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I would decline two of the other offers and keep one (I'm guessing the funded one) just in case.

That's very unfortunate, but I don't think there's much you can do. It's unfair that they don't let you know about such requirements upfront (if indeed this rejection was due to not meeting a cutoff GPA), but that seems to be the way things go. Transparency isn't exactly a strong point of the admissions process.

If you're accepting at Western, I'll see you there! You should ask the programs directly, because I'm sure there is a deadline of some kind. There's a whole bunch of administrative processing involved, I'm pretty sure they're not allowing you to just accept whenever you want and show up in September.

I think there's no reason to believe they didn't give your application the same consideration as every other. It's pretty common that you don't hear anything between applying and a rejection or acceptance; I don't know what you were expecting. They're not going to personalize every rejection; I got form letters from most of the schools I applied to.

How do you even take a grad-level course at that age? Assuming that means first year undergrad, or especially high school senior, I didn't know that was even possible, unless you're some kind of prodigy.

Wait, are you saying you're just finishing your first year of undergrad? While I guess it's a good thing that you have such ambitions (though I'm skeptical), it's in any case way too early to be thinking about grad school, especially in such particularity. I'm almost certain that your interests will change, as will you as a person. You really don't need to be making lists of schools now, and you'll be taking the GRE, what, three years from now? Of course it's good to be prepared but there is such a thing as over-preparation.

It's funny you ask this because there's a recent discussion on a philosophy blog, Leiter Reports, about the use of GRE verbal scores: http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2011/03/are-some-schools-using-undisclosed-gre-cut-offs-in-admissions-decisions.html I hope it's useful to you.

While it was a pretty stupid question, I find it more stupid that you seemingly joined just so you could make this your first post.

I doubt that stating you were in the College Republicans would have an effect on your prospects. Even so, I see no point to listing it as an item on your CV or elsewhere. It has as much to do with your academic profile as being on, say, the College Table Tennis Enthusiasts Association, i.e., none. For grad admissions, in general, nobody cares about your extracurriculars or even your work experience which is not relevant to some form of academia. At least that's my perception.

I understand the horribleness of the class, but I'm not quite sure I understand your dilemma. Are there no course readings? Even if the prof does do a terrible job, surely there are supposed to be a progression of topics for each week. Just prepare 4 or 5 questions for discussion. Unless your students are incredibly dull, you shouldn't have any problem in sustaining a discussion for 50 minutes. I know when I TAed we often spent 50 minutes on discussing only two questions (of three prepared); my problem was actually getting behind where the lectures were. Intro courses don't have to be dreary. In many ways I prefer them because the course is wide-ranging and the discussion is often more open and interesting.

I agree, in terms of decision dilemmas, this seems a pretty easy one. School A.

It may differ from school to school, but actually, I think most PhD tuition is on a per-term basis, i.e., you are charged a flat-rate every term you are still in the program. It doesn't matter how many courses you take or whether you're done coursework altogether.

I didn't even think you could apply this far in advance. All the applications I did were available only beginning in the fall. And yeah, I also see no benefit to applying this early. It's not like they're going to look at it now anyway.

I can't speak generally, of course, but in my experience Canadian universities are actually faster, or at least roughly the same, as US ones. US application deadlines for me were one to two months earlier than my Canadian ones. My US applications spanned from Nov. 15 to Dec. 31, while my Canadian applications were from Jan. 1 to Jan. 31. I got responses from all around the same time (mid to late February). This suggests to me that, from deadline to notification, Canadian universities are at least as quick, if not quicker, than US.

I really enjoyed my MA program, as it allowed me to do things I had never done and prepare me for further academic goals. I really believe that any gripes I may have about my time there have more to do with me than the program: things I should have done but didn't, opportunities I didn't take advantage of, etc. It's only natural that you're going to hear more about the complaints and difficulties of grad school on an internet forum. Whether it's human nature or whatever, we're more likely to want to air our grievances than our satisfactions. Obviously, many, if not most, grad students enjoy what they're doing in an overall sense, despite the work and the many small and not so small difficulties, else they wouldn't be there. Well, I suppose we could all be tremendously miserable but willing to put up with it for future benefit, but I doubt that's the case.

