Cloudsofrain

Congrats! I assume by OSU you mean Ohio State. I'm a grad student there so feel free to reach out if you have any questions about living out here in Columbus. Though I'm sure you have already met some of the other grad students.

Figured I'd get this yearly thread started since results are starting to trickle in.
Last year I applied to 14 schools but didn't get in anywhere.
 
This year I've applied to 25 schools, so we'll see how it goes.

So far I got into Ohio State

Maybe check out this place. https://fundedphilma.weebly.com/
Off the top of my head, these are some places that stand out to me. Miami University Ohio is a pretty good MA program for Continental philosophy. Though it looks like they do require the GRE. San Francisco State is also another one. They don't require the GRE. I think funding is a little less straightforward at SFSU, but it is definitely doable. At least from what I had heard. 
I know the MA program at Duquesne is perceived in continental circles as being a nice jumping pad. Their placement is somewhat decent. I had a couple of friends who went to Duquesne. But from what I understand there isn't full funding. Or only some students receive full funding. I'm not too sure. 
Also, don't feel like you can't apply to analytic programs because you do continental philosophy. If there is a faculty member at an analytic program who does continental and can help you with what you are interested in, you should apply there. The writing sample you come out of the program with, will generally be fine when applying to phd continental programs.

I considered the MA at at Stonybrook - no funding except work study, very expensive living situation, and placement seemed to be very restricted. Of all the "continental" M.A.s which also have a PhD, I'd say University of New Mexico would be best. 
Honestly, I think any terminal M.A. that's a good terminal M.A. overall is good for a student interested in continental, as so long as it isn't overtly hostile to continental. For what it's worth, I'm at an "analytic" program and I've taken courses on Kant, Foucault, and an independent study of Husserl, but I also have a much wider understanding of what's going on in the discipline as a whole and I know how to talk about, say, Canguilhem, to someone who has almost zero familiarity with that area. I also know more about the philosophy of cognitive science than most people interested in continental philosophy.  At my program, we had a student place at Memphis which is pretty SPEP-y (as well as Irvine). Anyhow, I don't know, I'm still pretty continental-oriented and I think it was overall a good decision to attend a program strong in analytic (insofar as the division really makes sense anymore). So, I'd apply to M.A.s that are overtly continental, but also M.A.s that are solid overall. It's not a PhD program - you're only there for two years.
 
Also you might wanna take a look and notice that the placement record among the hardcore SPEP programs is, uh, a bit incestuous (similar relationships exist among sets of "analytic" programs as well).
And, on one final note, most younger philosophers coming out with PhDs these days don't take the analytic-continental divide as seriously as people did decades ago. Like, no one's going to become visibly upset if you mention Heidegger or whatever.

Maybe check out this place. https://fundedphilma.weebly.com/
Off the top of my head, these are some places that stand out to me. Miami University Ohio is a pretty good MA program for Continental philosophy. Though it looks like they do require the GRE. San Francisco State is also another one. They don't require the GRE. I think funding is a little less straightforward at SFSU, but it is definitely doable. At least from what I had heard. 
I know the MA program at Duquesne is perceived in continental circles as being a nice jumping pad. Their placement is somewhat decent. I had a couple of friends who went to Duquesne. But from what I understand there isn't full funding. Or only some students receive full funding. I'm not too sure. 
Also, don't feel like you can't apply to analytic programs because you do continental philosophy. If there is a faculty member at an analytic program who does continental and can help you with what you are interested in, you should apply there. The writing sample you come out of the program with, will generally be fine when applying to phd continental programs.

Maybe check out this place. https://fundedphilma.weebly.com/
Off the top of my head, these are some places that stand out to me. Miami University Ohio is a pretty good MA program for Continental philosophy. Though it looks like they do require the GRE. San Francisco State is also another one. They don't require the GRE. I think funding is a little less straightforward at SFSU, but it is definitely doable. At least from what I had heard. 
I know the MA program at Duquesne is perceived in continental circles as being a nice jumping pad. Their placement is somewhat decent. I had a couple of friends who went to Duquesne. But from what I understand there isn't full funding. Or only some students receive full funding. I'm not too sure. 
Also, don't feel like you can't apply to analytic programs because you do continental philosophy. If there is a faculty member at an analytic program who does continental and can help you with what you are interested in, you should apply there. The writing sample you come out of the program with, will generally be fine when applying to phd continental programs.

