Billy Dean

I think I'll wait until they contact us; I've emailed a few times asking if there was additional paperwork, what the next step is, etc. and have been pretty much told, "Don't call us; we'll call you." Getting a little too anxious, I guess.

I agree. I am also pleased with my funding as an MA student. It was between a fully-funded MA at U Toledo and a partially funded MA at Duquesne. Toledo: They were really shady about answering my questions (Questions like: "Do many MA students go on to PhD programs?" "What courses are you offering next year?" "Do you have a list of current students?" If a department evades these questions, I take it as a bad sign), and there is NO ONE in the faculty who shares any of my research interests. Duquesne may cost me money, and I may have to continue working to put myself through school, but Duquesne is in a great city, has a department FULL of people I want to work with, and has expressed their commitment to helping me get into a good PhD program. Decided. I also have to disagree in regard to PhD funding--I've heard numbers from current students: not so bad. I mean, the numbers may seem bad if you've lived a sheltered, privileged life and have never had to work or pay your own bills; I've been working for just above minimum wage and have not had health insurance for the last two years--I have no sympathy for people complaining about how their stipend is "only" 12,000 a year. Ranked? Leiter's? I've had multiple professors--analytic, continental, from my university and elsewhere--tell me not to waste my time with Leiter's ranking; while some schools do tend to place their graduates better than others, it more depends on what you write, who you know, and how well you can relate the one to the other. I've heard horror stories of people going to what is now a "well-ranked" school and then spending 15 years on the job market. It's luck, talent, networking, and marketing.

I would love to attend NSSR for philosophy, but I can't ignore the fact that there are 100 current students. And even if you include visiting and adjunct instructors, the student to faculty ratio is, best-case scneario, 5:1. Limited funding, an expensive city, a high number of students, such an unfavorable ratio, the 8+ year degree, the fact that NS is now cashing in on online degrees.... why would I increase my current student debt by tenfold? I've been working full-time to fund my *undergraduate* degree; supporting myself at NSSR is unfathomable.

Ostensibly it's a list of graduate students only, but Polansky thought it may just be out of date. If I learn anything more about the Pitt-Duq relationship I'll let you know. Edit: So I was correct and incorrect. Because Pitt and Duquesne are part of the PCHE, cross-registration is available to any student (with priority given to host institution's students, of course); "free" apparently means there is no additional charge--you pay Duquesne's tuition rate. I don't know Pitt's rate, but that may work in our favor.

I wrote a long response but I've decided to cut it down--I'll just get to the point! My interests at this point are pretty tentative; because I've been self-taught for the most part I made it clear in my statement that, although reading and writing on my own has taught me to take initiative and given me a sense for history, I'm never too proud to change my mind. So who knows--maybe two years of masters work will radically change the direction of my work. Caveats aside, the figures I'm interested in are divided into two groups: Lacan (Hegel, Freud) and Deleuze (Nietzsche, Bergson)--I also read several post-marxists but I'm not really planning on doing anything with Marx unless I get admitted to DePaul (since their faculty includes Bill Martin, who's writing on Badiou). In super general terms, anywhere metaphysics meets social/political philosophy, I'm game. In super specific terms, I would like to re-politicize Deleuze in a return to his work sans Guattari (since most of the political work I've found on Deleuze tends to focus on Capitalism and Schizophrenia). Anyway, I'd really like the opportunity to work with Bruce Fink, too! I wonder what the policy is on auditing courses in other departments or universities (I heard somewhere that Duquesne students can attend University of Pittsburgh courses free of charge, but don't quote me on it). As far as "lists" go--the only one I know off-hand is the rather unofficial one on philprospective on livejournal. I'll see whether I can dig up any of the other lists from in the interweb. And in regard to the student body size, I was originally worried about the faculty:student ratio (since the department's website lists 90 students), but Polansky assured me an accurate headcount would be closer to 30. Which three (or four) courses are you considering? I've got my eye on the Derrida/Levinas class with Marder, Miller's Nietzsche course, Deleuze with Evans, and Hegel's Logic with Jennifer Bates.

