Phaedrus94

I wanted to create a forum where students can share and discuss funding offers from Chicago MAPSS. The program site boasts that majority of students get aid in one way or another and that applicants who apply directly to the program (instead of being shunted to it upon a PhD rejection) get more aid. They are even keen on saying that competitive applicants receive 2/3 and full-tuition scholarships. However, I have never encountered a student on here or elsewhere saying they've received an aid offer greater than half tuition. I for one applied to MAPSS directly in hopes of a reasonable funding offer. I applied to a PhD last year and got offered half tuition for MAPSS. I got my acceptance from MAPSS today as a direct applicant but my funding offer was less than it was when they offered me admittance last year. Does this seem peculiar to anybody? Feel free to discuss your funding offers and relationship / take on MAPSS tuition!

yup j realized this myself -- re: mostly non-admits on here sweating it out!! But I'm mostly curious about PCato's earlier reassurance... it seemed to maybe imply that the current students had some hand in admissions which im sure it not actually the case?

I think it's strange not at least 1 acceptance report yet. GuanilosIsland did you contact the school yourself? (Are the results you posted in your signature current?)

PCato - do you have any updates on whether decisions have been made/when they will be sent out?

I'm sorry to hear that. Annoying that they dont just release their decisions. I've never contacted a school to ask about results. Was it difficult to get them to tell you your admissions result? My portal still says status "submitted"

I wonder if it's just a tough call this year. Interestingly, just checked the portal and they changed my GRE score status from not received, which was the status two days ago, to received. Just an indication that I guess they're looking at our apps right now. Scary!

Interview was maybe about 30 minutes. I'm also curious about whether all kids that are admitted must pass through the interview... that would be the most revealing information. If all who are admitted do not go through the interview, it seems like it's only about deciding on the kids who might be worth a little bit more prying (and it seems like it could potentially be more harmful than helpful for them). I saw someone got on the waitlist over a week before I had my interview which I think is strange. Also the time between the deadline of the app and the interview seemed very short. Am I wrong to say I think the urging about the other schools was unprofessional? It's hard to say what role the other acceptance played in this — I would imagine it could also have pushed them further to offer me admissions. I gave no signal about my rank of schools or anything. I knew the program well. But also, one of the professors was a Derrida scholar. I mention Derrida in a single sentence in my Plato paper, because he's relevant, and he grilled me on expanding on Derrida. I wasn't going to bullshit through it, but he certainly didn't let me get away with not trying. It was a very pedantic and strange power dynamic, since that is not my philosophical strong suit, nor did I indicate that in my research interests. To be fair, they told me to review my paper before hand but I was taken aback that they would really hone in on a specific reference, and not the structure or cogency of the argument more broadly. The connection also made thins awkward in regards to delays and eye contact. Other q's I remember: - What classes would you like to see being offered. I responded by saying that I'd like to see more courses on neoplatonism and the intersection between phil and religion in the 18th century. One of them replied that such courses will in fact be offered— the tone seemed to either suggest that he was trying to convince me but also challenging my answer in some way... -What other branches of philosophy do you hope to explore at this school - I mentioned areas they were strong in, they seemed happy about it. They told me more, which is strange, because it seemed like they were teaching me about the program as if I had applied blindly and didn't do my own research. It seemed again like they didn't read my application. -Why this school - which I answered pretty clearly. They didn't ask to elaborate about why I wanted the PhD in particular or why philosophy etc. So this maybe is another way of them trying to pry and see if I were really interested. But again, my stats/credentials are pretty non-spectacular, although my letter writers have close ties with the school. -Whether I was okay with living in such a rural environment (again, they didn't seem to realize that my undergrad education was in that environment). ^these all in retrospect seemed routine and covered up the prying about my schools, which I intentionally left blank when I applied. Then they let me ask some questions, which I did but mostly out of formalities, since again, I knew the program well. There was one instance that might have been construed as awkward, where I mentioned that I looked up to a not-so-hot/very mediocre scholar who graduated from the program. They were quick to correct me, and I realized that I may have been wrong. Which I think was fine, especially since said scholar's work would make a lot of sense coming out of that particular program. All in all it wasn't a good experience, and I'm truly not saying that because of the rejection. I do hope more schools do interviews because I liked getting the opportunity to meet the profs that I wouldn't be able to because of travel costs, but I'm not sure they did it the right way. Anyways curious to here more narratives about phil interviews.

Hi all, I was wondering if any of you had any experience with interviews for philosophy PhD programs? Thoughts on how they serve the admissions committee? I had a strange one last week and got my rejection letter today. I was actually looking forward to it since it seemed like the only interpersonal interaction I'd get with a school, which I took meant they were interested. The program didn't say on its site that it would interview students, and my interview email told me to save the date for a campus visit, so it seemed very eager. I expected it to be rather informal but it was in fact very formal. Four professors in a board room asked me precise questions about my paper, one related to his field of study... I now wonder if this was a chance to "redeem" myself but the whole procedure was very unclear. They mostly wanted to know where I was applying-- this is where they really pricked their ears and put their pens to paper. I told them the few schools, and they were surprised about how selective I was and made clear that they wanted me to inform them ASAP about those other schools. I didn't want to be dishonest so I told them I already had an offer from another (much better) school-- but the grilling didn't seem fair. What's more, it seems like that's all they wanted to know. They read my paper but asked me about my language skills and coursework in a way that seems like they didn't look at the application (I did an MA at a francophone institution and had to remind this of them). I would have been happy to attend the program, but the interview seemed surprisingly shady.