shifgrethor

One especially frustrating piece is that I had a paper accepted in a top journal in November. So I know my capability score would’ve been much higher than what it was, but they don’t let you update it. Though by the looks of it, maybe even that wouldn’t have been enough to get funding in 2B!

My score was 16.04 in committee 2B. I did not get an offer.

As someone with a BA in political science (with a focus on IR theory in a continental vein) who is currently a PhD student at a top philosophy department, I’m probably a good person to address your question. (Although I should clarify that I now work mainly in history of philosophy and am no longer specializing in IR theory or continental philosophy.) An MA is a great choice if you’re open minded and prepared to work hard to a) catch up on common knowledge you lack relative to your classmates, and b) learn the methodology of analytic philosophy (even if you’re goal is to stick to continental philosophizing, it is essential to be conversant in analytic philosophy imo). The first couple of months of my philosophy MA were stressful and busy, because I was doing as much ‘background reading’ as actual class readings. Most good profs will recommend background readings for graduate courses, which I strongly suggest you read if you’re really taking this seriously. I think it it can be a great idea to do this, and I wish you luck if it’s your plan. I never took (or audited) a single philosophy course before my MA, so it is not true that you need to do so. But you should be prepared to be a beginner at philosophy, and not assume you already know everything just because you’re fluent in the language of IR theory. Even the overlaps are often approached in radically different ways in the two fields.

Ask the faculty members if they will take you as a student. They will be honest with you, and if they say yes and then choose to retire, will continue working with you while they are emeritus. No use skirting around the issue, they know it is a concern for students. (just don't say it in a way that is insulting or judgmental)

Declined Toronto, San Diego, and Pitt. Took myself off the Stanford and Notre Dame waitlists. Hope this helps someone!

I think Philosophy Tube on Youtube has some useful videos for getting an introduction to some topics (I found their philosophy of time discussion to be helpful). Not for deep reading, but if you wanna get a lay of the land its useful.

Disagree on (3). My writing sample was pure Hume exegesis: I wrote on a relatively-forgotten passage buried in the Treatise, with no attempt to make it relevant to contemporary philosophical debates. I just tried to make the passage coherent and consistent with the rest of the Treatise. On (2), the admissions committee will know that this is only one paper, and therefore not necessarily representative of your capabilities. If it is your best work, I don't see why you should substitute it out for another paper (not to mention - by the same reasoning, wouldn't you be pigeonholing yourself into whatever field that other paper falls into?). This is why you should use your SOP to clarify what your other areas are. Don't try to cram more into your writing sample just to prove you are not one-dimensional. (1) is true, and if you're not committed to working on Kant you should definitely consider this (though as a quick aside, I was admitted to Pitt which has no one working strictly on Hume, so who knows). I do agree that there are lots of things that might be virtues for a paper/thesis but vices for a writing sample. For example: your paper should have clear philosophically clever moves that are original to you. You should also be careful not to use polarizing language or terminology. I don't want to say 'don't be controversial', but there is something to be said about not being too radical in your writing sample. It could come off as arrogance. A prof told me this when I was thinking of using a paper on Kant as my sample, which argued for a super controversial reading of the practical philosophy. You don't want the person reading it to think "who is this person to think they are better than 200 years of Kant exegesis?" So based on that I could see why your thesis might be problematic as a writing sample.

More anecdotal data, but I went to a small unranked university in Canada (it doesn't even rank among Canadian universities in most fields, including philosophy), did my MA at Toronto, and was admitted to 4 top-20 programs including NYU. So while there are definitely statistical disadvantages, the high end of the bell curve doesn't stop short of the top programs.

I'll see you at the Pittsburgh visit and we can chat more in person then! Our interests overlap a bit (mainly at Kant, history, ancient, and political/legal - I don't know much about German Idealism).

Visit the departments. If this is a possibility for you, I would honestly withhold judgment until you've seen what it's like there. You can also tell the DGS about your other offers. Sometimes a department will make their own offer better if you have competing offers.

My inference was incorrect. Just got an email from Jessica Moss that I was admitted.

Congrats! That's amazing. I'm going to assume NYU is not accepting two people with AOIs in Early Modern and Mind in the same year, so I'll happily move on to decision-making now. Finally onto the exciting part!!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That does bode well - I am surprised they would ask that without notifying you that you were accepted! Normally that kind of thing isn't necessary unless you've been admitted. Or do you think maybe there was an issue with your unofficial transcript?

-treatment of women, which professors are known to be dismissive/discriminatory towards women -climate for LGBTQ students/faculty

-faculty supervisor availability (is there someone with a deep connection to your AOI who is available to supervise? Are they a good fit for you? Are they friendly/kind/compassionate?) -supervisory committee availability (is there more than 1 person in or around your AOI who can fill out a committee?) -job prospects after graduation -quality of life (non-academic, ie do you like the city, cost of living, etc)

Agreed with this, except still waiting on the Early Modern specialty rankings

Relevant to: people posting fake NYU acceptances (also just a fun read): https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/540BB557C82186C33BFFB61E35A0B5B6/S2053447716000099a.pdf/aristotle_on_trolling.pdf

Not so fast, apparently!

Fair. I can't tell if I hope it is real or fake. Kind of want to be rejected so I can stop using the possibility of NYU as a way to avoid making a final decision :/

The real question is, would a blind person whose sight is repaired be able to tell these two Molyneux's apart from each other based on vision alone?

Congrats to whoever got into NYU - the fact that it's their first acceptance tells you how easy it is for people to slip through the admissions cracks at other programs!

Last year Stanford released acceptances around the 4th of March, so they should be out by early next week

Having been an MA student last year while visits were happening, a couple of tips/suggestions: - Pack light, bring some business-casual clothes as you may get taken out to a nice-ish dinner by the department. - Ask questions in talks, if you're into that sorta thing (I'm assuming there will be a couple of philosophy talks during the visiting days, this is pretty standard). Profs especially will remember you better if they see you speak up and engage philosophically. - Ask other graduate students, especially MA students, what the quality of life is like. If there is a faculty member you'd like to work with, ask other grad students about them (are they nice? Do they pick favorites? What is the best way to approach them?). Ask grad students what kind of rent you should expect to pay and what public transportation is like in the city, if you do not live there. Grad students are your number 1 resource for getting a good picture of what life will be like come September (faculty will be helpful, but they are typically in a different income bracket and stage of life so it will not be such useful info from them). - If you can lead off a conversation with something other than 'what is your AOS', people will be much happier for it. Ask people what their hobbies are, what music they like, etc. It gets pretty boring and repetitive to have to keep identifying yourself by your AOS (especially when you're just going into an MA - your AOS could end up being wildly different than what it was in undergrad, no use pigeonholing yourself!) Hope this helps, and congrats on getting into your top choice!

Yeah, as arduous as the PhD application process is, the April 15 deadline is a blessing. And you get to know what your funding will be like before accepting an offer, which is pretty nice too