Tayl0496

Hi there. I actually went to the University of Minnesota -- twin cities for my undergrad, and grew up in Minnesota so I figured I would throw in my two cents. As far as where students live it varies a lot. For areas that are right next to campus there are some decent places to live around dinkytown, there are various apartment complexes on the edge of the east bank campus around University and Huron Blvd. -- a lot of student apartment complexes like Melrose apartments and University Commons, but most are filled with undergraduates that enjoy the party scene and it could be hard to find some quiet time to work there... at least it was when I lived there during my freshman year. Also right of the west bank of campus there are a couple places to live around an area called seven corners (this area is not quite as nice but very conveniently located). A lot of students also live in Uptown which is a really cool area, lots of alternative/artsy places, but it isn't as close to campus as the other areas but if I were going to staying at Minnesota for grad school this is where I would want to live. The school is probably about like 5-10 min. from the "minneapolis nightlife", or at least from downtown minneapolis. The school is definitely its own little community. You can pretty much find any kind of "scene" that you're into... if you like the more artsy/alternative, coffee shops, museums, you can find that but you can also find plenty of bars and barhoppers/drinking oriented people. I would say the city is more liberal and there is quite a bit of culture and diversity, and people are pretty accepting and friendly to people of all races (although as you move farther away from the city to various suburbs, diversity drops drastically). I personally didn't go to St. Paul very often, there is nothing wrong with it though. One of my friends actually described the difference between Minneapolis and St. Paul pretty well the other day; he said that St. Paul is where your parents would live and fit in (nice, clean, quiet, but still stuff to do) and Minneapolis is where you and your friends would live/fit in (a little dirtier with a lot more going on at night and a lot more social). In my opinion this description is pretty accurate. As far as rent expectancy it really depends on where your looking and what your looking for. The winters can get cold as hell but I have never needed snow tires or anything like that, and I haven't used snowboots since I was about 10. Just make sure you have a warm jacket, hat, and gloves. Oh and if you are going to be driving make sure you always have an ice scraper for your car widows and windshield.

I agree with Rising_Star's comment that if you're applying to graduate school in philosophy then all the schools you are applying to will be research schools. However, when you finish graduate school and apply for jobs, the divide between research and teaching schools will be more relevant. If your goal is to be teaching at a larger research school then certain schools are obviously better than others for placing their graduates in these positions... and as you review placement records -- and leiter's blog has some nice posts about tenure-track hiring this year -- you will notice at least some correlation between the perceived prestige of the department and it's ability to place graduates at larger research institutions. In regards to your question of how to narrow down schools. While I definitely empathize with your openness to study any field of philosophy, I would really suggest doing some thinking on what a few of the fields are of most interest to you. If you really have absolutely no idea which areas are of most interest to you then I would suggest looking at some M.A. programs to hone in on your interests before going on to the PhD. Obviously, most students do not know exactly what they will end up specializing when they enter PhD programs, but as far as I have been informed... Adcomms want an applicant to communicate at least a general idea of what they would like to study without being set in stone. So, yet again, I would suggest trying to hone in on like 2, 3, or 4 areas that are currently of the most interest to you then looking at the philosophical gourmet's specialty rankings to find the schools that are strong in these areas... go to there websites and read through the professors bios/CV's and see if they seem like they are doing work that is of interest to you and if you could see yourself working with them. Then, try to get a sense for how the department is in areas outside of these 3 or 4 areas that are of most interest to you... just in case you end up completely changing your study during grad school. After you have applied I would suggest actually searching out various articles/books written by the professors at the departments to get a better idea of their work and how you would fit. As a final note, I would also suggest not taking the gourmet report as being 100% authoritative on which schools are best and which schools you should bother applying to. The gourmet report is not designed without its biases, and is not without its flaws -- although it is a good place to start. For example, if you are interested in studying various figures like Sartre, Heidegger, Derrida, etc. then the gourmet report might not be the best resource. I actually, for various reasons, accepted an offer from an unranked program (although ranked well in my perspective area of specialty and in another area of interest) over offers from 4 different ranked programs. The smaller size and informal feel of the department will give me more one on one time with the professors, better funding/lower cost of living, and actually the placement record was on par with the ranked programs (actually better than 2 of the ranked programs) -- all factors that are not captured by the report. Yet again though, I do not want to undermine the gourmet report's usefulness, I just want to stress it should not be thought of as 100% authoritative. Also remember to apply many places because the admissions to Phd programs in philosophy is quite competitive. I hope that is at least minimally helpful to you. I know the application process can be quite stressful. Good luck to you.

Why yes. I too will be attending the University of Iowa starting in the fall, and pursuing a PhD in Philosophy. I will be on a fellowship the first year and TA for the remaining years. I know some applicants in philosophy (especially those that treat the PGR as the holy grail) would think I am crazy since I had comparable offers from better ranked schools but after my visit a while ago I know I made the right decision. I am super excited about starting classes and working with various faculty members; however, I am somewhat nervous about moving and all that jazz. I also hope to hear from some more future Iowa grad students and to hear their concerns, excitement, plans, programs, etc.

I would suggest: 1) Apply to many more programs (which it seems you have already started to look into): as many people have noted, this process is also very random 2) Personalize your statement of purpose for each department 3) Many professors helping me during the admissions process told me to make sure to clearly articulate my current interests but to make sure I do not sound too set in my ways because about half of graduate students change from what they originally thought their AOS would be; thus, I would suggest mention your current interest/project but make sure to mention other interests that would also be well served at the departments if your interests were to change. 4) Revise your writing sample, or even start a new one, to make sure it illustrates the particular skills adcoms are looking for -- given your stats, I am guessing your sample already does this but just make sure it does so to the best of your ability, and make sure it is clear (definite thesis and strong argument) and concise because adcoms probably will not read an entire 40 page writing sample. As far as the topic of your writing sample, Eastern Philosophy is a touchy subject, especially among the more analytic departments, and you might do better with a different topic -- but this is something to definitely take with a grain of salt considering this is what you are interested in. Remember, even though a department might have people doing work in Eastern Philosophy, they might not be the people reading your writing sample. Anyways, that is my advise and I hope you find it helpful. You may not but that is okay as well. Given your stats I think you should do fine next time around since you will have more time to prepare your applications and will probably have more programs to apply to in general. My own stats are: Similar GPA, a GRE with a lower verbal score than yourself but an 800 on the quantitative, I imagine 2 very strong recommendations (one from a well known and respected philosopher in ethics) and 1 letter that I imagine was mediocre, received my BA from an honors program in a more analytic philosophy department that is in the top 50 of the Leiter Report, and then a year off from school. I applied to 16 programs and got accepted with full funding to 3 programs (one unranked and two in the top fifty) and I got waitlisted at four-schools (2 in the top fifty, 1 in the top 30, and 1 in the top 20). I withdrew from the all the waitlists except the one in the top 20 (my first choice) but nothing came of this one waitlist and I actually accepted the offer from the unranked school for various reasons (the PGR is a good resource but if you do use it make sure not to get caught up in it). Anyways I will leave you with that because it is getting really long now. Good luck with your applications next year!