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Javslavin

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    Charleston
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    Philosophy phd

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  1. This is a tough question. It looks like you might make a first cut at many schools, at that point the focus shifts to the writing sample. [A great source of information regarding the phil grad school admissions process at most top schools: http://philosophy.uchicago.edu/prospective/admissions.html#review ] This is where something in your dossier strikes me as odd: If you're looking to go into political phil or metaphysics, then why is your writing sample in philosophy of botany? I think it would do you well to have a writing sample that speaks to your experience and interest in the sub-field you hope to work in. Aside from that, perhaps you might try to polish up your GRE quant score, and you may want to figure out whether your LOR writers are willing to address whatever reasons there are as to why you don't have a 4.00 GPA (especially in philosophy). Otherwise, good luck! It is in your interest to apply to as many schools (that have something to offer in your area) as you can afford; this process is often a bit of a crap shoot.
  2. Javslavin

    New York, NY

    Ditto with K-tray. I was looking at around prospect heights / crown heights: trying to find a 2-3br at ~$850/mo/br... not easy. Though, the GC is in midtown, unless Bio is at CCNY...
  3. Hi all! I just wanted to check in with those of us who are preparing to trek out to NYC this fall for grad school. Have you started to look for apartments, cardboard-box-under-the-GW-bridge, or are you choosing student housing? Any other hopes/anxieties about NYC?
  4. I may not be the best person to answer this set of questions, as I do not have an MA, nor will I have a terminal MA, but I'll give it a shot. With an MA in Philosophy, you can still teach philosophy, albeit at a community college. Some community colleges are better than others, and some actually host some productive, and tenured, philosophers (nb: these usually have a PhD). However, I have a very close friend who decided, due to familial obligations, not to pursue a PhD in philosophy, even though this was his orignal plan once he received his MA in philosophy. Two things I can note from his experience: i) jobs - in general - are hard to come by, even for a masters student, and ii) he has had some traction with administrative work (e.g., working at the Medical University we have here). One other interesting tid-bit, my friend tells me that when he is interviewing for these non-academic jobs, that he doesn't go into very much detail about what he studied during his masters. Apparently, merely having the masters is enough to woo over some employers, provided that you don't spill the beans as to what specifically you studied (e.g., Brandomian semantics etc.). This way employers, given that you have a masters, are likely to attribute to you a certain high level of both skill and proficiency in their line of work, either of which may not correlate strongly with the title of your thesis. Anyhow, I hope this helps. Good luck with your decision!
  5. I was going through Leiter Reports and noticed this post: http://leiterreports...nrollments.html I was wondering what current applicants thought about this possibility? Please feel free to vote and to post your thoughts on the matter. I, for one, can see both sides of the issue: on the numbers-front, there are too many job-applicants for the number of positions available. However, I am concerned that a reduction of spaces will only support the already strong trends of selection bias at work (i.e., institutional, gender, minority biases), and will ultimately lead to a less dynamic and diverse group of philosophers and ideas. Thoughts?
  6. My two cents on the matter: I agree that the writing sample is possibly the most important element to an application once you've made the first or second cut and departments are putting more than 10 mins into looking at your dossier. However, getting there is a bit more of a hurdle. Naturally 'Good grades and good GREs keep doors open'. It also seems to me that glowing letters (a standard necessity) merely keep you in a holding-pattern. That is to say, unless you have a great name writing your letter, it seems that letters wont necessarily give you a boost at best, and may harm you at worse. To me, the personal statement is a key piece that enables you, as an applicant, to do at least two things: i) make sure that your dossier gets into the right hands for further review, and ii) mitigate any moral hazard you might carry. W/r/t (i): clearly indicating your interests (e.g., aesthetics), showing that you've done work in the subfield, and also indicating those faculty with whom you might work with in the department (a few active names should suffice) help guide your dossier towards whomever might have more experience in said subfield within the admissions committee. However, if the department isn't looking at bringing many or any grad students in this subfield in a given year, then such specificity only helps the department to cull your application for rejection.... which brings me to point (ii) (ii): I think that this risk, one of specificity, is worth it unless you come from a very prestigious undergraduate program (e.g., Harvard) or have a very prestigious name attached to your dossier (e.g., Bob Brandom). Only in these conditions do I think that you can write your personal statement in a more 'airy' or personal manner: i.e., go