2018 Acceptance/Rejection Thread

[Philodoxia]

1 hour ago, Franzkafka said:

Admitted to UC Irvine (Philosophy, not LPS) a few days ago. I have a question about the program. The philosophy at UC Irvine is ranked relatively high in the PGR. I scanned a little through the Breakdown of Programs by Specialties section (http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/breakdown.asp) in the PGR, it seems that most of its ranked fields (incl. Phil Sci, Phil Physics, Phil Bio, Phil Math, Logic, History of Analytic Philosophy, etc.) belong to the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science. Given that its Philosophy Department and LPS Department are combined together in the overall ranking, I wonder how strong its Philosophy Department is? I’m sorry if this is not the right place to post the question. Best of luck to everyone!

My impression is that the Philosophy Department is strong in foundational epistemology and applied epistemology, early analytic philosophy (From Husserl to Wittgenstein), with specific strengths in (analytic) phenomenology (David Smith) and the epistemology of Moore and Wittgenstein (Coliva & Pritchard). But I am only confident in these assessments. It may display strengths in other areas, but I am not competent to judge that strength's intensity.

[quinessloopypun]

42 minutes ago, PhiloStorian said:

That does seem Kantian, but it also seems wrong that he should have a duty to himself whether he endorses it or not. I'm sure he does have that duty to himself, but because he wants to live, not because he must.

Splitting hairs, I know, but we're all just saying that we want you to take care of yourself (in different ways)!

This is not hairsplitting; this is beautiful. Let me indulge you one last time then!

But if he did not endorse the duty of preserving his well-being, then wouldn't s/he be undermining the very faculty of his willing/endorsing any duty? Therefore, it seems that there are certain things that are irrational to want, that implies a contradiction in willing at any order!

[thehegeldialectic]

Aren't y'all using my injury as a means to talk about Kant? 

Mr. Kant would never approve. 

[Guest RoughAnatomy]

3 minutes ago, iunoionnis said:

Aren't y'all using my injury as a means to talk about Kant? 

Mr. Kant would never approve. 

Ha! Now that's good. 

[LORDBACON]

If obtaining solid information about where we are NOT going to be studying in 2018 is supposed to supply comfort, you may all call me King of the Panopticon from now on. 

[Goonasabi]

Hush Contis!

Has anyone who has been rejected from Wisconsin checked their application portal? Does it update that you've been rejected? The suspense with them is killing me.

[PhiloStorian]

23 minutes ago, quinessloopypun said:

This is not hairsplitting; this is beautiful. Let me indulge you one last time then!

But if he did not endorse the duty of preserving his well-being, then wouldn't s/he be undermining the very faculty of his willing/endorsing any duty? Therefore, it seems that there are certain things that are irrational to want, that implies a contradiction in willing at any order!

Very interesting! I don't think that necessarily follows though. We can imagine someone who endorses some duty to die, or a duty that would override their duty to self-preservation, such as a suicide mission or taking a bullet for a loved one. In that case, they seem to have a duty that goes against their well-being that isn't necessarily irrational! Thus there wouldn't be an inherent contradiction. Although that could also be read as an indirect duty to oneself in service of greater direct duty.

22 minutes ago, iunoionnis said:

Aren't y'all using my injury as a means to talk about Kant? 

Mr. Kant would never approve. 

I think that's Herr Professor Doktor Kant to us!

[thehegeldialectic]

6 minutes ago, PhiloStorian said:

We can imagine someone who endorses some duty to die, or a duty that would override their duty to self-preservation, such as a suicide mission or taking a bullet for a loved one.

I don't see how this could follow from duty, rather than inclination. Taking a bullet for someone acts for the sake of some end, rather than being motivated by a respect for duty itself, therefore it wouldn't be a moral action. 

Edited February 21, 2018 by iunoionnis

[ArendtYouKidding]

9 minutes ago, Goonasabi said:

Hush Contis!

Has anyone who has been rejected from Wisconsin checked their application portal? Does it update that you've been rejected? The suspense with them is killing me.

Yes, I have been checking and it still says that my application is under review by the department. There are no messages. The suspense is also getting the best of me! I wish I understood what they were doing. Pitt seems to be doing something similar. 

[MishaPanda]

Question for CU Boulder applicants: On my portal it says that my GRE Scores were “waived” on 18 January, which is before my other programmes received the scores. Has anyone else seen this on their own portals? Do they not take GRE into account? I emailed the Phil Dept to ask about this a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t heard a peep back from them so far.  

Edited February 21, 2018 by MishaPanda
Needed to add information.

[Cogitodoncrien]

10 minutes ago, MishaPanda said:

Question for CU Boulder applicants: On my portal it says that my GRE Scores were “waived” on 18 January, which is before my other programmes received the scores. Has anyone else seen this on their own portals? Do they not take GRE into account? 