Maybe check out this place. https://fundedphilma.weebly.com/
Off the top of my head, these are some places that stand out to me. Miami University Ohio is a pretty good MA program for Continental philosophy. Though it looks like they do require the GRE. San Francisco State is also another one. They don't require the GRE. I think funding is a little less straightforward at SFSU, but it is definitely doable. At least from what I had heard. 
I know the MA program at Duquesne is perceived in continental circles as being a nice jumping pad. Their placement is somewhat decent. I had a couple of friends who went to Duquesne. But from what I understand there isn't full funding. Or only some students receive full funding. I'm not too sure. 
Also, don't feel like you can't apply to analytic programs because you do continental philosophy. If there is a faculty member at an analytic program who does continental and can help you with what you are interested in, you should apply there. The writing sample you come out of the program with, will generally be fine when applying to phd continental programs.

How is it elitist to accept the same people? These people have obviously worked hard and have put together superior writing samples and application packages more generally. I get it, you're disappointed. But you can't go around blaming others.
Edit: It's also not like any programs know which applicants the other programs will be accepting. As far as they know, they're accepting the strongest candidates for their department.

Just chiming in to say that (based on personal experience) this is largely correct. LPS is in the school of social sciences which requires interviews before sending out actual offers. In the past, LPS has treated this 'interview' as essentially a formality and a chance to sell their program (mostly by taking people to the beach ?). The philosophy department at UCI is in the school of humanities, so they are going to do things a bit differently.
I would not take UCI LPS as indicative of anything regarding other programs.

So if you look up previous acceptances to UCI's LPS, someone last cycle has said, "Those invited to the interview (11 this year) are essentially already accepted. LPS is just required by the university to interview candidates in person before formally admitting them." My guess is that this is what is happening. In years past, those accepted to the LPS seem to receive a formal email in early to mid-Feb. which coincides with those who are also formally accepted to UCI's regular philosophy track program. I would imagine that the LPS is allowed to get a jump on early because of university's extra requirement to interview candidates.
 
FWIW, I doubt that this is an indication that other universities are going to release early. This is pretty standard for UCI's LPS. They normally notify LPS candidates around this time. If anything, it might indicate that most universities will be keeping with their normal timelines of when they notify people that they've been accepted. This is good news. 

So if you look up previous acceptances to UCI's LPS, someone last cycle has said, "Those invited to the interview (11 this year) are essentially already accepted. LPS is just required by the university to interview candidates in person before formally admitting them." My guess is that this is what is happening. In years past, those accepted to the LPS seem to receive a formal email in early to mid-Feb. which coincides with those who are also formally accepted to UCI's regular philosophy track program. I would imagine that the LPS is allowed to get a jump on early because of university's extra requirement to interview candidates.
 
FWIW, I doubt that this is an indication that other universities are going to release early. This is pretty standard for UCI's LPS. They normally notify LPS candidates around this time. If anything, it might indicate that most universities will be keeping with their normal timelines of when they notify people that they've been accepted. This is good news. 

I generally agree with you. The sharp increase of the number of applicants in each school may attribute to the possible fact that every one is applying to much more schools, for everyone has a lower expectation that she will be admitted. So the overall applicants in the pool might not increase too much. Also, it really takes a long time foe me to prepare the application materials. If one started to prepare the application simply after March due to the pandemic, Idk, it might be too hasty?
The biggest threat to me is that many programs suspend or reduce admission this academic year. This definitely influences a lot, making the admission much more competitive. Well, I'm an international student, only having my Master in the US in a non-elite program.  If I fail this time, I will have no way but to go back my country where the philosophy academia sucks.