Same! Maybe it's because I'm assuming nothing is going to happen with my waitlists (which would make Duquesne my only real offer--out-of-state tuition makes Memphis even more expensive), but I've spent a lot of time tracking down students, finding things "my" faculty members have written, checking out Pittsburgh, etc. I'm surprised that on many of the "ranked" lists I've found people dismiss Duquesne for not having a very "cohesive" (?) department--Duquesne's one of the few schools where a better question than "Who can I see myself working with?" would be "Who couldn't I see myself working with?" What are your interests? What have you found about the university?

What the hell is there to talk about, here? Christ on the cross--didn't he say above that while an unfunded or partially funded masters might be a reasonable route (given whatever circumstances) it should stop there? That an unfunded PhD should be out of the question? And you're spouting off about... your masters program? You agree with him. End of discussion. And I don't like the insinuation that, because someone is in their twenties and doesn't want to take out massive loans for a masters/doctorate, they're probably living at home eating their mother's soup. I know I wouldn't take an unfunded offer. I'm 24, have been working full-time to pay my own bills since I was 18, and have already racked up $36,000 in student loans. Given the job market, tripling my debt for an unfunded PhD is absolutely out of the question. Look, if you have a job lined up and it's in your best interest to take the offer you've gotten, then great! Do it! But--when it comes to a PhD, at least--it's not too unreasonable to turn down unfunded offers. I've had many professors tell me that an acceptance w/o funding is for all intents and purposes a rejection letter.

For what it's worth, I've spoken to a few current MA's at Duquesne and their only complaint seems to be that they're MA students and have to (potentially) leave in a year or so. From what I hear the faculty are extremely involved with their students (PhD or otherwise). I'm with you on being frustrated!

That makes me nervous! Because I've always heard that the only reservation I should have about Duquesne's program is their limited funding--and with good reason! I'm pretty shaken up by the idea of a $900 credit hour, too. Considering that my current university's fees are about $150 per credit. So your recommenders have cautioned against Duquesne based on its program? Do you have any more details? This just worries me because it and DePaul have always been my "top two"; I may need to seriously reconsider my options if I've been mistaken about the quality of the department there! Yikes. I might need to email Polansky to straighten things out with my own situation (and maybe to get details on the waitlist). I really should have emailed a long time ago, but I hate sending these kinds of emails though. I always half-expect to receive a response like, "Scram, kid, you bother me!"

Although I didn't include it in my own list of applications, I've heard good things about Brock University.

Sorry! I didn't think there would be much of a response to my original post so I haven't been checking back. I'm a little worried because I was required to return that slip to verify that I was "still interested in both the M.A. and the waitlist position for the PhD program"--I'm afraid that the wording forced me to accidentally commit. However, I'm on the waitlist for DePaul's PhD program and have been accepted for an M.A. degree at Memphis (waitlisted for an assistantship). Memphis pulled a similar stunt--though I made it clear that without at least partial funding I wouldn't accept the offer. I'm not sure about Duquesne. My funding information was similarly TBD. But as has been noted, I think some funding is better than no funding. And besides, Duquesne's faculty and course offerings have me salivating, and an MA from Duquesne would *definitely* give me a leg up for PhD admission (I was lucky this round, given my B.A. background: not a philosophy major, mediocre state university, no real "continental" presence on campus, etc). Keep me posted if you hear anything new--if all else fails, I still plan on being in Pittsburgh in the fall, so I might see you there! If you decide to attend, we should get in touch!

I'm not sure how many applicants out there are applying to more continental-friendly programs, but I've been accepted to Duquesne (MA) with funding and waitlisted for the PhD program. Anyone get an offer? Plans to decline/accept? The masters offer is nice, but let's be honest: I'd rather not have to re-apply in a couple years and go through this song and dance again.