Prose

i was about to call you out for saying palimpsest before you showed what an honorable person you are by beating me to it you're the ne plus ultra of good men

What are you guys doing to pass the time? I can't even focus on my coursework this term because I know everything hinges on the news I get in 1.5 months...

why would you submit more than one also who even advises that

I saw last year's cycle, and they funded like 15% (perhaps slightly more or less, sometimes signifcantly less or nothing) of what came out to be 80-90,000 dollars total for a one-year masters that's not even strictly a masters in philosophy. It's a blatant cash grab. Of course some people complete the program and move on to decent PhD programs, but you can do that with better MAs.

You should definitely not be thinking about applying if you haven't talked to a philosophy professor about this yet. The short of the long is: it's terrible. It's not something you do just because you think it'll be a good thing to do after you graduate, or because you don't know what else to do. Just talk to an actual philosophy professor about it. It's well known how bad the situation is in academic philosophy.

all apps in, now for the long wait!

1) what is a public ivy league institution?? 2) funded masters programs are hard to get but theyre out there (see: http://dailynous.com/2015/11/18/ma-programs-in-philosophy-fund-students/ ) 3) some programs are generally unfunded but you can luck out and get random merit funding (my case at the moment) 4) no its definitely not too late just: -get good grades next term -perfect your writing sample -obligatory <dont go into academic philosophy>

Time spent perfecting sample > Time (and money) spent improving GRE score

Or you could, you know, be a hardworking student and just try to be the best philosopher you can be, coming from someone who's in a terminal MA.

I really just want to fast forward about two months too much anxiety

first two apps in!

all aboard the phd train chugga chugga ACCEPT US

Hi guys, I saw that someone had already heard back from a program already (congratulations!). I'm getting excited to start hearing back, so I've made this thread so we can post admit/reject/waitlist news. Good luck! ??

This is tough to answer accurately, but I spent a month drafting it, and two months revising it for about an additional five drafts. I'm doing a 1-year masters right now in England and it's also my term paper, so I had more ways of finding what I can improve (since I had faculty reading it anyways). In terms of total hours, I'd say anywhere from 300-400? (If anyone wants to exchange samples, let me know)

Hi guys! Straight to the point, I'd like your thoughts on how I'll fare in admissions for T-20 programs: -SLAC 3.92 GPA (fell from a 4.0 senior year due to health issues, will be letting depts. know) -Oxford MSt (two letters from faculty here, one letter from SLAC) -170 Verbal / 159 Quant / 5.5 AW -Grinding the writing sample, has gotten praise (after many criticisms) from adviser and others, fits my AOI I'm just worried because though I'm doing a masters to compensate for not coming from a ranked department, I'm only a few months into it, and also the health issues senior year which brought down my GPA. Thanks for your opinions, no one knows what'll happen but it's still fun to get some thoughts.

I wasn't trying to be rude, but since your feelings are hurt, I was just trying to point out that if you're going to commit to graduate study in philosophy of all things (I see you actually applied to programs this cycle, lmfao), you should probably know basic things like the "process of assessing universities." You may as well apply based on the strength of the school's football program. It's a little more complicated than undergraduate prestige rankings. Good luck buddy.

Sorry but for the sake of your own time and money, did you really apply to graduate programs in philosophy with that kind of understanding of programs? Uh.....

I'm thinking ahead to when I reapply for PhD programs this fall. I'll have two recycled letters from professors who wrote for me this cycle (both of whom I took 2+ classes with) and one letter from whoever my term paper adviser will be at Oxford. Question: should I be concerned about recycling? I don't have other professors who I've taken more than one class with. I'm just worried that recycling two undergraduate letters (since I'll be doing a 1-year MSt) might put me at a disadvantage compared to people who are getting letters from their 2-year MA professors. Thoughts? Thanks.

Wait correction, it's over 85,000 LOL. Unconscionable af holy shit.

I got the same e-mail and it's honestly a fucking joke. 8k/60k+ for an awful profit MA that's not even in philosophy. Don't do it lol.

why

I'd just name the program lol that's straight up scummy.

That's awesome. I read your bit about spending a year at Harvard law, reminded me of myself. Took the LSAT and planned on attending there, but decided in the end the law was too shallow compared to philosophy for me to dedicate my life to it.

Did you get into ND??

It is! I'd been pretty hopeless so far because I'm coming straight from a small liberal arts college without a graduate program in philosophy. I was pretty much accepting my fate of doing the MSt but this is honestly just a better offer. I probably won't go to the visit, just not enough time in the day this semester