Meh, I wouldn't worry about the possibility of more applicants. It isn't like getting into philosophy programs is easy when there isn't a pandemic. It is always going to be hard. Just control what you can control. If you have a solid application and you applied to a decent amount of schools, you should be fine. Just because there are more applicants does not mean that the quantity of quality applications has also gone up.  Of course, applying to grad programs can be a crapshoot, but I think that if your writing sample adequately demonstrates your philosophical skills you should be alright.

Meh, I wouldn't worry about the possibility of more applicants. It isn't like getting into philosophy programs is easy when there isn't a pandemic. It is always going to be hard. Just control what you can control. If you have a solid application and you applied to a decent amount of schools, you should be fine. Just because there are more applicants does not mean that the quantity of quality applications has also gone up.  Of course, applying to grad programs can be a crapshoot, but I think that if your writing sample adequately demonstrates your philosophical skills you should be alright.

In at Brown!

I'm not sure this is right. PhD prestige is a huge factor on the job market, to be sure, and I agree that "analytic" departments are more prestigious, on the whole, than most continental programs.
That said, (1) the prestige hierarchy for analytic departments is not a rank ordering, and once you get past a double fistful of departments it really starts to lose its effect (or seems to), (2) prestige's largest contribution seems to be towards hiring in research-oriented departments with a PhD program (which is to say, if your PhD is from too low down the rankings--and "too low" is surprisingly high!--then you're effectively shut out), and (3) continental philosophy has its own prestige hierarchy with a narrower band of schools from a wider tranche of the PGR/non-PGR.
So anyway. I just wanted to chime in and note that your job prospects are not necessarily better by staying in analytic philosophy. They're better (in some respects) if you're at Princeton, Pittsburgh, Harvard, or MIT, but I'm not convinced you're better off at, say, CUNY or Notre Dame than at DePaul or Emory. Remember that analytic subfields are glutted with people; so is continental philosophy, but it's an open question where the glut is worse. I'm not convinced, for example, that your overall job prospects as a meta-ethicist aremuch better than as a specialist in phenomenology. The job markets for those subfields seem to be pretty separate--so, e.g., the meta-ethicist probably has a better shot at PGR departments (although the odds are still really, really low), whereas the phenomenologist probably has a better shot at community colleges and teaching-focused departments (although again, the odds are still quite low).
In the end, let's be real: you probably won't get a TT job anyway. And the difference between a .01% chance and .05% chance is not actually all that big even if it looks like it at first glance (neither one adds up to a job after 500 applications!). I don't think that's an accurate representation of your actual chances, but I think it gives you a better idea of how things work out. We're really splitting hairs, and it's not worth your time and energy to try to game the job market. It's not the sort of thing that's amenable to gaming, there are too many other factors in play, and they're too volatile. And there just aren't enough jobs, period. Frankly, philosophy is a fading star to begin with, just because of the state of the market. Trust me, I've been on it for years.
Just aim for the best program that fits your interests, and if you want a decent chance on the market, aim for working with the most famous advisor you can find. After that, it's a roll of the dice. Don't come out expecting (or even hoping) for an academic job: come out of the program applying for them, and applying for interesting non-academic work, too. Cultivate your non-academic options throughout grad school. You'll almost certainly need them.

For the last two years I've used the spreadsheet to track acceptances, waitlists, and rejections after folks applied. This year I want it to be useful as folks apply rather than after all the applications are in.
 
Here's the new spreadsheet: Philosophy Admissions 2020 Spreadsheet 
 
It has a list of schools (100ish PhDs and 30ish MAs) along with their respective deadlines, application fees (and fee waiver information), transcript type required (official/unofficial), GREs (yes/no/sometimes), and other info. You can also sort it by using a personal filter to look at only the schools you care about.
 
If folks want to share the spreadsheet, feel free to do so using bit.ly/PhilAdm (this is so I can see how many folks access it but I just see a #).
 
