objectivityofcontradiction

Still not sure this week will be a very busy one... I am leaning towards next week as really kicking off admissions season. But we shall see I suppose.

MattDest, Not sure your bar analogy is a good one. I was not suggesting that the dialogue should cease altogether, only that one should reflect for a minute on some of the more trivial worries that have been raised here and realize that such things, i.e., how to address professors in emails, whether they will be notified of acceptance via email or phone call or website, how long it will take to get a rejection letter if acceptances are already going up, etc. are wastes of energy. We've already been worked over by the process... now let the process unfold and work for us, ya know? Have a little hope that a few members of an ad com are going to fall in love with your packet and come calling... makes it easier... then again, I suppose I am a bit more of a laid back person in general and thus despite how high my levels of despair get re: the process, I can usually manage to remain optimistic.

I have been on this board for two years now and so have been around for what will be three rounds of acceptances. I am also in this one with the rest of you and so share in the fear of failure. Still, I have to say that you guys are far and away the most manic-panicky-anxious-compulsive of the whole bunch... Take a couple deep breaths. Take a day or two away from the internet and your email. Relax.

Some one brought this up recently and I was curious to hear what folks have to say about the issue. It seems to me that those without an MA like to grip onto this much-discussed idea as some sort of self-reassuring mechanism that tells them that though they lack an MA this will not put them in a worse-off position than those with MAs because it seems to be a known fact that MA programs inflate their grades and therefore admissions committees will obviously take this into account. I am not sure this is valid. At my program (in Europe), both myself and my best friend in the program graduated with 4.0 MA GPAs. We'd sometimes joke about the issue of grade inflation in our program (partly out of shock that we were doing so well). That only lasted until we spoke with some of our peers who were not receiving As on their work. I also had a professor mention to me once, in typical dry, British humor, how easy it is to get an A in America. He said something along the lines of, 'they just give out As in the states.' So he seemed to think that grade inflation is a more general epidemic. In the end, I have to believe that most good, honest philosophy professors do not inflate their marks and that even if the issue is real, a quick scan of one's WS should be able to offer up the proof as to whether or not student X is actually capable of producing A-type graduate scholarship.

FWIW, I have noticed that a lot of admissions committees seem to hold a BA 4.0 in much MUCH higher regard than an MA 4.0. I don't know what this says about the varied perceptions of meaning surrounding the difficulty of attaining a 4.0 as an undergrad vs. as a masters student. What I do know (from 2 years on this forum and 2 years devoted to researching and applying first to MA programs and now phd programs) is that students with 4.0 MA GPAs get rejected all the time, whereas undergrads with 4.0s from schools in the know seem to have pretty good luck.

Many U.K. and Irish MA programs in Philosophy are only for one year. Some see this as an advantage, I certainly do. It provides students with a chance to experience the intensive nature of graduate study and you finish one year sooner and thus can jump into the PhD. pool one year sooner. Modules are courses; graduate modules are primarily seminars. In my program, I had three modules in the fall and three in the spring, each met just one day a week for 2 hrs, and during the summer I wrote my thesis, which counted as half of my total credits. I think my program, which was just a one year MA, was 30 credits. I wouldn't worry about whether the credit system in the UK is analogous to the credit system in the U.S. If you apply to PhD after the MA they are most likely not going to care how many credits you received. I think very few schools allow you to skip courses that you may have taken during the MA year. I have heard that the expectation is that you will be fine with taking course work again and should not expect to knock courses off because you have an MA.

I have an MA from a European University, attened a large state school in the U.S. for my undergrad.

I made contact with at least one person in each department that I applied to, but I did this before I clicked 'submit.' I suppose I'd agree with Loric and MattD that now it may be a bit too late. But just as a rule of thumb to any one who might read this post in the future: you should absolutely be doing this before you submit your apps. Professors, although they probably receive swaths of emails, will remember the name and the implied interest of a student who sent them a couple emails in the months prior, and whose name they then see in front of them on the desk during the admissions process.

I prefer a flat white (double espresso w. warm milk). I recently got into the slow pour-over method, which is recommended for those who prefer their coffee black. It is all about the dark roasts for me.

Thanks for this.

For the less intense TV viewers, I recently re-watched That 70s Show... Red Foreman is one of the best TV dads of the last 20 years. 'Don't you remember when you turned 18, dad?' 'When I was 18 I was driving a gun boat around Okinawa, and if you count the Japanese snipers as my friends then yeah, we had a pretty good time.'

