SpacePope

Thanks very much to everyone for your replies. A few responses: Yes, this worries me somewhat, but I'm extrapolating based on (a) the placement records of other MA programs ranked below the one I'm considering, and ( the undergraduate placements of the program (which I realize are probably a less reliable guide). That's the thing--it's not so much of a habit as it's a long-standing goal I promised myself I'd do just once in my life if for no other reason than to prove I could (primarily to myself, but not exclusively). I'm afraid not fulfilling it would leave me in perennial doubt about my intelligence (again, not because I'm attending the lower-ranked program, but because I didn't attend the type of program I set as my specific goal.) Maybe this is splitting hairs, but I just wanted to clarify that this is not really a "habit" as a one-time goal. The MA program is 1 year, so it wouldn't add that much time. However, this in itself raises practical challenges with getting recommendations, etc. No, in the humanities our work isn't completely dependent on faculty

I have a dilemma: I'm trying to decide between 2 programs. 1 is a doctoral program that is offering me a good amount of money to TA. I also like the department and the faculty a lot. The problem is that it is relatively low in the rankings (in the 40s) and I worry about my career prospects if I went there. (Not to mention that I'm a pretty insecure person who craves external validation of the sort conferred by an elite diploma

Graduate departments are infamous for their systematic financial exploitation of naive young scholars via deceit and extortion, so why expect them to treat applicants any differently? The problem is the whole culture of professional academia, which becomes more and more like the business world every year. I don't think it's justified, but it has its roots in an economy that has (even in good times) devalued the contributions of academia to an extreme degree.

I know how you feel. I applied to nine programs in philosophy and haven't heard anything. On the bright side, there are results from other applicants for only three of the nine so far (and as you said, they may be fabricated; NYU has results, for instance, but then there's a note ostensibly from that dept. proclaiming those previous results phony (but then again why would someone from NYU take the time to disavow results from this site that are in no way affiliated with the university and couldn't possibly be construed as official?)). Still, this is getting ridiculous--anyone hear from Rutgers philosophy? Their deadline was the beginning of December.