2018 Acceptance/Rejection Thread

[MishaPanda]

38 minutes ago, dormouse said:

Thank you! I struck out last application season and I've only been waitlisted so far, so I'm absolutely thrilled. I received an email from Oliver Sensen stating that I was accepted and that I would get the formal acceptance and funding details soon. My AOI is bioethics. I know a lot of people here shit on the NYU MA in Bioethics program but I don't think I would have gotten into Tulane without being in that program. I hope you hear good news soon!! 

That’s really great, I’m so pleased for you! If you do end up choosing Tulane, I very much hope to be joining you there. My AOI is philosophy of mind, and I’d love to work with Kevin Morris. I exchanged emails with him before applying and it seemed positive on all sides, so I’m still cautiously optimistic whilst nevertheless attempting to manage my expectations. 

[elviejo]

On 3/13/2018 at 10:02 AM, RussellsPipe said:

When did you get the news about Simon Fraser, if I may? Still waiting on them.

Not a problem at all. I received news about Simon Fraser on 3/12.

[Zimmy64]

I wish the University of Arizona would hurry up. I'm pretty sure I'm rejected but I'd like to know for sure so I can tell Professor O'Keefe I can commit to GSU. 

[RussellsPipe]

48 minutes ago, elviejo said:

Not a problem at all. I received news about Simon Fraser on 3/12.

thank you! I was just told by Ms. Sheldon today that I'm on the wait list. How acceptances have been trickling out, I imagine they are accepting a few people, waiting for an answer, and only then working their way down the list. In light of this, do you think you will be accepting the offer? 

[Derrida]

Anyone hear back from UF? 

[philosophyswede]

Is anyone else on here considering an offer from UIUC? 

[Hekkue]

On ‎3‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 3:15 PM, CogSciRob said:

When are we going to hear from Vanderbilt?

 

 

[Goonasabi]

6 hours ago, Derrida said:

Anyone hear back from UF? 

I heard back today. Accepted to PhD

[TomKatze]

On 2018/2/15 at 9:18 PM, MarcelPr said:

Haha no offense taken, and thanks! I received both my BA and MA in China. Actually it's not rare at all nowadays that young Chinese students speak and write good English since we typically start learning English very early (English used to be one of the three major subjects in China's College Entrance Exam), especially in big cosmopolitan cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

I have a friend in China, and I never heard something good about philosophy education in China from him... Which school did you get your BA and MA from? Your offer is really really amazing...

Edited March 17, 2018 by TomKatze

[firefoxquantum]

On 3/16/2018 at 9:00 AM, coffeepls said:

Hi! You may be in the wrong thread. As far as I know, they don't have a graduate program in philosophy, and UMass Amherst is the only MA state school with a philosophy graduate program. I may be wrong, but that's the impression that I've had.

Thanks a ton, yes I was looking for a thread discussing STEM majors, particularly Computer Science. Major apologies since the UI of this site takes some getting used to. Cheers bruh!

[MarcelPr]

9 hours ago, TomKatze said:

I have a friend in China, and I never heard something good about philosophy education in China from him... Which school did you get your BA and MA from? Your offer is really really amazing...

Peking University (Google it :D) Philosophy education in China truly has its flaws, as its whole system of higher education. The main reason is that the system was basically inherited from the Soviet Union, meaning that its main purpose is to train technical specialists, so the whole curriculum is pretty much fixed from the moment you enter college. And it's a disaster when you want to educate philosophers in this way.. But it's getting better.

[TomKatze]

14 hours ago, MarcelPr said:

Peking University (Google it :D) Philosophy education in China truly has its flaws, as its whole system of higher education. The main reason is that the system was basically inherited from the Soviet Union, meaning that its main purpose is to train technical specialists, so the whole curriculum is pretty much fixed from the moment you enter college. And it's a disaster when you want to educate philosophers in this way.. But it's getting better.

Wow, I heard its reputation! The top1 university in China, especially its humanities. You must be very smart. My firends says its analytic tradition is weak, but it seems just a misunderstanding.

[LORDBACON]

UNM said an admissions decision was sent out 12 days ago by mail and I haven't received anything.  It's fascinating that they sent sealed letters on separate occasions to say "one of your transcripts is missing" and "we received your GRE scores" but then managed to fail heroically in the task of informing me of an admissions decision.  Legends.  I'm strongly tempted to decline any offer from them, provided they made me one and this information is ever made known to me. 

[Hekkue]

Vanderbilt: 

"Our initial offers have gone out. We will conclude admissions on April 15th. If you don't hear from us, it means you did not get admitted".

[Needle in the Hay]

37 minutes ago, Hekkue said:

Vanderbilt: 

"Our initial offers have gone out. We will conclude admissions on April 15th. If you don't hear from us, it means you did not get admitted".

