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HomoLudens

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Posts posted by HomoLudens

  1. Just now, HomoLudens said:

    I generally don't advocate for increased moderator activity since it typically violates the principles of free speech that online forums are founded upon. However, I do wish there was a way for some active members of the forum to delete those survey postings without having to go through GradCafe's process. Anonymity is a good thing IMO, but when it is in service of breaking the explicit rules and disrupting the function of the site, then something needs to be done.

    As an asshole myself, I think one should be able to freely post on the forum whatever BS self-pitying they want. People just need to keep it off of the survey.

  2. On 4/11/2021 at 8:16 PM, pinkgradient said:

    This thread seems pretty dead, but I didn't want to make another thread for this complaint. I really wish people would behave better on the survey page. It has been overrun by (a) people begging others to decline offers, which is not really cool, and (b) people being very nasty to those who do (a), which is even less cool. Beyond the fact that neither of those things contribute to the obvious purpose of the results page, it has just made me, uh, embarrassed I guess? Maybe it was dumb of me to expect that prospective PhD students in philosophy would be any different from any given group of anonymous twenty-somethings on the internet, but Jesus guys, the way people are acting on that page is beyond immature. 

    I generally don't advocate for increased moderator activity since it typically violates the principles of free speech that online forums are founded upon. However, I do wish there was a way for some active members of the forum to delete those survey postings without having to go through GradCafe's process. Anonymity is a good thing IMO, but when it is in service of breaking the explicit rules and disrupting the function of the site, then something needs to be done.

  3. Please stop telling people that they should only attend a PGR T10 school. It is very clear that some people think that anything less then that will result in homelessness or something. Look at individual departments, with people that you like, and check the placements of students who worked with the people that you want to work with

    Another word of advice, just do an MA out of Undergrad. Too many people don't know what academic philosophy is and how it works in a real department. An MA gives you a really good primer for the real thing at a PhD. I know too many smart people who did well in UG, got into a PhD in philosophy, and were shocked that it was competitive and that they had *gasp* submit papers for publication that were most likely going to be rejected. Grad school sucks. Even once you get in it is constant rejection, second guessing, and anxiety. The people who have it worse (this is anecdotal of course) are those straight out of UG and no MA.

  4. I think a lot of you are focusing way too much on PGR rankings without really understanding what they are and how they should be used. These rankings are the result of a man (Brian Leiter) who's sole goal in life is to make academic philosophy into as toxic of a place as possible. PGR rankings serve to give 20 or so. academics at top ranking departments the chance to express their general opinion about other departments in the field. The rankings themselves don't really make much sense. How do you put a relevant quantitative number on something like a 7-year graduate program? 

    You should never, ever, base your choice on PGR rankings. Use them as a general guide for what programs are considered quality by other academics, but nothing more.

    I have been accepted by a T50 school and waitlisted by a T10, a T20, and a T30 school. I went to a small liberal arts college that is fairly unknown, and I am finishing up a philosophy MA at an unranked school that does not have a strong reputation. It isn't impossible to get into PGR places without a pedigree.

    I am actually planning on attending the T50 school over the others because they have a really top scholar who works in my field. You should always attend places based on who you want to work with, not some BS ranking by dipshit Brian Leiter.

    I think we on this forum have put too much stock in a system that professors themselves don't think should be there. I wish Leiter would heed the calls to take that stupid ranking down.

  5. Are you accepted at all these places?

    Honestly you can't really go wrong at any of these places. I have a friend who is at Emory now. He does Lacan mostly. They have great funding, and Atlanta seems like a cool city. They also have George Yancy for phil. of race. I don't really like Yancy, but if that is your thing he might be a good fit. I know a guy at PSU. He seems to like the program, but he says that there isn't a whole lot of interest in the history of philosophy among the grad students.   

    I was waitlisted at Stony Brook. Their department seems ok, not really a good fit for me though.

    Emory or PSU are the two best options. I think PSU has the better placement rate, but living in State College PA sounds awful.

  6. 3 hours ago, lurkingfaculty said:

    I don't know anything about drama in the department, but they've hired three people quite recently who are all great. That's better than most departments are able to do right now with respect to hiring, so I'd say they have a fair amount of "fresh blood".

    Fair enough, my contact left the department quite a while ago and things might have changed. I am just giving a report.

  7. I think I will remove myself from Bloomington's waitlist soon. Their department seems to be having a lot of problems. A friend of mine was ABD there and they completely fucked him over. His supervisor left the department, and no one was willing to take over for him due to infighting and department politics. They also seem to be lacking fresh blood on their faculty. Also, who wants to live in an Indiana cornfield for 6 years anyway?

  8. For those who do not know much about this whole process, I have some insights into waitlist movement.

    I am currently attending a fairly small program that for the past 3 years has had a cohort of 4 students. Pretty much every year the entering cohort was entirely composed of students who were on the waitlist. Waitlists are typically quasi-ranked. By that, I mean there are multiple rankings based on area of interest, gender, etc. There is a lot of hope that you will move up on the waitlist at some point. 

  9. 1 hour ago, Hans_Chou said:

    Can anyone confirm that Vanderbilt accepted only one applicant this cycle?

    I can't confirm this, but I can say that I haven't received any word from them about being rejected or waitlisted. 

  10. 6 hours ago, quineonthevine said:

    Waitlisted at Notre Dame, but on the second waitlist from which, "in all probability, no one will be accepted." Also haven't heard from CUNY and Georgetown, where acceptances and rejections went out, so I might be waitlisted at both. I'm not sure, I'm in limbo right now. Apparently some of the people who were accepted at Georgetown were waitlisted for funding, however, so even if I were waitlisted, it's bittersweet.

    I also haven't heard from Georgetown. 

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