PolPhil

Hi Fkarachi, my department (PhD) would definitely read your application and would probably discount your low GPA if all of the other aspects of your file were extremely strong. I do suspect lots of people would be concerned though. I would think that if you have a strong writing sample you would be a good candidate for the good MA programs. And I do think if you had a very strong writing sample that PhD programs would consider you, but I think you'd have better luck by first going to an MA program and developing a more consistent academic record there. It's easy for people who are not currently in grad school to underestimate how competitive PhD admissions are (because it's gotten progressively more competitive), so your professor may not be being overly encouraging, but may not really understand either how big or how good the pool of candidates you will be competing against are. If you do apply to PhD programs, I would focus on PhD programs that match your interests extremely well. Having a writing sample that is really strong *and* in an area that lots of people on the faculty are experts on and can trust their own evaluation of really well would put you in a better position for people to discount your grades.

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. 

Right?  It is almost as if these scorned applicants are stepping all over each other to demonstrate that they are, in fact, NOT PhD material.  Way to go!  In our cognitive discomfort, let us go ahead and validate the suspicions of the institutions that have shut us out. Nice!

Yeah, my worry is not so much that they are bemoaning their struggles with the app cycle. 'Woe is me' stuff is fine, and probably constructive as long as it is restricted to the venting thread or whatever. What bothers me is that most of the stuff on the survey right now is directed at other people, i.e. "hurry up and decline your offers you privileged assholes, I deserve a spot because of x." There have been pretty consistent posts of bile-filled rants insulting more successful applicants. I suspect it is just a few people doing it, though.
 
On a brighter note, I hope everyone has a stress-free and successful decision day. My application cycle is over, and it went better for me than I ever dared hope. A lot of the people in this forum seem like awesome, brilliant, thoughtful students. I wish all of you the absolute best. We made it to the end!

I don't think you'll be at a disadvantage coming from a European university. People here have heard of Leuven and LMU Munich. Those are schools with some prestige here, at least in philosophy. As @Marcus_Aureliussays, focus on your sample and getting strong letters from faculty.
If you want to work on 20th century German and French philosophy, though, Virginia and Missouri aren't going to be a good fit for you, so make sure you're applying to programs that make sense given your interests and the topic of your writing sample.

Like for pretty much all applicants, your writing sample will be most important, along with letters of recommendation. If you have a dynamite sample, and established professors who can vouch for you (and perhaps contextualize the grading system / address the grades), you should have a shot. So, writing sample writing sample writing sample. 

20K is actually very good in Texas, given the low COL. I would also say that the PhD programs that you're talking about are worth taking over reapplying.

Yeah, supporting something and being responsible for its existence/operation are two very different things

Brian Leiter hasn't ran the PGR in years

It aint over till its over

thats what the venting thread is for

Hey, no hard feelings, I'm glad that you're feeling better about things

I've had a number of folks reach out to me directly when they hear back because they don't want folks to know and then be pressured to make a decision when they're trying to work through their options as best they can. But they still want the spreadsheet to be up to date so folks stay informed and have been kind enough to drop me a few lines.

As you said, the vast majority of folks won't be jerks and will decline as soon as they can. For the folks that are jerks, it's not as if pressuring them will likely make them decline from places any quicker ??‍♂️

Hey I understand the anxiety and a lot of people are in the same position, but this isn't really cool. Generally putting it out there for people to decline at a certain school is already a grey area, but asking a user directly if they can decline soon is an unfair position to put someone in and is crossing a boundary.
I don't want to sound mean because I totally understand the pressure and position you are in and no one will hold it against you, just a general note to everyone that as long as you are taking others into your considerations, everyone has the right to take the time and manage their decisions how they need to and it isn't fair or cool for anyone to be pressured to decide or make their move fast (especially asking a specific person directly).
I only say this because there are people gracious enough to share publicly their offers and where they stand which is some insight that is very useful for those anxiously waiting to hear back, but if people start getting targeted and asked to decide quickly then people will feel uncomfortable sharing this information and we won't have it anymore.
99% of people aren't jerks and know that there are people who will be affected by their decision and know to make their decision as soon as they are comfortable, so everyone deserves the time they need to be 100% sure and officially decline.

Congratulations to the unicorn who received acceptance into University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's PhD in philosophy program, a graduating class of just 1 and growing !!!  [see results page] 

Correct I have mentioned how the same people get accepted over and over again 
 

Yeah, supporting something and being responsible for its existence/operation are two very different things

Brian Leiter hasn't ran the PGR in years

Yeah, supporting something and being responsible for its existence/operation are two very different things

There is something with this. But also, note that there may be cases where ones intended supervisor leaves, or one is no longer passionate about what she used to.
So, there are some good things about going to a top department:
1) There are more top-notch philosophers at top departments (I wonder whether you'll reject the notion of top department, though)
2) There are more top-notch philosophers in different areas at one top department. This may itself make one change ones interests, and it also allows that one can actually change the direction without loss at many levels.

Yeah, supporting something and being responsible for its existence/operation are two very different things

Brian Leiter hasn't ran the PGR in years

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.

Stop spamming the results page with questions FFS!

Occasionally people ask questions like this on the forum, so there is now a boilerplate answer: there is no reasonable way to make an "educated guess" about those who don't get offers this year. Even who will get offers and who won't (as washabirva's point illustrates) is quite unlikely to be fruitful, unless we're comparing fringe cases and making a lot of generalizations. The only way we could approach an educated account of this would be through a disciplinary survey of applicants, which I believe someone has put together this year.
Even then, having a raw account of how many people are shutout in a year wouldn't tell us anything actionable because of how imprecise the process is as a whole. We would need a corresponding study of the institutions accepting applicants that would assess the trends in decision-making. Such a thing might be useful if it were conducted a bit like the ADPA research, but would be a huge undertaking in itself.
For what it's worth, I was shut out last year and have an offer of admission this year, so I'm happy to chat if anyone on here is would like to. I just think it's a good idea to discourage attempts to try to do napkin math about the application process (I've seen some very cringey attempts to rationalize the possibility of success on this forum).