Descrates

I'll chime in since my interests are in the same ballpark as you. I think you are definitely applying to too many schools. If I were in your shoes, I would apply to the top four or five schools in both Theory and Philosophy, and then only apply to the top fifteen departments in each which are strong in your interests. One convenient fact for people interested in Continental thought is that many of the programs here are strong in both theory and philosophy: Chicago, WashU, and Berkeley spring to mind. Otherwise, for Theory, I know Hopkins and Duke are both known for placing people well and they are known for Continentalism, also. For Philosophy, I would avoid schools heavily commited to analytic approaches such as Michigan or UCSD.

Its possible, but who would you rank above them right now. In terms of who would provide the best education in theory, it seems like it would be a wash among most of the top ten programs. So then we are dealing with who has the most cache in terms of placements, and on that count, it does seem hard to put Chicago in the same league as Princeton or Harvard. They probably belong more in the Yale/Berkeley range.

Here's the new theory rankings: 1. Harvard Chicago 3. Princeton 4. Yale 5. Berkeley 6. Duke 7. Northwestern 8. Johns Hopkins 9. Columbia 10.UCLA

If anyone has the theory rankings could you post them? Thanks

Type of Undergrad Institution: Top ten political science dept Major(s)/Minor(s):BA, Political Science/Political Theory Undergrad GPA: 3.935, with 5 upper div A+'s, which I pointed to repeatedly on my app, resume, and SOP Type of Grad: none Grad GPA: none GRE: 740v, 680q, 4.5w(!)--I really didn't take the writing section that seriously, maybe that was a problem. But I felt my writing sample was extremely strong (honors thesis, won highest distinction). Guess I'll never know. Any Special Courses: Not really. Letters of Recommendation: Well connected Assistant Professor, Distinguished Professor and former editor of the top journal in my subfield, Professor of Philosophy. Research Experience: Honors Thesis Teaching Experience: None Subfield/Research Interests: Political Theory/ Continental Philosophy, Environmental Philosophy, Multiculturalism, Modernist and Liberal Critiques SOP: Worked fairly hard on it, but not more than a few weeks Other: RESULTS: Acceptances($$ or no $$): Fully funded fellowships from UCSD and Duke, Chicago (MAPSS) Waitlists: Chicago (PhD) Rejections: Johns Hopkins, Princeton Pending: Going to: Looking like Duke What would you have done differently? I would have applied to more schools, even if I felt the fit was less than optimal. I regret that I didn't at least apply to Harvard and Yale. I also would have tried to tailor my SOP to the particular depts I applied to--I sent virtually the same statement to all the depts, including Princeton, whose word limit was roughly 600 words short of my SOP (1600 words). Maybe tried harder on the writing portion of the GRE, though the one school I applied to that doesn't request a writing sample (UCSD) accepted me with their highest offer of funding. I'm absolutely certain the success of my honors thesis was critical--it demostrated to my recommenders that I was capable of doing theoretical research at pretty high level, which they could then feel comfortable conveying to the depts. I'll definitely recommend it any undergrad I work with who is mildly interested in grad school: there's almost no down side to it. In the end, however, it seems like I did best at the places where my recommenders had the closest connections. I guess that's the game we're playing now, folks.

Greetings, Oscarwildebeest. Those rankings are compelling, but I'm still a little worried. What really bugs me is that those USNWR rankings were done before Coles left Duke. I'd feel a lot better if I knew they had plans to replace him with another theorist who was strong on 20th century stuff. And the other thing is the pedigree factor, which appears to hold a tremendous amount of prestiage in our particular subfield. I don't want to spend a decade or more laboring to make up for the fact that I didn't come from Harvard, Princeton, or Chicago.

PSJR: Tough crowd over there.

Hi everyone, I'm trying very hard to decide which program to attend right now. At this point, I've become more and more convinced that I ultimately want to focus on continental philosophy and 20th century political theory. Could anyone give me an idea of whether this is doable at Duke? Let me add that I am also waitlisted a Chicago, which would seem to be a better fit. Nevertheless, I'm still leaning toward Duke because the cost of living is so low. I have a family and we would be able to buy a home and maintain our investments fairly well there, while at Chicago, its much more likely that the cost of living would drain our savings. Thus, when it comes time to find work, we'll be able to potentially look longer and even do a solid post-doc if we go to Duke. Chicago would probably require taking on some debt and definitely not let us live as well. Is there really enough of a difference in terms of the brand name and placement possibilities between Duke and Chicago to warrant taking on the financial hit and lower quality of living for my family and me to go to Chicago? Thanks.

Don't shoot the messenger. "This is SPARTA!!!"

Vent away...I wasn't a very good fit of them anyway so I not exactly surprised--though I don't know what the hell happened with JHU. Speaking as a theory student, they haven't don't much that's interesting to me since Walzer and Kateb started scaling back their activities.

I got sick of waiting and emailed Princeton's graduate director. If you didn't get an email than your, unfortunately--like me--not in. The rejection letters are supposed to be in the mail for next week. I'm currently on my way to Duke--hope to see all of who are going there.

Right. But I don't think I have TA duty the first year. Considering how much it costs to live in San Diego, it doesn't seem like much. My offer from Duke is $19,500 for 5 years in an area where rent is $700 a month for a three bed/two bath apartment.

Are you going to the Duke and UCSD openhouses? I still haven't decided about attending Chicago's. I'm currently waitlisted, but Patchen sent me an email that sounded moderately optimistic.

Just got the funding offer from UCSD. If I'm reading it right it is underwelming. Its their Earl Warren fellowship, and it is their highest award. It starts great at $22,500 the first year and then the next 3-4 is $16,500 for 50% TA. Did anyone else receive this?

I finally got tired of waiting for the Princeton email and inquired with their graduate administrator. It appears if you got in or waitlisted, you got an email. If not, expect a rejection notice in the mail very soon.

To Oscarwildebeest: It sounds eerily similar to your tagline there--depending on what you mean by ontology. I'm a big fan of Heidegger--I did my honors thesis on him, in fact. But generally, I'm into postmodernism, multiculturalism, and environmentalism. I tend to be a bit skeptical of liberalism and modernism.

I'm going out for the Duke open house also. And I also feel pretty certain I'll be headed there. Btw, has Gillespie contacted you yet?

Why am I the only one who hasn't heard back from Princeton yet? I want to assume this is not a good sign, but perhaps no news is good news...