-L

 

Hi jackb97,
I am glad to hear that you have interest in UMSL. I am currently a graduate student at UMSL. One helpful note about our program is that funding is usually only given to people who take the GRE test. So if you would like to go to UMSL with funding(tuition remission and stipend), I would strongly suggest that you take the GRE. I know of someone who applied and was accepted, but because that individual didn't take the GRE, the individual was not given a full funding package. Also, in regards to the programs at San Fran and LA, there is no official funding that they will give. However, they will typically hire students to work as TAs and such, but they don't offer tuition remission packages that UMSL, NIU, Georgia state, and other programs do. Funding may not be an issue for you, but for many students including myself, funding is important.  I hope this helps you, feel free to ask me specific questions about UMSL if you have any. 

Funding is absolutely important for me, thank you for letting me know. I've been considering applying to NIU as well, both my letter writers recommended I apply for the program. I'll be sure to message you if I have any questions about the program, and thank you for responding to my post!

Hi jackb97,
I am glad to hear that you have interest in UMSL. I am currently a graduate student at UMSL. One helpful note about our program is that funding is usually only given to people who take the GRE test. So if you would like to go to UMSL with funding(tuition remission and stipend), I would strongly suggest that you take the GRE. I know of someone who applied and was accepted, but because that individual didn't take the GRE, the individual was not given a full funding package. Also, in regards to the programs at San Fran and LA, there is no official funding that they will give. However, they will typically hire students to work as TAs and such, but they don't offer tuition remission packages that UMSL, NIU, Georgia state, and other programs do. Funding may not be an issue for you, but for many students including myself, funding is important.  I hope this helps you, feel free to ask me specific questions about UMSL if you have any. 

Hi jackb97,
I am glad to hear that you have interest in UMSL. I am currently a graduate student at UMSL. One helpful note about our program is that funding is usually only given to people who take the GRE test. So if you would like to go to UMSL with funding(tuition remission and stipend), I would strongly suggest that you take the GRE. I know of someone who applied and was accepted, but because that individual didn't take the GRE, the individual was not given a full funding package. Also, in regards to the programs at San Fran and LA, there is no official funding that they will give. However, they will typically hire students to work as TAs and such, but they don't offer tuition remission packages that UMSL, NIU, Georgia state, and other programs do. Funding may not be an issue for you, but for many students including myself, funding is important.  I hope this helps you, feel free to ask me specific questions about UMSL if you have any. 

Hi jackb97,
I am glad to hear that you have interest in UMSL. I am currently a graduate student at UMSL. One helpful note about our program is that funding is usually only given to people who take the GRE test. So if you would like to go to UMSL with funding(tuition remission and stipend), I would strongly suggest that you take the GRE. I know of someone who applied and was accepted, but because that individual didn't take the GRE, the individual was not given a full funding package. Also, in regards to the programs at San Fran and LA, there is no official funding that they will give. However, they will typically hire students to work as TAs and such, but they don't offer tuition remission packages that UMSL, NIU, Georgia state, and other programs do. Funding may not be an issue for you, but for many students including myself, funding is important.  I hope this helps you, feel free to ask me specific questions about UMSL if you have any. 

Hi jackb97,
I am glad to hear that you have interest in UMSL. I am currently a graduate student at UMSL. One helpful note about our program is that funding is usually only given to people who take the GRE test. So if you would like to go to UMSL with funding(tuition remission and stipend), I would strongly suggest that you take the GRE. I know of someone who applied and was accepted, but because that individual didn't take the GRE, the individual was not given a full funding package. Also, in regards to the programs at San Fran and LA, there is no official funding that they will give. However, they will typically hire students to work as TAs and such, but they don't offer tuition remission packages that UMSL, NIU, Georgia state, and other programs do. Funding may not be an issue for you, but for many students including myself, funding is important.  I hope this helps you, feel free to ask me specific questions about UMSL if you have any. 

Thank you! Yes, you are right. I will probably add them to my list. I was searching people who work on both value theory and feminist philosophy and left out some of the good programs. 

Hello, I don't know if you have already considered these schools, but you might want to think about applying to Virginia Tech, UMSL, and NIU.  I am assuming that you've already considered these schools since your tentative list looks pretty good. If not, these programs that I listed are MA terminal programs and I think they are pretty strong in moral, social, and political philosophy.