sisyphushappy

I am so sorry about the U of Arizona mess, I was absolutely shocked when I found out about that. I hope everyone here is doing alright. Unfortunately, my waitlist schools didn’t go to the waitlist this year, so I’m reassessing options. I will probably apply again next year and am wondering if reworking and resubmitting my writing sample would be a good idea. I am still really happy with what I wrote and know it could have used a few more professional eyes on it. Do y’all think this is a bad idea? I dedicated so much time to coming up with an original-ish topic and even more to writing the sample itself, so I’m really attached to it. Not sure if I want to come up with an entirely new sample.

But for real, the talk of extended acceptance dates for people who have gotten offers is fine and all, but I don’t want to wait even later than April 15 to see if I can get off the waitlist.

Looking at this department's website like: If you change your mind, I'm the first in line Honey I'm still free, take a chance on me If you need me, let me know, gonna be around If you've got no place to go, if you're feeling down

Happy to report that my application fee/donation will also be subsidizing Columbia this year.

@Mischief @Olórin Thank you both so much! I cried reading your responses and feel much better now. They were very kind.

Venting ahead? I’m starting to feel less hopeful lately. I’ve only got two schools left to hear from, after one waitlist and three rejections. I had a 3.52 UG GPA and a pretty bad quant score on the GRE. My letters and writing sample are probably quite good, considering the waitlist result. Had lots of awards too. I was pre-med for several years, which was a GPA-killing disaster, but I worked hard as hell to repair my GPA and used to be quite proud that I pushed it back over the 3.5 hump. I hate the feeling of knowing that even in the best circumstances, I am a candidate that everyone looking at my apps likely had huge hesitations about. Have you experienced imposter syndrome? It feels terrible knowing that there is quantitative evidence that I’m not wrong in feeling that way. I have a miserable post-UG job and want to go to grad school more than anything. While I know I’ll be okay if I have to reapply next year, I am dreading being shutout. The anticipatory despair is overwhelming, but I guess it’s also motivation to never be a “risky” candidate for anything ever again. I can at least improve my GRE and continue sitting in on classes at my alma mater. P.S. I hear all the cool kids are declining their Northwestern offers.

Saw that two CUNY acceptances went out!

Finally got that sweet, sweet Cornell rejection. I wish I’d reflected more thoughtfully on where to apply, and also applied to more than six schools. After applying to a few admittedly poor fits, CUNY and Columbia are my last two pending. They’re somewhat better fits. I am dying for news.

To the other person on the results page waitlisted at Northwestern and really needing this one: I feel you and I hope we both get off the list LMAO I’m drinking to you in spirit

I’m in this position at the moment with my top choice. I reached out about two weeks after hearing about being waitlisted with updates on what I’m doing this semester academically to make myself a stronger candidate. But what am I supposed to say throughout the next few months to stay in touch? Just “I’m still interested,” or should I have something more substantive each time? (I know I should send ~250 words at most.) How often should I be in touch? I have an enormous fear of being an email pest.

Also, found out that the Northwestern wait-list has 10 people on it. Saw that someone withdrew from it here, so 9 now! It would be very cool if everyone stopped having my dream school as their dream school too, haha.

The randomness is definitely confusing at times. I frequently remind myself that it's hard to arrange meeting times for people who are all incredibly busy to begin with.

Social, moral, and political philosophy; additional interests in critical race theory, feminist and queer theory, and social epistemology. What are yours? Edit: and 20th century continental lmao

Same. After I submitted the application, I realized I only applied because I had stars in my eyes for faculty members whose primary work isn't even in my AOI. Thus, easier to shrug off my first rejection than I thought it'd be!

Rejected from Yale gang rise up

Has anyone seen any good advice on writing letters of continued interest? I got my waitlist decision a while back and didn’t realize that a letter would be a good idea. But probably better late than never!

WAITLISTED AT NORTHWESTERN! Got a nice long email from my POI as well!

Also, congratulations to everyone who got into UMD! I did my undergrad at UMD and the department is full of the most brilliant and supportive people I’ve ever met. My AOIs aren’t really represented here, but their passion is enough to get me absolutely captivated, no matter the subject.

The enormous wave of Northwestern rejections has me wigging out at work. My inbox feels like a ticking timebomb.

Anyone else sweating over Northwestern? It seems like they haven’t sent decisions to anyone yet, but my last three days have been spent religiously checking the portal.

I feel this, I still can’t believe what the combination of NYE and December 31-January 7 deadlines did to my sleep schedule.

I have an idea for a mood boost! When was the moment that you all decided you were going to apply to grad school in philosophy? For me, it was during my senior year while I was still pre-law. I met with my independent study advisor for an outdoor class session and had told him my fears about burnout and consequently being ineffective as a lawyer. I had never even thought about academic philosophy prior to that conversation, but essentially he said that I could do more good as a philosopher than a burnout lawyer. After all, Marx’s ideas changed the world, so why wouldn’t mine? I know my professor was being overly optimistic and idealistic, and that he is biased from being one of the people who have “made it” already. I also know that radical/activist philosophers claim they’ll continue to be radical in academia, but they can’t in the end — so I’ll commit to doing public philosophy on my own time. But it was definitely a life-changing moment. (This was nearly three years ago and I still think about this conversation.)

Thank you so much for the responses. I took a day to process my stress and feel so much better now. I submitted my last application a few hours ago, so now it’s time for the waiting game!

I just noticed a grammatical error in the first sentence of my writing sample. I mistakenly used an apostrophe (') instead of an end quotation mark (").The rest of my paper is absolutely perfect grammatically. I have already submitted it to five schools. My GRE was nothing special (165V, 151Q, 4.5A), and neither is my GPA (3.52, after a strong upward trend). There's just too many reasons they could potentially toss out my application at this point, so this mistake feels like the final nail in the coffin. (I do have four strong recommendations and many awards from UG. I also have put in a considerable amount of effort to continue studying philosophy after UG by auditing graduate classes, participating in reading groups with faculty members, and attending summer programs. But it may be worse to have reasons for optimism at this point.)