I just checked my own and it just lists the date that the scores were received and a green check mark indicating that this part of my application is complete.

Edit: By "portal", do you mean the Boulder application portal or your ETS GRE portal?

Edited February 21, 2018 by Cogitodoncrien

[PhiloStorian]

35 minutes ago, iunoionnis said:

I don't see how this could follow from duty, rather than inclination. Taking a bullet for someone acts for the sake of some end, rather than being motivated by a respect for duty itself, therefore it wouldn't be a moral action. 

The key here seems to be perceived duty, and many perceive a duty to die for their children or some cause if the moment came. Regardless, there might be a duty in some cases, such as if you're responsible for the threat to their life or you know that not doing so would lead to much greater harms that cannot otherwise be prevented.

Edited February 21, 2018 by PhiloStorian
Forgot to quote @iunoionnis

[MishaPanda]

11 minutes ago, Cogitodoncrien said:

I just checked my own and it just lists the date that the scores were received and a green check mark indicating that this part of my application is complete.

Edit: By "portal", do you mean the Boulder application portal or your ETS GRE portal?

I mean my Boulder app portal. That’s what I would expect to see as well, but instead I have a grey checkmark that says waived. Curious. 

[thehegeldialectic]

5 minutes ago, PhiloStorian said:

such as if you're responsible for the threat to their life or you know that not doing so would lead to much greater harms that cannot otherwise be prevented.

But if there's a great harm to be prevented, then you are not acting from respect for the law, but to bring about some end. So that wouldn't be acting from duty, but acting from the inclination to prevent perceived negative consequences.

For the action to conform to the rational law, you have to act purely on the basis of the law itself. Basically, the categorical imperative is the cause of your action, rather than an effect you try to bring about. 

[Schwarzwald]

5 minutes ago, MishaPanda said:

I mean my Boulder app portal. That’s what I would expect to see as well, but instead I have a grey checkmark that says waived. Curious. 

Mine has the green for received as well. I'd email to check it out?

[SirPyros]

Just received a rejection to WashU St Louis.

[Goonasabi]

4 minutes ago, SirPyros said:

Just received a rejection to WashU St Louis.

Sorry

Me too.

[tmck3053]

1 hour ago, ArendtYouKidding said:

Yes, I have been checking and it still says that my application is under review by the department. There are no messages. The suspense is also getting the best of me! I wish I understood what they were doing. Pitt seems to be doing something similar. 

I'm not sure if this helps, but it seems that what happens at some departments is that the original contact is a sort of informal acceptance, mostly saying that you are 'recommended for admission' rather than accepted officially, since there is some bureaucratic rubber stamp required higher up somewhere. It takes some time after this initial contact before the official letter is sent out, and so presumably rejections are sent at that same time. That is, best as I can tell, what is happening at Pitt. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I think that Pitt called those that were accepted over the weekend. 

Edited February 21, 2018 by tmck3053

[shifgrethor]

16 minutes ago, tmck3053 said:

I'm not sure if this helps, but it seems that what happens at some departments is that the original contact is a sort of informal acceptance, mostly saying that you are 'recommended for admission' rather than accepted officially, since there is some bureaucratic rubber stamp required higher up somewhere. It takes some time after this initial contact before the official letter is sent out, and so presumably rejections are sent at that same time. That is, best as I can tell, what is happening at Pitt. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I think that Pitt called those that were accepted over the weekend. 

This is correct for Pitt, based on their phone call to me. There is actually, as far as I understood, even an extra step: I was told on Saturday that I'd get an email during this week 'recommending me for admission', and that the official email from the school would come even later. So the phone call was an informal warning that an informal email was coming. And the application portal doesn't say anything for mine yet either (also the Pittsburgh application portal is hella confusing).

On a more hopeful note, I am currently very unsure about whether I want to go to Pittsburgh or Toronto, and I'm still waiting to hear back on Harvard, NYU, UC San Diego, Stanford, and Notre Dame, all of which I would at least consider. So there is a decent chance at least 1 applicant will get pulled up

[tmck3053]

21 minutes ago, shifgrethor said:

This is correct for Pitt, based on their phone call to me. There is actually, as far as I understood, even an extra step: I was told on Saturday that I'd get an email during this week 'recommending me for admission', and that the official email from the school would come even later. So the phone call was an informal warning that an informal email was coming. And the application portal doesn't say anything for mine yet either (also the Pittsburgh application portal is hella confusing).

On a more hopeful note, I am currently very unsure about whether I want to go to Pittsburgh or Toronto, and I'm still waiting to hear back on Harvard, NYU, UC San Diego, Stanford, and Notre Dame, all of which I would at least consider. So there is a decent chance at least 1 applicant will get pulled up

Yeah I got the first informal email because I missed the original call, but still haven't got the official email. The application portal is a nightmare. 