I'm not sure it's what you mean, but I received both an online rejection and a paper rejection from a school, a few weeks apart, and I think that's actually relatively common.

I was waiting for someone in theory to respond, as they would know better, but my take is that philosophy may well be a better fit. In any case, if you're finding philosophy programs that you find intriguing, that may be a sign that that direction would be more suitable. However, I would also say that it's difficult to conclude why you didn't get in this time from what you've said. It may have been any number of things or combinations of things. You may have cast your net too narrowly as well. On another note, I'm rather surprised your department had absolutely no offerings in theory. Not even an intro course? I'd guess that having no formal course credits for theory does have some bearing on your overall profile as a theory applicant.

I dunno, from what I see here as many people have applied to more than 10 schools than have applied to less than 5. I think the average is probably around 7 or 8. Just my impression.

I've been very sympathetic about your situation, but this: really? Are you telling me you can't go to school by yourself? Has your mother been taking you to school all this time? I've been hesitant, without really knowing the situation, to call for some kind of criminal/legal intervention, but this just seems completely screwed up. I know the advice 'grow up' isn't helpful at all, but you absolutely MUST start learning how to live independently. That you can't even do something as trivial as go to school on your own, for whatever reason, is extremely worrying.

I have no dog in this fight, but I thought I'd point out that Awin was pretty clearly reacting to RockDenali's point about "community college students who are brighter than UCI English undergrads", not to your comments.

mod squad

I'd say no to all your questions. I've never even heard of an adcomm taking course load into account. I spent three years at community college, three years at a university in undergrad, and I don't recall ever taking 5 courses. Your GPA matters to an extent, but what seems to matter most are letters of recommendation and statements of purpose (and research fit, as evidenced thereby), as well as writing samples.

I didn't down-vote it, but I doubt that people didn't like the substance of the question, but rather the way it was stated. On the topic, I don't think I can relate to most of the comments here, because things seem to work a lot different in the social sciences/humanities. You're not tied to a professor in the same way, and you don't have to stay and work in a lab for x number of hours in a day, with certain exceptions. I'm almost certain that PhD students in my field get ample time off outside of the academic year, and are much more able to decide one's own schedule. EDIT: Well, I didn't see that last post, but I would lump social sciences in with humanities more than I would natural sciences. Certainly, for the kind of work I do, all I basically need for research is access to databases and a computer. I could (almost) just as easily be productive and doing research in the Swiss Alps as at the university.

I don't think anyone's going to post their writing sample here. If you want to know what a 'successful' paper looks like, simply look at journal articles in your field. That's what you should be working towards, what you'll be doing as a scholar.

I think the whole tenor of your comments suggests that you're resigned to your situation: you talk about coping, etc. You have to realize that nothing's going to change if you don't make an effort. I certainly know that feeling: you're absolutely miserable in your situation but you are so accustomed to it that you can't even imagine anything else. I think it's right that you seek psychological support, but there are a few things you could do to create a sense of separation from your mother right now. For instance, you've talked about being 'forced' to surrender your savings, etc. I'm assuming, and correct me if I'm wrong, that means you're somehow dependent on your mother financially, i.e., you have joint accounts or something, such that you can't do anything without her. If that's the case, you should set up your own accounts and make sure your earnings are deposited there. That way you'll have complete and exclusive control over your finances. Second, do not rely on your mother or her car for transportation, or do so as little as possible. I know that sounds small and kind of trivial, but I'd suggest that depending on her to go anywhere only reinforces your actual and psychological dependence. Take public transportation, walk, get a bike, whatever you need to do to inculcate in yourself a sense of independence. I know you say you can't move out, but I think it's really a necessary and vital step. Especially from your last post, you whole living environment seems incredibly toxic and damaging. See if you can move in with friends, even for a short time, or look for a roommate to lower the costs. Going back to my first points, you absolutely must stop thinking of yourself as a victim; it's self-reinforcing and destructive. You are an adult; you are an autonomous human being of independent moral worth, and you cannot be forced to do what you don't want to do. In a real sense, it isn't your mother who is, for instance, forcing you to apply to grad school (what does that even look like?), but you forcing yourself to obey your mother. This you have to break out of.