Nothingtown

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

Hey there! Congrats on the offer. That's pretty average for a grad school stipend, from what I have seen.  However, grad school stipends are never much compared to what you typically need to live comfortably in a city in the US. 
You should take a look at some cost of living calculators (here's an example: https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator). They'll tell you how far your stipend will go in your selected city, on average. 
I would say in Maryland with 22.5k you're going to need to live with roommates and keep a tight budget, definitely, but it could be doable. 

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

Just declined Rice's offer--good luck to whoever's next!

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

Waitlisted at SLU, seems like a lot of us were

Rejected at Stanford. That's mostly all of them now, I think. It's been a somewhat morale-sapping season this time around, but I'm happy to at least be in with a chance somewhere. In case things don't work out this year either, I think I may have to make some fresh starts on a couple of fronts (writing sample, SOP, some other strategies), but I have some idea of some of the things I might do. In general, keeping my chin up - despite the clear lack of success, I don't think I'd say it's been a bad experience (although I could certainly do with it being less expensive!).
Thank you to everyone that's been kind, both to me and in general.

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

I CAN FINALLY POST HERE Y'ALL. Accepted at Baylor!

Accepted at Duquesne's MA program

Accepted at GSU's MA program! Was a late applicant.

Maybe this is a bit cynical, but I recommend criticizing an argument. Pick a relatively recent paper in an area you're interested in, explain how it fits into the discourse, and critique it (by saying it doesn't prove its point or proves less than its point, must consider something that it doesn't consider, isn't valid because of a controversial suppressed premise, etc.).
Best of luck!

I agree that comparison papers often do end up sounding like bad History or English papers, especially if the paper spends too much time on summary and not enough on evaluation. 
With that said, if @Syndicatte spends a decent amount of time reading current articles in academic journals, finds a current and lively debate between authors, does some research and takes a stand, all the while exercising scholarly caution and grounding themselves in the primary/secondary literature, a good paper could come from this. 
While a paper that essentially consists of "Summary of Author A, Summary of Author B, why I think Author A is right" can be a bit shallow, a paper that's more like "Author A has suggested X about traditionally held interpretation of text Z. Author B considers this flawed for reason Y. In this paper I will show that this disagreement is based on a fundamental disagreement over concept W. Furthermore I will offer some considerations why more attention ought to be paid to concept W in text Z in order to have a better understanding of what Philosopher means by Q in later works" could be a super solid paper. 

I think @Nothingtown's advice is super solid.
Adding onto his/her advice.. One thing you can do to turn a good comparison paper into an excellent philosophy paper is to always have in the back of your mind, "what's at stake?" That is to say, "why is this debate even important? What are the implications of Author's A opinion? What does this have to offer the philosophical discussion moving forward? What are further questions that need to be answered?" etc. 

I think adding these threads are important so as to not turn your philosophy paper into a pedantic textual argument.

Hey there! Since you're on your own on this one, I think one of the most straightforward methods you could do is a comparison paper. For example, Author A has an opinion on a topic, Author B has another opinion on the same topic. Compare, contrast, and argue for which one you think is better. Use lots of supporting articles and literature to argue for your point. A paper like this will show your ability to analyze texts, identify key differences between texts, and utilize philosophical reasoning and argumentation skills to support your opinion. 
Are you working on a writing sample for grad school applications? I'd recommend applying to mostly MAs if your current program doesn't have full-time faculty--of course, you may have already considered this. Many MA applications do not require a writing sample, so that's something else to consider. Check out the schools you're interested in and see if a sample is required--you may not need to write one at all!

Me too!

Accepted at Duquesne's MA program

Accepted at Duquesne's MA program