Out of interest, what would be the factors influencing your decision? I'm still waiting to hear back from a bunch of places also and I'm trying to keep an open mind. Will you be headed to the Pittsburgh visit?

[shifgrethor]

26 minutes ago, tmck3053 said:

Yeah I got the first informal email because I missed the original call, but still haven't got the official email. The application portal is a nightmare. 

Out of interest, what would be the factors influencing your decision? I'm still waiting to hear back from a bunch of places also and I'm trying to keep an open mind. Will you be headed to the Pittsburgh visit?

I am going for the visit! Really excited to see what the department and city are like.

I have LOTS of factors but the primary is that my main AOI is Early Modern, and Toronto's EM faculty are kickass, and there's so many of them (Donald Ainslie, Marleen Rozemond, Karolina Hubner, Nick Stang... heck even Sergio Tenenbaum and Arthur Ripstein work in or around my AOI). The only person to really supervise an Early Modern project at Pittsburgh seems to be Engstrom, who seems really good but that is sort of limiting as I am still not sure what exactly I want to work on. I also applied and was accepted to Law at Toronto, and the joint JD/PhD program is really enticing.

On the other hand, I am interested in lots of different areas not confined to Early Modern philosophy, and Pittsburgh does have a really amazing overall faculty, and would probably be a 'smarter' choice strategically as far as job prospects down the line. I also did my MA at Toronto, so some diversity of perspectives would be nice too (EDIT: though half my profs did their PhDs at Pittsburgh, so maybe it won't be that diverse after all...). 

Edited February 21, 2018 by shifgrethor

[anonnn123]

Just got waitlisted at Rutgers

[tmck3053]

14 minutes ago, shifgrethor said:

I am going for the visit! Really excited to see what the department and city are like.

I have LOTS of factors but the primary is that my main AOI is Early Modern, and Toronto's EM faculty are kickass, and there's so many of them (Donald Ainslie, Marleen Rozemond, Karolina Hubner, Nick Stang... heck even Sergio Tenenbaum and Arthur Ripstein work in or around my AOI). The only person to really supervise an Early Modern project at Pittsburgh seems to be Engstrom, who seems really good but that is sort of limiting as I am still not sure what exactly I want to work on. I also applied and was accepted to Law at Toronto, and the joint JD/PhD program is really enticing.

On the other hand, I am interested in lots of different areas not confined to Early Modern philosophy, and Pittsburgh does have a really amazing overall faculty, and would probably be a 'smarter' choice strategically as far as job prospects down the line. I also did my MA at Toronto, so some diversity of perspectives would be nice too. 

Hey cool! Well that makes a lot of sense and there's plenty there to weigh up. Looking at the list it doesn't seem that Pittsburgh has a particularly strong specialist history of philosophy bent. That being said there's a strong sense of engagement with the history of philosophy in many of the faculty even if they are not specialists (i.e. McDowell, Brandom, etc). Anyway, interesting to hear what is helping other people to make decisions - it tends to help when it comes time to reflect on your own.

Will see you at the visit, in that case.  

[soproperlybasic]

57 minutes ago, anonnn123 said:

Just got waitlisted at Rutgers

Congrats! Details?

[Stencil]

1 hour ago, shifgrethor said:

I am going for the visit! Really excited to see what the department and city are like.

I have LOTS of factors but the primary is that my main AOI is Early Modern, and Toronto's EM faculty are kickass, and there's so many of them (Donald Ainslie, Marleen Rozemond, Karolina Hubner, Nick Stang... heck even Sergio Tenenbaum and Arthur Ripstein work in or around my AOI). The only person to really supervise an Early Modern project at Pittsburgh seems to be Engstrom, who seems really good but that is sort of limiting as I am still not sure what exactly I want to work on. I also applied and was accepted to Law at Toronto, and the joint JD/PhD program is really enticing.

On the other hand, I am interested in lots of different areas not confined to Early Modern philosophy, and Pittsburgh does have a really amazing overall faculty, and would probably be a 'smarter' choice strategically as far as job prospects down the line. I also did my MA at Toronto, so some diversity of perspectives would be nice too (EDIT: though half my profs did their PhDs at Pittsburgh, so maybe it won't be that diverse after all...). 

Pittsburgh also had Karl Schafer working in early modern philosophy a few years ago, but he's at Irvine now. I'm still somewhat surprised that they haven't brought on anyone else who works in EM in the time since he left, but I'm sure that they will eventually. It sounds like you have a tough choice ahead of you based on the strength of Toronto in EM and the overall strength of Pittsburgh... But also, that's an amazing choice to get to make!