Deplorable.

[SlumberingTrout]

I see that some UC Riverside wait listings have gone out.

[Kantattheairport]

Out of interest, do people think there are any significant do's and don't do's with regard to being on a waitlist? Are people inclined to reach out, send more materials, etc, or just wait until the university/ies contact you?

[Needle in the Hay]

1 hour ago, Kantattheairport said:

Out of interest, do people think there are any significant do's and don't do's with regard to being on a waitlist? Are people inclined to reach out, send more materials, etc, or just wait until the university/ies contact you?

Once I wrote up an endorsement of myself and asked a letter-writer if he wouldn’t mind sending it into the uni where I was (more-or-less) WL’ed. He said that he thought it risked annoying the faculty and that it was better to go by the book in these things.

At this point I am even wary of asking one’s place on the waitlist because there are various reasons why they might not want to communicate that information. I think it is better to ask a leading question like “is it common for students to get in off the WL?” Then, if they want to tell you your place, they will.

Basically it is best to keep in mind that asking your place won’t actually help your chances and asking too many questions could actually hurt by suggesting you aren’t confident or that you need too much.

On the other hand, if you know you would accept the offer if it came through, it can sometimes help to tell the faculty, or have a letter-writer tell the faculty, that you would do so. They want to give offers to students who will accept them, of course. 

Those are my two cents. 

Edited March 19, 2018 by Needle In The Hay
typos

[Kantattheairport]

1 hour ago, Needle In The Hay said:

Once I wrote up an endorsement of myself and asked a letter-writer if he wouldn’t mind sending it into the uni where I was (more-or-less) WL’ed. He said that he thought it risked annoying the faculty and that it was better to go by the book in these things.

At this point I am even wary of asking one’s place on the waitlist because there are various reasons why they might not want to communicate that information. I think it is better to ask a leading question like “is it common for students to get in off the WL?” Then, if they want to tell you your place, they will.

Basically it is best to keep in mind that asking your place won’t actually help your chances and asking too many questions could actually hurt by suggesting you aren’t confident or that you need too much.

On the other hand, if you know you would accept the offer if it came through, it can sometimes help to tell the faculty, or have a letter-writer tell the faculty, that you would do so. They want to give offers to students who will accept them, of course. 

Those are my two cents. 

Thanks - this sounds roughly in line with my initial intuitions at least. I've responded with short (hopefully) polite emails to the initial notice of being waitlisted - just thanking the sender for the update and saying I'll hope for a positive outcome - and left it at that. I didn't think to ask about my place on the waitlist or anything like that, because there was already some addressing of that question in the original emails (usually that it would be difficult to answer it, which I took to mean 'don't ask us this').

I also didn't want to come across as trying to get an upper hand over other applicants - and indeed I really don't want to gain any upper hands in any unfair way. But I wondered if there was some general understanding about what's acceptable and/or expected to do, that wouldn't rub anyone the wrong way. Which is why I asked.

[LORDBACON]

DePaul and UNM said nah, and UC Riverside's non-response likely means a nah, as does Vanderbilt's, which leaves just SIU Carbondale to hear from this season. 

[Rose-Colored Beetle]

Other than curiosity, why solicit? I can understand if you haven't heard anything, because there could be a mistake. How, though, would knowing your position on the list help your decision in some way?

[SlumberingTrout]

If I were counting, which I'm not, and if I were still waiting with breath bated, which I'm not, I would be cognizant of the fact that we have exactly 26 days left to wait until April 15th -- but I'm not.  

[tbphilstudent]

21 hours ago, LORDBACON said:

DePaul and UNM said nah, and UC Riverside's non-response likely means a nah, as does Vanderbilt's, which leaves just SIU Carbondale to hear from this season. 

If this helps those waiting from UNM, I contacted the DGS and was told that they only could accept two PhD applicants. 

It would seem that Continental philosophy had an extremely competitive year, not the least because of the quality of applicants.

[incredulous_stare]

I was just accepted earlier today for Oxford's MSt in Philosophical Theology! Definitely a niche area so I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't anyone else here who applied for this program, but the program regularly places its graduates in top 20 PGR PhD programs so I'm pretty stoked that I was accepted. Probably will accept the offer, given the lack of success in PhD applications this cycle

Edited March 21, 2018 by incredulous_stare

[Nickybert]

On 3/13/2018 at 6:02 PM, RussellsPipe said:

When did you get the news about Simon Fraser, if I may? Still waiting on them.

I got waitlisted at Simon Fraser yesterday. Please, if anyone isn't going ahead with SFU as a first choice, kindly help us move up the waitlist. I had to solicit them before they informed me of my being on their waitlist.