kachan

Okay, so I am a naïve international applicant from a third-world European country with an attitude in getting a PhD. However, I had a lot of hard thinking (as many of us do) on the best-suited programs and got into trouble (as many of us got). Being far away from a clear vision of how the US higher education system process, I would take in high regard any recommendations some of you may provide to me. The main thing I would like to hear is that if it worth of trying to get into this pretty tough application process in the US at all, taking in account that there are a lot of ways getting the degree in less time (3 years against 5) in Europe and with a higher probability of actually getting in. First, I probably would not have any issues with getting a degree in my home country (Ukraine) and very high chances for a top university in Russia. But that does not make much sense, except for simplicity of the way, cause my research is completely out of the context in the post-soviet area, and there are almost no qualified supervisors on the topic, by any exaggerations. I am studying meta-ethics, and my research lies in the area of Language and Morals. I must look at the institutions with faculty especially strong in such, and most of them located obv. in U.S. and U.K. However, in Britain, as far as I can see at least, there are a lot of troubles with the financial support of applicants (or am I wrong?). That is a crucial point for me because even paying application fees will take a great number of resources (God, a lot of them!) from me. Brief CV of mine: - My main disadvantage is a very low GPA – (3.2-3.3 undergrad). Now I am getting my Philosophy M.A., and it probably will be only a bit higher. - B.A. I have got from the best phil. program I could get in the country, though the university is still only 500-600 place in the world ratings. M.A. is going to be from a smaller institution. - I currently have 3 conferences in my account, all related to my main research topic and one co-publication apart from it. I still have plans to work hard this autumn and probably the list will expand. - I will get my recommendations from the Director of Philosophy Institute in my country, who is my current supervisor for an M.A. thesis, another from the head of the department in my first university, who also supervised one of my papers, and the third one from a German professor in Friedrich-Schiller Jena University, where I am studying now by Erasmus grant. - My IELTS score is 7.0, though it is old, and I will get another one with a bit higher grade (I hope so). I do not know does in counts as an advantage, but currently, I have 4 languages in my account. - I will not provide a GRE test. As you can see, a lot lies in the local context and been taken away it probably leaves for me not too many chances of getting into a respectful U.S. program with enough financial support. That is how I see it at least. But I would be pleased to hear an opinion from you guys, who are much more into the whole thing. Does it worth even trying? If yes, what institutions would you recommend taking into consideration (especially best for analytical ethics)? I was thinking of UPenn and CUNY, looking at the Gourmet report, but it is still high tier for my GPA, I guess. There is also no way I could take a break for a year because it means that I will use it not for preparation and ethics research but marching in lines of our gorgeous army. I wrote too many letters, no one will ever read this, thanks.