fizzycalism

Removed myself from CUNY's waitlist (though they said they're quite unlikely to make me an offer) and declined Brown.

Accepted Southern California, declined Brown really late (sorry).

Turns out I was on the USC waitlist but had no idea because they used an email address to get in touch with me which I haven't opened in months lol. For those of you who are waitlisted and can't make it to the open days, do you think this might negatively affect your chances of getting an offer? I'm in the middle of Europe and am already making a pretty big sacrifice to go to the Brown visit days, and as much as I would love to 'squeeze a few more days in', as they put it, it's just not feasible Plus I gave my word to Brown.

Has anyone NOT heard anything from USC (Southern California)? Did they just forget to look at my application?

All over the place! Metametaphysics mostly, with metaethics and philosophy of language thrown into the mix. 1 MA under your belt at 34 doesn't sound so bad! I thought my two consecutive masters degrees were proof that I was just stagnating academically and that they would hurt me, but I guess they *are* serious about giving lots of weight to the writing sample in making admissions decisions. And the older I get, the better I write haha. That should be the case for most of us.

That would be me. Thank you so much for your kind words! I don't know your situation, but don't lose your hope just yet, and even if you don't get any PhD offers this season (fingers crossed you do), don't let it discourage you; in my experience it's becoming increasingly more common for people to go on to graduate studies in very good programs after a few years of trying/working outside academia.