balea

I'm in a similar situation. I've been accepted to two programs and waitlisted to my top choice. I'm going to ride it out through Friday. If I haven't heard by then I won't have time to make it out to my top choice to get a better feel of the campus and faculty. I say wait it out if you're comfortable with accepting an offer from one of your top two choices at the last minute. 
I believe your biggest decision lies in choosing between the two to which you've already been accepted. Being happy where you live is a large part of making it through grad school, but so is not stressing over your finances. Budget out where you would rather live and see if you're comfortable with the financial restraints you'll have in the location that will make you happier. I did this with the two programs to which I was accepted. One was less money and a lower cost of living, the other more and a higher cost of living. Wherever I chose I would have around the same quality of life, financially speaking, but I new I would be happier in one city over the other.
Ride it out, decide where you'll be better off between the two you already have decisions from, and remain hopeful. Whatever happens you've already made it through the hardest step of the applications process. Good luck! ?

The current situation caused by COVID-19 worries me, too. At the present, I have a funded offer and two waitlist spots (in fact, I've decline a funded offer and a waitlist spot). It's very probable that I will accept my present offer, but I dont't want to make a snap decision before getting any news from another two programs. (I'm sorry but another two programs are also my dream choices). 
So, should I sit to wait for possible news? Is it better to solicit the two programs and ask whether they plan to freeze admission off the waitlists? I'm concerned that my acts will cause some terrible consequence for me, though I realize that it may be a long shot that I could be admitted off the waitlist.

Effective 5:00 PM EST on April 6, CUNY GC will no longer be extending offers for admission to PhD programs (all depts, incl philosophy). This means that the wait list will be no more. If you've been offered admission and are decidedly not interested in CUNY, I highly recommend you communicate this to the committee today or early tomorrow. This allows the dept to extend offers to those on the wait list before the offer freeze goes into effect. 
The April 15 agreement is still in effect, those to whom offers have already been extended do not have to make a decision before the aforementioned deadline. If you're still somewhat seriously considering CUNY, then don't let this force you to make a snap decision. This is just a friendly request to allow waitlisted applicants their normally fair shake that is unfortunately being cut due to budget concerns arising from COVID-19. The interim president of the GC wants to keep this secret, so as to minimize cohort sizes and consequently future expenses. I think that's a bit scummy, and would rather let people know about potentially life-changing opportunities, especially in a time of unease like this. 

I advocate for asking what you could do to be a better candidate, in the event you got no acceptances - otherwise, how will you know? The worst they will do is just not reply or tell you due to time constraints they can't respond.

If you plan on going into academia whether or not you get into the other programs, it would be a good idea to send a note. Academia is a small world, and it doesn't hurt to be civil and maintain civil contact with others who could potentially be your colleagues someday. Just because you aren't going into their department doesn't mean you won't someday see them on a conference panel, have them editing your paper for publication, acting as outside readers for your dissertation...it pays to be circumspect about that. You never know when you'll need to be on good terms with academics you aren't studying with...

Just got accepted to Miami off the waitlist.
Finally, some good news.

I've removed myself from the wait lists at UT Austin and Johns Hopkins. Hope this helps you sooner rather than later, Reader.

April 7 thru April 15 is a LOT of movement.
To this day I don't know why my post got such mixed reactions. Punchline: People need to make decisions, including notifying schools that they will inevitably turn down but just don't feel like turning down. It is in everyone's interest to be a grownup and do something uncomfortable, like closing doors on good offers that aren't your best offers.

Hi all! I got mostly waitlists last year, I can say this. On April 15th I received 3 offers (one of which I accepted). On April 16th I received another offer, still. So in reply to the first question, some people hear movement very early, but some of us do not hear anything until the day of.

I actually have my emails saved from when I was exploring programs so I'll paste what I used that worked (with identifying information removed).  You want to personalize the message to whatever the faculty person has on his or her page and look at articles he or she have published.  I received good responses to both queries, but ultimately only applied to one of the programs.  However, by corresponding with the professors I had a excellent feel for how well the program would meet my needs.
 
   
 
I hope this helps.  If you have any questions feel free to ask.

I just on a whim emailed a professor because (he is my main POI and) i noticed that he didn't teach any classes this last year.
 
