Marcus_Aurelius

I assume you're talking about this paragraph from Alex Guerrero: "The Director of Graduate Admissions makes an initial cut from the full pool (380) down to around 100 applications. That’s the first big cut. I’ve now been in that role for several years, and although my process isn’t perfectly precise, I typically make this cut by looking at (1) grades/transcript, then (2) personal statement, then (3) letters of recommendation—in that order. I rarely do more than glance at (4) writing samples at this stage." If your transcript has a lot of good Philosophy courses and an upward trajectory in your grades, and your statement and letters explain the issue earlier in undergrad, you shouldn't be disqualified at all. But some programs read everyone's sample, I think. In any case, good to apply for a mix of PhD and MA.

Yeah, you're totally fine. Major GPA matters more than overall GPA (especially at a prestigious school), and lots of people get lower grades as they're settling in. Writing sample and letters matter most. No need to worry about those until second half of third year. In the meantime, take a wide variety of courses. Get grounding in lots of different areas of philosophy. Take time to explore and enjoy! The other important thing is to try to take classes with tenured and tenure-track professors. Doesn't have to be every course, but you want to build relationships with folks. (Relationships with grad students can be helpful as well! They just can't write letters, but some might be willing to help with your application, though it depends on the person.) Go to office hours, get to know professors. Ask questions, because it really helps your own learning. And also be open to reevaluating whether you want to go to grad school. You might know now that you want to and stay the course (that was my situation), or you might realize you've lost the spark. It's cool either way. I want to disagree with the advice above to try to publish. This isn't something that's rewarded in PhD admissions. Undergrad journals are fine, but for real journals there's just no expectation that someone coming into grad school would be able to do anything that's actually publishable yet. Taking grad seminars is another of those things that looks like it should be helpful but actually is neutral. Ditto for conferences. I went to Rutgers undergrad, and the people who took grad seminars weren't any more likely to get into good programs. (I only took one grad seminar, in my last semester.) Certainly, grad seminars can be worthwhile if there aren't enough undergrad seminars in your topic(s) of interest; they're not bad either, they're just mostly neutral. Follow the advice of the professors you build relationships with. Every semester you can ask professors for their advice on what courses to take the next semester.

There are several of funded MAs! Search threads here for more info. Like most applicants, you'll be judged most on your writing sample and letters. Address the early poor grades in your statement of purpose, and perhaps have a letter writer mention it.

Did you apply to funded MA programs? There are several of them, and they're probably better both academically and funding-wise than post-baccs. Absolutely don't go into debt for a post-bacc, but if you find one affordable then it certainly can't hurt and might very well help.

It sounds like for you, as for most applicants, the writing sample will be most important. Focus on having a killer sample, and you should stand a decent shot.

Terminal Philosophy MA programs sometimes accept people with untraditional backgrounds who are looking to transition into Philosophy. You can find more info about them by searching this forum.

And some topics, even within a subfield you know a lot about, might click more than others. The experience you describe sounds perfectly normal, and one of the things that grad school helps you get better at. Grad school in philosophy may or may not be the best decision for you for other reasons, but I don't think this one should discourage you!

Congratulations!! What a ride that sounds like. But very exciting, all the best for the program!

Unfortunately, a lot of movement doesn't happen until today/tomorrow (14th/15th), since some folks are still deciding, and others are holding out for a waitlist offer and therefore don't commit to another school. Makes the end quite chaotic...

As far as I'm aware (certainly correct me if I'm wrong), most humanities PhD programs accept more folks than they're hoping will enroll. And this system, although it can be stressful for admissions directors, seems far better than if there were fewer acceptances. The people who are currently waitlisted wouldn't be better off, at any rate.

@captleibniz I don't know ararslan's source, but they seem to share it with this reddit poster. Note, however, that Toronto tends to have large incoming cohorts (in the 10s). I don't know anything about whether they're doing so this year.

One is not generally expected to know modern languages already when applying to Classics PhD programs. It can help, but it's a pretty minor factor, much less important than Greek and Latin skills, writing sample, and letters of recommendation. I'd say definitely take more Latin/Greek over a certificate in German (and work more on application materials), since you already have a modern language. Certainly can't hurt to learn German--it just probably won't help that much for applications.

Generally, the worse an economic situation is, the more people apply to grad school. The economic situation has perhaps improved from last year, but still isn't great. I'm sure some people delayed applying for COVID reasons, but delaying only makes sense when one has a good idea of how to use the intervening time... It's worth noting that, just for comparison in this one case, Yale used to get applications in low 300s before pandemic, so last year was a *massive* increase, which has dropped off a little but is still much bigger than before.

(Yale has sent out all its interview requests, so, if you haven't received one, you can unfortunately presume rejection.)

Another interview tip I'd add, expanding on heseemstome's excellent advice, is that you should have a clear sense of what you're passionate about, and practice expressing your passion. If it's shifted a tad since your application, that's okay, but programs are looking for folks who look promising but who will also do interesting and creative work, and who really want to be in this program.