episode413

I have a related question. I am in a top 10 PhD program now and I am considering applying for a couple of other places mainly because I want to see if there could be a better fit. Does anyone know how important the grades I get in this current PhD program are? I have a couple of A grades and a couple of A- grades. Would the A- grades be bad for my applications? Thanks!

Thanks everyone for your advice! I've replied to all of them and asked them about my options. So the school that accepted me is Toronto and I think it's a great fit for me (my AoI is moral and political philosophy). I would be very happy to go there. The school that waitlisted me is UCLA. The complication is I also got accepted to UCLA Law School so I can potentially do a joint JD/PhD at UCLA (they also provide great funding on both the JD and the PhD side). However, I didn't apply for Toronto Law and Toronto Law does not give any funding to international students. I guess I could also do a JD/LLM/MSL after I complete my PhD if I don't do the joint program now. Doing a PhD in philosophy is definitely my first choice. I just think that doing a JD in addition to the PhD would be helpful for my academic pursuit and future job searching. Anyway, I welcome any thoughts or advice on this matter if you have any. Thanks so much! And good luck to everyone!

hey, I'm sorry if this is a stupid question. I recently got several emails from faculty members of the department that accepted me. They encouraged me to go there and offered to skype. I'm very grateful for the emails but I'm not sure how I should reply. I was waitlisted by another school that I'm very interested in. I was worrying I may seem too presumptuous if I ask them about the other school that waitlisted me (after all, I haven't got accepted). I also haven't asked my undergrad mentors about the schools because I planned to really start comparing these programs after I hear back from the waitlist. So, should I reply to the emails from the program that accepted me ASAP? Can I wait for like one more week to see what happens and then ask them any questions I may have? Eventually I will reply to them and express gratitude regardless of which school I'll go. But I'm just wondering if they'll get mad if I don't reply right away.

I have the same question about NYU. Haven't heard anything from them... Should I ask?

May I ask your AOI? Thanks!

I really like Samuel Scheffler and Liam Murphy at NYU. They were my POIs. How were your school visits btw? Maybe we can chat using PMs?

Congratulations! Where are you leaning towards?

I don't think I'll be able to make it But it's very likely I'll accept the offer

Are you going to the Graduate Research Weekend btw?

Have you received the formal offer by now? I was thinking if I should ask them about it......I know it's ridiculous, but I'm starting to worry that they might take the offer away from me...

I'm an international student from a third-world county too. I'm from China? And I agree with you about how few students from third-world countries study philosophy in North America. It is hard. And most international students from china tend to pursue more lucrative careers. It's also hard for you to believe that you could study philosophy in the phd level here. Although I did my undergrad in the states, I really didn't believe I could get into any phd program until I got the offer from Toronto. After all, you can hardly see any non-white/Asian philosophers in North American universities.

has anyone who received the informal admission email from the DGS at Toronto received the formal offer? He said the formal offer would be sent out by the end of Feb

We actually have the same AOI haha. I wasn't admitted at Harvard, but I got an email from Gina Schouten today. She's a former PhD student of my undergrad mentor. She's really nice! And a brilliant mind! So jealous of you haha. Good luck!

NYU usually sends out offers late February/early March. So I guess their visiting days would also be later than other schools such as UCLA and Harvard. Several people have reported acceptances from Princeton. And yeah like the other person said, you should ask if the schools could split your travel costs. I was just waitlisted at UCLA. Hopefully you'll make your decision soon! May I ask your AOI? Good luck with the visits!

It was personalized. The DGS mentioned my sample. He said there are around thirty people on the waitlist. It's not strictly ranked. And in the past years they offered 7 or 8 admissions after the first around. It seems that he hasn't finished sending out waitlists based on the small number of reports. Good luck to both of us!

Although I've got an acceptance which is also a pretty good fit, I wish I had applied for more programs, such as UNC and Oxford... There are just so many things I think I could do differently looking back at the application process...

That makes sense! Thanks for the reply!

Does anyone know whether schools have a (implicit) rule of not admitting their own undergrads? I did my undergrad at UW-Madison and an MA at UChicago. I applied to Madison and actually really want to go back for PhD. I haven't heard anything back yet so I assume I'm rejected. I got accepted at Toronto using another writing sample (I have two and sent different ones to different schools). So I'm curious about which factor mainly led to the rejection (if it's knowable at all) and whether I just shouldn't have applied to Madison.

Got accepted to Toronto! First admission! I was so worried I couldn't get into any phd programs. Good luck everyone! Don't lose hope!