on about how you got into philosophy, and how you've always been moved by the big questions etc. (Nb: I don't mean to sound condescending, or to assume that this is how you would write your sample, merely pointing out the counterfactual that if you were to write it as such, you take on a significant risk). A quick example before I end. I come from a no-name, small, liberal arts college in the south. I drafted my personal statement in such a way as to highlight my accomplishments in the field, and to mitigate the moral hazard of coming from an un-prestigious institution with little candle-power in terms of philosophers. This was easier for me to do, as I had spent most of my junior year attempting to present at both undergraduate and professional conferences etc. In the end, my personal statement had very little in terms of personality, principally as I had been advised that if I wanted to get into a Philosophy PhD program that I, "Shouldn't take up fencing on the side". In order to balance out my lack of a 'personal narrative', one of my letter writers focused their letter on how I was a good student to work with (i.e., that I'm not an asshole). To sum up, unless you're coming from a top undergrad school, or have support from a big name in the field, try to stick to your accomplishments and goals within philosophy in your personal statement. It might not work for everyone, but I've found it to be rather successful for me. One last point about rankings, though. To some degree they are irrelevant, and things such as faculty involvement, how the grad students interact, the amount of funding and teaching are vastly more important than four spots on the PGR. However, all that being put aside, you should try to go to the highest ranked program you can get into - is there a selection bias in philosophy? Absolutely. (Nb: I do think that this probably doesn't apply as much to continental programs). Hope some of this helps.
  7. Hey everyone, I was just wondering whether there is anyone on this forum that is a current grad student, or was recently a grad student in NYC? I've been accepted in one of my top choice schools, but the funding isn't great (it's on par with other Philosophy PhDs at ~18k 9 months plus summer funding for about 21-23k a year). As I'm coming from a smaller city in the south, I just wanted to hear about others' experiences in the 'big city' with similar funding circumstances. Do you have to live in NJ? Can you find rent-controlled apartments? Do you have to live off road-kill (reminds me of the taxi-driver from Tracy Ullmans' HBO series )? Where can you find reasonably priced groceries? Anything of a similar informative nature would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
  8. After having heard--second-hand--from professors at top 25 schools, the sad reality is that most letters are not terribly useful. As with grade inflation, it seems that there is a trend towards LOR inflation too, in that most letters are pretty similarly stellar. Thus, the ones that stick out tend to be those that are more honest (i.e., subtlety negative), and that tends to hurt an application. As such, I tried to structure who I asked to write my letters in a way that would help either explicitly address minor issues with my application or cover other ground that I might not have been able to do as effectively in my personal statement. For example, I had four letter writers: 1) My main research advisor, wrote about my research in more detail, and helped to cover a minor blemish on my record (my one non-A in philosophy). 2) My main research advisor in psychology (which in one of their classes I earned a 'B'--because of a late paper), helped to address previous 'time-management issues' in a productive way, and averred my competence in psychology. 3) Another phil professor who specializes in a history (not phil mindy stuff), who I hoped would write in a way to show that I wasn't so narrowly focused. 4) Another phil professor with whom I helped on a grant project, who wrote a very 'personal' letter essentially suggesting that I'm not an asshole and I can get along with other faculty/grad students/undergrads. Back to the main point, I just asked people who would both give me prototypically stellar letters and who could back up features of my packet/personal statement in way that I, as an applicant, couldn't. Hope this helps,
  9. Well, someone just posted; I guess that answers my question!
  10. Has anyone heard anything from Rutgers yet? If past is precedence, they should have already started contacting some people by now...
  11. I've heard back about being waitlisted at Boulder and Arizona; both seem like short lists. I will probably be giving up my spots there as I've gotten better funding elsewhere. I'll be more clear once I've gotten 100% official offers.
  12. Carl Craver's newish book: Explaining the Brain (2007). Very clear, and pretty convincing so far.
  13. I was wondering whether that was in reference to the fall 2012 entrance - only as the 'season' underneath the program says 's12'... I don't know, it's what I'm using to rationalize what would be a mini-freak out.
  14. I'll throw my hat into the ring: For PhD I've applied to: Duke UNC Indiana Arizona UCSD Colorado WashU Wisconsin Michigan Pittsburgh CUNY Rutgers Harvard MIT And for MA: Milwaukee GSU Wyoming All for a concentration in Phil of cog sci/ Phil mind. GREs: 166 verbal 156 quant and 5.5 analytic GPA: 3.8 I'm with y'all! Wish me the best of luck and best to everyone else. I recommend some good beer and good shows to make the time pass. Best Javs
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