All i said was "my name is so and so and am planning on applying to the dept this fall.  I just had a few questions if you have the time ...  I noticed that you did not offer any classes last year ... are going to be teaching 2015/16 or taking any new students?  I am curious because one of your grad students noticed i was reading one of your books and gave you a good review.  I'm interested in ... and planning on ...  thanks for your time, my name"
 
I'll post back here if i get a response, positive or negative.  I'm hoping it was polite yet informal, consice, and not requiring too much effort on his part.  I also feel like quoting some of Rousseau's First Discourse when navigating these totally necessary etiquette norms.

I would caution that philosophy programs usually vary quite significantly from other fields in terms of advisor/advisee relationships. It is not always the case that you suggest a project at the outset and find someone to work with right away. Because of this, I'm not sure it's worth the expended effort to reach out to every POI at every department. In some cases, they might not be on the ad com and may not even have a say in whether or not you are admitted. 
 
Personally, I would use the time to polish your writing sample and make the rest of your application excellent. 

It seems like most people don't contact professors in philosophy departments; it does seem like the norm in other disciplines, though. I'm sure there are prospective philosophy students who have sent emails to POIs and successfully gotten into that school, but there was substantial debate about whether or not you should specify names of POIs in your SOP, which is a much milder thing to do. Personally, I didn't contact anyone before applying (although I did specify POIs in all my SOPs). 
The advice I got on the matter was this: Only email someone who you would want to talk to even if weren't applying to their graduate school. You can email a professor with a question about something of theirs that you read or a conference presentation, but if you're emailing them just because you want to go to their school, they will probably know that. They also may not have any involvement in the admission process (this varies a lot by school, but the committee is often just a few professors), and even if you do have a positive interaction with them, it might not count for anything come admissions time. 
Surefire's point about being able to ask something specific is really important, though. Maybe the person you want to work with is close to retiring and you want to find out if they're planning to accept students (although how you would ask that politely is beyond me). I think that asking a professor at a prospective program for advice on your SOP or about your fit would be ill-advised; the onus is on you to find the answer to those questions, or at least ask your own advisors. But if you have a specific question that you need answered (that cannot be found on the department's website), then it might be worth emailing a professor. 

Hi! I want to write to the professors I'd like to work with in the universities I'll apply for. I understand how this could be beneficial, but I find myself hesitating a lot when thinking what I would say. Do you talk about yourself? Do you send your resume? Do you say you want to work with them? Do you ask for advice with the SOP? Do you ask if you would be a good fit? I want to know how much I am supposed to ask or say to profit the fact that I'm writing to them but I definitely don't want to give a bad impression just for not knowing how this works.
Thanks in advance!

Hey,
so, I will start this Ph.d program on September, but the thing is that the university does not offer a health coverage, though paying a not-so-bad fellowship. I am an international student, so it is not an option for me to "stay on my parents' plan". Is there any idea what should I do? Can the graduate student be considered as 'students' for example-so that I can get a student plan?Finding a job is already out of the picture.

For those who didnt get into a Phd program right from a ba, then got a masters and got accepted the 2nd time around, I have a few questions.
Question 1: Did you change your sample paper or just improve on your ba sample?
Question 2: Did you change your area of interest while in the masters program
and
Question 3: Did you apply to the same programs who turned you down the first go round and then got in the 2nd round, or did you choose new programs on the 2nd attempt?

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

Waitlisted at Pitt. Received an oddly personal email asking for my current level of interest in the program and floating the possibility that I attend the admitted student visitation at the end of the month. I say 'odd' only because I had assumed that a waitlist email would be more clinical, rather than warm and inviting. Perhaps this is normal, but it would take more willpower than I have to refrain from interpreting this as a sign that I am particularly high on that list; I will therefore ignore any comments on here to the contrary ?.

 

There were two acceptances claimed in the group last night. 

Is anyone able to confirm the NYU acceptance on the results page? I would check the facebook group but I'm locked out of my account atm.

