MattDest

Your general sentiment is definitely a good one. However, the bar analogy was more like this: in other settings, getting really drunk might be seen as problematic, but at a bar is one of the few places where that sort of behavior is expected. In the gradcafe forums, these types of threads are expected. It's not really a sign of problematic, life-altering worry.

This is a bit like going to a bar and telling the patrons all they do is drink. It's a forum that's only purpose is to talk about graduate school admissions. You're not exactly getting an accurate picture of the posters' lives, let alone enough to make psychological diagnoses.

From Leiter: "University of Connecticut, Storrs: Appointed Dorit Bar-On (philosophy of language & mind, metaethics) and Keith Simmons (philosophy of language & logic), both from North Carolina; also appointed Lewis Gordon (Africana philosophy, phenomenology, existentialism) from Temple, Mitchell Green (philosophy of language & mind) from Virginia, and Susan Schneider (philosophy of mind & cognitive science, metaphysics) from a tenure-track position at Penn." Pretty damn impressive.

That enthusiasm "HOLY HELLFIRES" haha. Any chance it's a poster here? Would love to hear details.

Haha! I appreciate you letting me know.

Someone confirmed the OSU acceptance on WGI... so it begins! I was only one day off with my prediction.

I have a personal website for philosophy and I have been checking Google Analytics rather obsessively. It's definitely a good idea to Google yourself and clean-up any questionable online presences you may have. Make sure you FB profile picture isn't a keg-stand or something similar (although, with the way some philosophers drink... it may not be a bad thing entirely!).

Very cool! Do you have information regarding what days of the week were most common? Was it almost universally M/F, or was there a lot of variation?

That's an unfortunate precedent to set... I don't want to add logging into my applications into my obsessive routine! I didn't mean to suggest that you were somehow intruding, I was just curious based on your profile. I appreciate the helpful posts.

Are you applying to philosophy programs? No idea if it is real - but I'm a bit wary that it says "website". Isn't it usually the case that one receives an e-mail/call before their website status is updated?

I totally wish more people were open about their stats. It would be a much less confusing process if we had some sort of data about past application seasons. Cool interests/stats, and good luck on your applications.

I have it on good authority (someone that I know read it on WGI and saw my post here) that the deadline for UC Riverside was 12/17 last year. So, I would expect a later date for feedback.

Are you still ruling out programs in the US?

That would be interesting to know, because a sixteen day turnaround seems quite quick (although certainly not impossible I suppose).

Platonist, I can tell from your posts that you are a bundle of nerves trying to find any reason to be anxious about your applications! You are among like-minded folk here, but let me tell you that by far and away, these little things (how you address someone, an application that just beats the deadline, etc.) are going to pale in comparison to the other parts of your application that will be evaluated. If your applications are submitted, there's no reason to wring your hands over things you could have done. Just hope for the best this year, and keep a mental note of things you can do better next year if it comes to that.

SelfHating, are you me? Most of your responses in these threads have been so similar to what I would say that I've just kept quiet.

Exactly, especially because the OP was worried about being identified after beginning to post admission decisions (also, WGI =/= grad cafe's forums). I agree though - don't be a giant asshole. I can't imagine many would object to that advice.

I don't know that a single posting announcing that GSU was still accepting applications on WGI is any indication at all that he reads grad cafe, let alone that any other adcoms browse them.

I couldn't disagree more. People that go to terminal MA programs generally come from smaller schools that don't generally place into PhD programs right off the bat. Instead of compounding the inaccessibility problem, I would argue that MA programs actually work to ameliorate it. We've and I think a lot of these confusions are adequately addressed there.

Out of curiosity, what types of comments do you make here that you would be nervous about an adcom reading? If you were dfindley, I could understand why you might want to remain anonymous (insulting the chair of a philosophy department is poor strategy for getting in), but almost all of the other comments on here are quite innocuous.

This is the way it is handled in philosophy as well. I think the deadilne for philosophy is April 15, though. (Edit: April 15 is not field specific, apparently. Read Petros' post below.)

Agreed. The other side of this problem is that many men who are assholes fail to get labeled as such because their behavior is just excused as "eccentric" or " confident". Women get a raw deal.

Hmmm, I don't know about this. There are assholes of each sex, and they are assholes irrespective of any qualities of any particular perceiver. I think the problem in philosophy (and generally), is that assertive women who aren't assholes tend to get labeled as assholes by prejudiced parties (which include both men and women - I think). Many of these prejudiced parties have false beliefs about how women ought to behave, and unfairly label certain behaviors as "asshole" when they should be labeling them as "assertive". This is a problem that's related to sexism in philosophy, but I don't think that every asshole that happens to be a women is just a victim of this prejudice either. Hopefully this came out right, it's very difficult to talk about these issues in a largely anonymized internet forum.

It's certainly a dearth, and it's certainly a widespread problem in philosophy. Luckily, programs like this one from UCSD are working to change it.

With some minor sleuthing it's pretty obvious who I am, but I wouldn't mind if adcoms read what I wrote here. I can't imagine that showing a healthy amount of anxiety towards this process could count against you.