eigenname

Last cycle, when I got shut out, I got the feeling that my writing sample was widely unpopular (despite doing really well as a dissertation thesis) - I defended an old, unpopular view in philosophy of science that one philosopher has called 'widely proven false since the 60's'. So I took another one of my essays about a more recent discussion about logical choice in philosophy of logic and extended it instead for this cycle. Otherwise, I didn't really change anything (e.g. grades, letters, personal statements) in my application. For what it's worth, I think it's worthwhile writing something that's not conventionally deemed a dead topic. I imagine a writing sample on an extremely lively topic, of broad appeal to everyone, would be even more profitable. A 'mainstream' topic (Kant, Hume, epistemology, ethics or something) would probably be helpful for getting into more schools, and would be good if you haven't yet decided on your main interest areas; my topic was a bit more specialized, but I did get into the top PGR schools for my AOIs this cycle (phil physics, phil logic). Hope this helps, and all the best next year!

Declined CUNY.

Declined CUNY GC, will be going to UCSD.

No change on portal - from experience last year it takes a few days to be processed.

Rejection from UNC as well - exact same email used by Marc Lange as last year. At this point I am too tired to care anyway. Final result is 4a/1w/10r, so that's a lot better than last year; now to make the final decision.

Just declined UC Irvine LPS. The final showdown will be between UCSD and CUNY. edit: Chapel Hill wanted out I guess.

Just got into CUNY GC from a wait-list I didn't know I was on until 2 days ago. I was all ready to accept UCSD...

Let us know what they tell you!

I tried a few weeks ago, and I think someone tried a few days ago, and the response was the same one (I posted it in the acceptance/rejection thread a few weeks back). I doubt L.A. Paul will change her tune until they finally decide who to reject/wait-list and that'll likely depend on people holding UNC offers rejecting them.

Wait-listed at CUNY (finally officially) but 'few spots have opened'.

Same, for me it's CUNY and UNC Chapel Hill. At least UNC explained their hidden wait-list policy, but CUNY just ignored my solicitations (twice, 1 month apart), which I find incredibly rude.

Just declined my offer from Western Ontario, and will most likely take myself off OSU's waitlist soon. Still deciding between Irvine LPS and UCSD, but will almost certainly accept UCSD due to better fit and more attention from my POIs.

Waiting for UNC as well, in addition to CUNY (I happen to be around CUNY during their prospective students visit, which is bound to make things awkward :p)

I don't think they'll do any of that until enough offer holders who don't intend to go start rejecting their offers (like Big Modality has helpfully done!), and that won't happen until much later I imagine. Still holding out hope though.

For what it's worth, I came from the top school in the UK for my undergrad, applied to 15 schools, but only got into 3 (and that's probably it). However, they all rank really highly for the fields I'm interested in (general philosophy of science, physics), so I'm not too worried, especially since I know I was competing with lots of people with a science/physics/math background (none of which I formally had as an undergrad). Also, if it helps, one of my supervisors at my undergrad university came from the other top school in the UK but only got into one PhD program, and he's in one of the most prestigious junior positions in my university now. I like to think about it this way: if people who are leading in your subfield thought you'd make a great addition to their department, it means that you are philosophically 'good enough'. What the other rejections could mean, though, is that you were not a great fit as a *PhD student* for other departments *based on your writing sample* and some other fairly arbitrary considerations, but I'm not sure these are reliable predictors for future success. In any case, I just want to say that you are not alone, and it's going to be OK (telling this to you as much as to myself)