Current CUNY GC student here. While I've only been here for a year, I've talked with a number of more senior students and there are a couple of factors that, while they may not entirely exculpate CUNY's less-than-stellar placement record, do give some explanations. First is that a significant number of PhD students are international students-- I'd say at least 1 in 3. Couple that with the financial stress of living in NYC on a graduate student stipend and it can cause people to leave before finishing the dissertation. Differently, those who are not dissuaded by this may get caught up with teaching extra courses at the expense of neglecting writing their dissertation. These two types of cases in mind, it is not entirely easy to place people in jobs when they don't actually get their PhDs. Another difficulty is that some of the program's key areas, Phil of Logic+Math, Mind, and Language, and of course the pull that Carroll et al. have for Aesthetics, have not been areas that hire as frequently as, say, Ethics, Social Phil, and Political Phil (just doing some cursory looking at https://www.aerodatalab.org/philjobs-trends ). It might be the case that CUNY is not preparing competitive applicants for these less popular areas compared to other schools with similar strengths. On that, however, I can't say much -- they're not my AOSes so I don't really keep up with those hires/trends.
When CUNY does finally send out decisions, people on here can feel free to message me with any questions about the program and I'll do my best to answer. There will be a prospective students day in early April, so hopefully y'all get your decisions sooner rather than later in order to make the appropriate travel arrangements.

I don't understand how you can read these funding descriptions and think that these programs guarantee only two years of support.  They offer two years of fellowship (in Berkeley and UCLA's cases anyway) and three to four years (or more) of teaching.  That's 5-6 years (or more) of financial support.  UNC, where I am, guarantees six years of funding (2.5 of fellowship and 3.5 of teaching).  If you're just trying to say that they don't technically guarantee teaching support because it is contingent on the availability of public funds, then sure.  But how often in practice is a TA-ship denied in philosophy because public funds aren't available?  I've never heard of such a case.  Not saying there have never been such cases, but they are the exception and not the rule.  (Summer funding can be harder to come by, but that's not usually because of lack of funding but rather because summer courses sometimes get cancelled because of low enrollment)

Thanks for bolding where I am, but I can read. my post still applies, the long term fellow ships students get are competitive (selected by campus wide committees) and pay from TAship is barely livable in those areas with roommates. 
 
 

One of the phd programs I've been accepted to is offering me a TA stipend that's well below $15,000 a year, and that's before fees (which sound like they will be in the neighborhood of $1500 or so). The TAship would be normal, involving like 20 hrs a week. The letter didn't mention anything about additional opportunities for financial aid. Federal minimum wage (assuming full time work) is about $15,000 a year, and the school is in a high cost of living area. There's no way anybody could live on this stipend alone - they would have to get a part time job, take out loans, or apply for a heck of a lot of scholarships or grants (and hope that you manage to get them every year!). A part time job might not be so bad if you didn't have to spend 20 hrs a week on teaching assistant stuff in addition to classes, but I feel like there's no way anyone could put in the research, work, and sheer energy required to essentially work a full time job (I feel like a TAship + a part time job on the side would amount to that much), take classes, and churn out a dissertation all at the same time. 
Normally, I think of funding offers as being, on average, somewhere around $23,000 (plus or minus like a couple thousand). But I've heard of funding offers getting as low as like, 15-16,000 for cash-strapped departments (I think typically these schools are lower ranked, too), and as high as the lower to mid thirty thousands. The weirdest thing is, this school is a top 20 PGR program, so you'd think they'd be able to pay their students enough to live on, or at least pay them at or above annual federal minimum wage. Does anyone else think this is weird, or gotten offers like this themselves?

As a 3rd-year PhD student at an "unranked" SPEP school, there's a pretty simple answer for this:
There's a huge divide in the U.S. between schools that do analytic philosophy and schools that primarily do not do analytic philosophy. Since analytic philosophy has been the majority of the discipline since the 1950s, those are the programs that get "ranked" by Leiter and his pals, regardless of the quality of education/faculty research/job placements of the SPEP schools. 
If you want to get a job in an analytic-centered university, go to a Leiter school. If you want to get a job in a department that focuses on phenomenology/existentialism/feminism/race/etc., go to a grad school that focuses on those things. Of course schools like Oregon aren't placing people at Yale and Arizona-- the people who get their PhDs at most SPEP schools don't DO analytic philosophy, so why would they ever apply to those departments? 
When considering the "worth" of unranked programs (outside analytic phil), rather than thinking of it in terms of rankings, it makes more sense to think of it as (almost) different fields. And, for better or for worse, SPEP grads and analytic grads primarily stay within the kinds of departments they got their degrees from. 

Related question-
 
I'm waitlisted at Ohio State and at Notre Dame, so I'm trying to decide which I would pick (if a miracle happens and I get in to both.) Notre Dame ranks better on the PGR than OSU (ND is 17, I think, and OSU is 28.) However, OSU has far larger group of people doing metaethics (what I want to study.) Notre Dame is very sparse with ethics people. I'm not sure what to do in this situation... advice?