LORDBACON

I wish this was true. I've solicited UCR twice and gotten no response. They did give someone a solicited rejection 2 days ago though. So either that's my fate and they're just ignoring me, or they've got me on a waitlist and might make me an offer but don't want me to know I was on a waitlist. As asking these departments for decisions hasn't gone well for me this season, I plan on keeping quiet and hoping for the latter on this one.

Those are both live possibilities. It depends on the program, and you should be able to get a clue how they operate by looking at their history on the survey: https://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=philosophy for example UCR tends to never send out rejections, and SIU Carbondale has not sent any decisions yet. Also, a Stanford acceptance just came out of nowhere yesterday.

DePaul and UNM said nah, and UC Riverside's non-response likely means a nah, as does Vanderbilt's, which leaves just SIU Carbondale to hear from this season.

UNM said an admissions decision was sent out 12 days ago by mail and I haven't received anything. It's fascinating that they sent sealed letters on separate occasions to say "one of your transcripts is missing" and "we received your GRE scores" but then managed to fail heroically in the task of informing me of an admissions decision. Legends. I'm strongly tempted to decline any offer from them, provided they made me one and this information is ever made known to me.

Boston C. got back to me with the solicited rejection news and said the letter was in the mail.

Finally got the rejection from Fordham. There are 4 depts I've solicited news from who are not responding at all: UCR, UCSD, Depaul, Vanderbilt Should be hearing from SIU Carbondale soon. UNM letter's on the way. I was also rejected from the U.Chicago Nef Committee on Social Thought a few days ago.

Congratulations on your acceptance and I hope you'll get your pick. I'm not fretting about it as the department which is likely the best fit for me made me an offer. Solicited rejection from TAMU (Texas A&M) via email: " The graduate admissions committee has had its meeting and made our decisions about initial acceptances and the waitlist. Unfortunately, we did not put you in either group. I hope things are going well for you otherwise."

"The decision letters for the department were mailed out on Tuesday and should arrive soon." Sounds like all decisions have been sent out.

For any applicants this may concern: I am planning to accept USF's offer unless UCR, UCSD, Baylor, Fordham, or UNM make me an offer. In the latter case it'll probably come down to doing some visits.

Replies from Syracuse (R), Boston C. (R), Fordham (decision next week), and UNM (decision was snail-mailed out on Tuesday).

Just solicited responses from: UCR (2nd attempt), UCSD (2nd attempt), Syracuse, Vanderbilt, Boston C., Texas A&M, Fordham, SIU Carbondale, Depaul, UNM With the exception of the last 3 (who seem not to have released any decisions yet), I am doubtful that this silence bodes well for my plans of attending these programs.

I missed this but it came up in the search I just did- congratulations! USF is loaded with philosophers that do my AOI's. It's about as perfect a fit as I could ever hope for, really.

Solicited UCSD and UCR to no avail a day and a half ago. Looks like we're headin' down into a good old-fashioned standoff, folks!

still nah

Thanks Vivec! Was looking like a shutout but I'm glad I decided to dig extra deep to fund the process. It sounds like a neat city, and the department is a great fit for me. I love how much Heidegger and Nietzsche (and a lot else) they have going on. What was your sense about metaphysics and epistemology from your experience in the department? They seem fairly inclusive across the a/c divide from what I see so far.

gods be praised, I have received a generous funded offer with TA stipend from University of South Florida. I do not know, but I've solicited a response from them. USF is pretty strong in medieval so maybe they liked my mystical rant in the SOP. Thanks for making that connection for me; substantial interest in medieval is common to the depts who've responded positively to me so far.

What I'm beginning to wonder is how and who to try to convince to review my next sample over and over again once I have graduated in May. Should I just cut to the chase and hit up my POI's from the depts where I got rejected and ask them for comments? If I have one good idea in my life please let this be it.

Welcome. You've found the Philosophy forum! You should be able to find the information you're looking for here: https://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/8-psychology/

Same story here. Awaiting fate. Floating in the indeterminate ether. This is a sensible point. I was going for non-Abrahamic mysticism, which UNM seems quite fond of. Paradoxically in eschewing the medieval mysticism path I've essentially committed myself to a unicorn hunt. Hmm. This is greatly helpful- thanks!

I did, and there are reasons I'm inclined to agree with that analysis. Now that you mention it, it seems like a great AOI to keep quiet about, with rare exceptions. Thanks for that insight. Maybe I'll get lucky and UCSD (and UCR) will follow Baylor and at least waitlist me. Agreed- NTS status is another good thing to keep quiet about. I disowned aesthetics in the SOI but there's no guarantee they are catching that every time; and if they don't, then your insight shows how they'd have a good reason to fast-track my app to the trashpile. Thanks for the counsel- it makes a difference in my hypothetical future approach to getting in with one of my dream departments. NTS unite, and good luck!

Thanks, y'all. It's puzzling as two of my letter writers read the sample and both thought it was a good piece of scholarship. Perhaps I wasn't a good fit; or perhaps it was the mismatch between sample (aesthetics) and AOI (Kant, mysticism, ethics, and Nietzsche). Or maybe being a non-traditional student has a part in it. Well, it's not over til it's over. May you all find a happy match.

Helpful, relevant, and succinct advice, dogs. And I agree that evidence of serious scholarship potential is more crucial than scores. You made me realize I have been deceiving myself (just a little) about how much improving the scores can help me. But in light of your perspective I still feel encouraged to re-take, but with more realistic expectations. Thank you and big congratulations on your remarkable acceptance rate into top departments.

Sure, it's possible. It makes sense from their perspective. Some departments don't use a waitlist because they're averse to making students feel like they were their 2nd choice. So for the same reason it would make sense for ND (for example) to accept a few, wait and see how many of those decline, and then send out more acceptances, and so on.

Fair. And also fair as noted above that they're not typically high priority for depts. But my sense is it's screwing me over, or at least contributing largely to the complete explanation of what is. The only thing I'm confident of is that perfect scores cannot hurt us, and if I can accomplish that the next round, that peace of mind will be worthwhile.

There's no general conclusion about GRE scores worthy of wide agreement except that most depts require them. But I'm dubious of the meaning you suggest. From what little anectodal evidence I have seen, depts are not, at least in any sense that offers further information about how well you fared in their application process, selective about which rejected PhD applications they recommend for the MA or MAPH (usually unfunded, I should add). In fact, for several departments that seems to be more or less the rule. I was not suggesting that decent scores (which yours are) will get you automatically cut. I don't think that's the case at all. But I do think that it will not give them a reason to separate your application into a smaller set for a closer look. I am suggesting that having near perfect or perfect scores will probably give them such a reason. What my experience with Georgetown does mean is that sometimes departments will make assumptions about your qualifications as a candidate based solely on GRE scores.