Mike234

Thanks very much to both of you for the advice. To clarify I will not be using my dissertation as a writing sample, nor getting a letter from my supervisor for that dissertation.

Here is an example I found of a successful proposal http://www.simonknutsson.com/phd-philosophy-research-proposal?fbclid=IwAR2dkRBf54zU8v-KoqVQ9ErXHrzD3Ogn4rTUE-VK-7e6fxac3aBeBigUTEQ

I have - A masters degree in Philosophy from the London School of Economics - I got two distinction grades out of 4 units, but only a merit grade overall and HERES THE BIG PROBLEM: only a pass grade for my dissertation a first class honours degree in economics from a mid-tier UK university Won a minor award for my undergraduate economics dissertation Spent a year studying philosophy/ economics at UC Santa Cruz - got a 3.93 GPA, 4.0 philosophy GPA Can probably get 3 strong letters of recommendation - one from my undergrad dissertation supervisor, two from LSE GRE results - 98th centile verbal, 17th centile maths (could probably get to 50th/ 60th centile maths with a lot of work but won't have time this application cycle) If I'm lucky I may have a forthcoming publication in an upcoming Routledge Book on Philosophy of Economics by the time I submit my applications My question is, assuming I don't get the Routledge publication, am I competitive or will my botched masters dissertation sink my chances completely? Would a publication largely erase this problem? Do I need to do a second masters? Is there anything (besides of course just having an otherwise excellent application) that I can do to try and mitigate the problem caused by my masters dissertation? Thank you very much in advance to anyone who takes the time to offer me some advice