FYI A nice conversation is taking place over at the Philosopher's Cocoon that is directly related to most of our situations... http://philosopherscocoon.typepad.com/blog/2014/01/reader-question-top-5-ways-to-narrow-down-grad-schools.html

FYI A nice conversation is taking place at the Philosopher's Cocoon directly related to all of us here. http://philosopherscocoon.typepad.com/blog/2014/01/reader-question-top-5-ways-to-narrow-down-grad-schools.html

This is something I probably should already know the answer to... but I am clueless as to how these work. I assume if you are accepted and offered a visit that that does not in turn mean that the school will pay for you to come out. Then again, if you are a strong candidate and perhaps some one that dept. X desperately want among their incoming grad class, maybe they'll pay for your flight or at least set you up with a free place to stay? Any one know how this works?? (Ha, look at me all optimistic thinking there is a chance I'll even get in anywhere... let alone get offered a visit)

Cities because I don't fancy driving. And don't own a car.

It is never enough, that is for sure.

I am not in the least stressed about whether or not all of my materials will be received. I take enough assurance from the check mark next to each element on the application websites. I am working on a book review for a so-so philosophy journal, reading some articles in metaethics and moral realism, and just carrying on. I also have not been checking my email more than I normally would (which is probably too often anyways). I don't anticipate following up with programs for another week or so.

No notes in a SOP. That is a sure fire way to annoy the committee members.

I (probably falsely) fully expect to be accepted to at least 4/10 of the schools I have applied to. Again, I am not sure I can account for this confidence and I am inclined to think it a bit foolish... but with each day, hour to hour, as I am waffling back and forth between "I am going to strike out across the board!" and "I think I should get in EVERYWHERE!" I usually find myself going to bed with positive thoughts.

Columbia or Georgetown for me.

A book has recently come out titled "Daily Rituals," by Mason Currey. It offers short, snappy, and detailed descriptions of the work habits of some of history's great artists, composers, writers, philosophers, etc. It is an awesome read. If you are like me and are constantly interested in how your fellow grads work, what their writing and reading habits are, etc., then I highly recommend it. Anyways, FWIW, I write in the afternoon. I have friends who say that if they have not completed any work by noon they are screwed and can't do anything with the rest of their day. For me, I like to write between 2-7pm. I often hear others claim that it is best to write in the morning because despite feeling groggy, one's mind is actually quite clear and therefore the ideas flow better in the morning. But that is not how it works for me. Any one want to share their habits?

MattDest, I, of course, knew that some would take issue with my post for the reasons I outlined in the post itself. SelfHating in particular seems angry for the comments I made regarding the pedigrees of my MA instructors (strangely enough, SelfHating tries to one up me by drawing a distinction between "was a colleague" and "was a direct colleague;" tell me who is dropping names now?) One comment that I would perhaps makes regarding your question as to why it did not seem to make sense to me to apply to those schools I list was because, as I said, I always already knew that I would apply to PhD. programs. However, straight out of undergrad I felt that various aspects of my file were not where they should be and that I could benefit from a more concentrated year of study. Even an undergrad seminars full of philosophy majors is not going to have the same dynamic as a MA seminar full of people who were passionate enough about the subject to pursue it at the grad level. Again, I am sure the classroom environment is the same across the board in MA programs in both America and Europe. However, in my own experience, in Europe, my MA year was not "training" for graduate school, which is what places like UW-Milwaukee or GSU regard as their primary function, it WAS graduate school. Does this mean I am saying U.S. MA programs are not "graduate" enough? No. What I am saying is that in my program and in others in the U.K. in Germany, your MA year truly does feel as if it is your first year of doctoral studies. Your professors take you and your work seriously right out of the gate. You are not treated as though you still need to learn the finer points of philosophical writing and analysis. These skills will of course improve as you progress through the MA year, but there is no feeling of them being taught to you. For example, the comments I would receive from professors on my papers were almost entirely content-based. They were no longer asking me to adjust my premises, fix my conclusion, etc. Their responses were often simply true academic and exegetical disagreement. I wonder if any of this makes sense. Sorry if I am being unclear.

Yeah, Loric, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about when it comes to Philosophy PhD. admissions. And to think I thought you might have some valid inside information regarding why WS may weigh less than it is normally believed. So folks, I think it is fair to say we can stick to what we have all already been told and ignore this claim.

MattDest, Every one has a high GPA, every one has good GREs. From what I have been told by a few admission committee members at top pluralistic departments, the GRE and Grades are only viewed during the first round. After first cuts are made, they are no longer consulted. This is not a restatement of the common 'cut off' discussion. If your GREs are low but every thing else is stellar, you'll make it past round 1 and then it becomes all about quality of sample, letters, and fit...

Maybe some do. But I think it not all that controversial to note that there are a basic set of expectations (content excluded) that one's sample is expected to meet and if your paper lacks the traits of what a potentially good graduate philosophy essay should look like, that is, simply put, not good for your chances. I'd be interested to hear your take, Loric.