write to, and how long has it been?

also good to ask about whether grad students are unionized and if so what benefits that gives you (e.g. dental insurance, childcare options, etc.)

Confirmed that Columbia has cancelled.

It was reported in the group that Princeton cancelled their visit. Given what's happening in California, I expect Stanford and the UCs will cancel if they haven't already.

As I've suggested before, if they've sent out acceptances, waitlists, and rejections, and you haven't heard anything, it's permissible to email them and solicit your status (but check spam folder and portals first to make sure you didn't miss something). Here's the template I used: "My name is [Firstname Lastname] and I'm a philosophy PhD applicant [include app number here if applicable]. I've heard from other applicants that some decisions have been released, and I'm hoping you can give me an update on my status or when I can expect to receive a decision. Thanks in advance for your time."

That is confusing! Everything is such a mess right now. I would definitely email them ASAP to see what's up.

No, I'm referring to the comment that stated, "BU canceled their visit."

It was just reported in the group that BU cancelled as well.

Thought it might be useful to have a list of the schools that have cancelled prospective student visit events due to the COVID-19 threat. The ones I know of from the fb group are Harvard, Rutgers, and UNC. It also looks likely that the NYC schools will announce cancellations soon (NYU, Columbia, CUNY, not sure about Cornell). So far it looks like business as usual at UMass and IU (the latter has their visit event this weekend). Please post here if you have more info about this!

My advice: - Apply to more than "a limited number" of schools. It's really competitive out there and if you're not currently in the field, you might not realize how much. Top schools get hundreds of applicants competing for around 6-10 spots. (Last year, out of Brandeis MA, I applied to 26 PGR-ranked PhD programs. I was accepted to 2 and waitlisted at 3.) - Apply to MA programs, if you can afford to go to a not-fully-funded program. Without a strong academic background in philosophy, this is your best bet. - If it's feasible, retake the GRE. It's not the biggest deal, but the 160 verbal score might be hurting you somewhat. - Make sure your sample lines up with your stated AOIs, and that it's appropriate in terms of scope and structure-- the best way to get a feel for this is to read others' successful samples (preferably read some within your subfield). It's great that you're getting feedback on your sample from advisors; it can also be a good idea to get feedback from peers who have more recent experience with the app process from the applicants' side. - Join the facebook group! It's more active than this forum, and there's a lot of info there. IME, it can help to be part of a group (virtually or otherwise) of peers who are going through or have recently been through the app process.

Update: Two acceptances were reported in the Facebook group. I don't know if all initial offers have gone out. I do know that last year they had both an official waitlist and a "hidden" waitlist.