MattDest

I'm not that petty.

I meant to upvote this, but I hit the red arrow and it won't let me take it back! Haha, just so you know.

Right? It was the nicest rejection I've ever gotten.

Bummer. Got the rejection from UNC. Not the greatest fit (at least that's my rationalization ), so not entirely unpredicted. Best of luck to everyone who applied there!

That's great first news. Congratulations!

This is a good point. But I think that this badly misrepresents the reality of who is attending MA programs. The reason that this risk is becoming increasingly necessary is that people from less prestigious undergraduate institutions are wanting to get accepted into top-tier programs, but find it impossibly difficult to gain admission into them. An applicant might apply to PhD programs and MA programs as an undergrad, and get roundly rejected by PhD programs but accepted into a few MA programs. These applicants are surely taking another risk by going to an MA institution. But the alternative option for those in less prestigious universities seems to me to forgo a career in academia altogether. (See Eric Schwitzgebel's post, Sorry, Cal State Students, No Princeton Grad School for You!) If you look at the population of California State University students (here), and compare it to more prestigious universities, I imagine you will find that the former tends to have a higher population of under-represented minorities, and especially financially-disadvantaged students. This seems to show that an MA acts as an equalizer for this problem, rather than exacerbating it. So, when I worry about generalizations that an MA program tends to work against disadvantaged minorities, I'm worried that these generalizations are not accounting for the rather severe institutional disadvantages that make the MA programs necessary in the first place. Sorry if my comparison wasn't clear. It was that if you preface a statement with, "I don't want to generalize" and then make a generalization, this is similarly bad to saying "I'm not a racist" and then making a racist claim. Not because of the content of the claims, but because of the self-contradictory nature of them. I realize that re-reading my post makes it sound as though I think these generalizations are equivalent to the harms of racist comments, but that was not my intention.

I wonder this too. For my own part, I mostly use it if I think the post is aggressive/mean-spirited, or if I think it has bad advice that one shouldn't follow. I don't use it for posts that I merely disagree with. I disagree with philosophe's post in this thread, but it was a respectful post that engaged the topic. When dfindley used to write something like "I just want a smoking hot wife to cook for me" or that we were all fools who worshipped the wrong philosophical gods... well... downvote.

I'm glad that the commenters essentially set the original correspondent straight. It's really distressing that someone with this much obvious bias against MA programs is sitting on an admission committee. I realize that you made a concerted effort to avoid having this post coming off negatively, but I'm worried about how harmful these types of generalizations are. Saying "I don't mean to generalize" and then making an extreme generalization is just as bad as saying "I don't mean to be a racist, but...". As many of the commenters on Leiter's blog have pointed out (about their own respective universities), the make-up of graduate students at my program simply do not fit this mold. Your (very true) point about it being hard for women and people without financial means is relevant to the entirety of academia. In the overall picture, the two years spent on a terminal MA (especially if it is at a well-funded program) is a drop in the bucket.

Of course! I'm just shocked that they are making decisions on the weekend.

It seems really odd for an adcom to call an applicant on Sunday, no? Not that it's fake, but just seems odd. People "drop out" because getting a PhD is hard. It takes a long time. Some people realize they don't want to do it anymore, some pursue other careers, etc.

Hopefully this week brings about a ton of acceptances for people around here.

I have a slightly different view about this. When a adcom attempts to search for me on the web, I'm assuming that they are not necessarily just looking for potentially stupid things I have done/said, but may want to learn more about me. If I portray myself in a positive light through online presence (whether that be social media, websites, or forums), it could be a good thing. Of course, this strategy could completely backfire (if I think what I'm saying makes me look good, but it actually makes me look like an insufferable ass), but I'm reasonably confident that I don't come off as a complete jerk. (There was an interesting thread about this very discussion on Leiter's blog.)

I did not mean to suggest that people who wish to remain anonymous are having "paranoid fantasies", and sorry if my post comes across that way. Still, I am wondering who could possibly identify someone by knowing their undergraduate institution and that they intend to apply to graduate school. I should note that I am a not a very private person and the prospect of having someone I don't know well coming across my posts and then reading all of them is not at all bothersome to me (I'm much more scared of someone reading a first draft!). It strikes me as a bit weird on their part, but I can't imagine it having any consequences whatsoever in my own life.

I wonder this every time that somebody brings up anonymity. I'm also failing to see how giving your undergrad institution will make it immediately obvious to the world who you are. I suppose that people are worried about being identified by adcoms, but I find it hard to believe that adcoms are taking the time to link up gradcafe usernames with their applicant pool. I imagine that adcoms, if they want to get 'dirt' on their applicants, are using Google to find any relevant information about the name.

I'm at UMSL (I know that I should be more concerned with anonymity, but I still haven't found a good argument for why it's important in this case), and would be happy to answer any questions about the MA program here.

If you PM me, I can tell you what I've heard.

Congratulations, and thanks for the information. I have a friend there and he seems to like it very much.

Congrats to any of the Mizzou admits! Anyone want to share information about it?

I've heard some rumors about boulder, but nothing beyond that. I do know a few other departments that have less than stellar reputations for climate for women also. But I learned in these in the past two years, after having frank discussions with my advisors about this sort of thing. I can't imagine "everybody" knows about this sort of thing either.

Yay! Congrats

It's quite early still, and especially on the west coast.

Very slow day! I suspect tomorrow may pick up a bit.

Necessary background music for reading posts by Loric.