PHILOSOPHY M.A. ACCEPTANCE/REJECTION 2018

[jukeboxhero]

3 hours ago, Descartes blanche said:

Out of curiosity, what is your background? Also, what subjects in philosophy are you currently interested in? 

My background is in macro-economics. I greatly enjoyed my undergrad studies in econ, but my understanding is that graduate-level macro-econ (in most departments anyways, I'm sure there are some exceptions...) becomes increasingly about quantitative modeling, which I don't find nearly as interesting. Meanwhile, my interests are increasingly gravitating towards theoretical questions that push outside the traditional bounds of economics.  In my brief exposure to philosophy so far, I find everything interesting and I've found it difficult to narrow down my interests (which is part of what is making choosing a program difficult). If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say I'm most interested in epistemology, mind, and moral psychology...

[machineghost]

15 hours ago, jukeboxhero said:

My background is in macro-economics. I greatly enjoyed my undergrad studies in econ, but my understanding is that graduate-level macro-econ (in most departments anyways, I'm sure there are some exceptions...) becomes increasingly about quantitative modeling, which I don't find nearly as interesting. Meanwhile, my interests are increasingly gravitating towards theoretical questions that push outside the traditional bounds of economics.  In my brief exposure to philosophy so far, I find everything interesting and I've found it difficult to narrow down my interests (which is part of what is making choosing a program difficult). If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say I'm most interested in epistemology, mind, and moral psychology...

Your background in economics might serve you well if you studied political philosophy. But I’m not sure if political philosophy is something that you are interested in.

[chanchu1352]

Why haven't I heard anything from Brandeis yet? They should at least tell me that I am rejected by now. 

[soproperlybasic]

59 minutes ago, chanchu1352 said:

Why haven't I heard anything from Brandeis yet? They should at least tell me that I am rejected by now. 

I'm wondering the same thing...

[ArksiaOnMat]

2 hours ago, chanchu1352 said:

Why haven't I heard anything from Brandeis yet? They should at least tell me that I am rejected by now. 

Same here. Last year they didn’t even tell me whether I got rejected. 

[akraticfanatic]

17 hours ago, chanchu1352 said:

Why haven't I heard anything from Brandeis yet? They should at least tell me that I am rejected by now. 

They haven't sent out rejections-- pretty sure they have a secret waitlist. Everything from them is super late this year :/

[ArksiaOnMat]

18 hours ago, chanchu1352 said:

Why haven't I heard anything from Brandeis yet? They should at least tell me that I am rejected by now. 

Just got this email from Brandeis: “I do know that letters went out last week to those who were accepted and to some who were on the wait-list. I am sorry to say that if you did not get an email, it means that you were not accepted.”

[chanchu1352]

1 hour ago, ArksiaOnMat said:

Just got this email from Brandeis: “I do know that letters went out last week to those who were accepted and to some who were on the wait-list. I am sorry to say that if you did not get an email, it means that you were not accepted.”

I still got nothing. I am going to call them. 

[jukeboxhero]

I declined an offer with assistantship from Houston's MA program a couple days ago. Best luck to everyone making decisions in the next couple weeks!

[TomKatze]

On 2018/3/15 at 12:36 AM, Spinozian said:

yup. usually it's a couple weeks after you've sent in your app.

Hi friend, I just recieved an email from sfsu. It says "Department of philosophy at San Francisco State University has recommended your admission for fall 2018. Your application has been returned with our endorsement to the Division of Graduate Studies, which will send official notification to you." 

Do you know how long will I have to wait until recieve the official notification?

[Spinozian]

9 minutes ago, TomKatze said:

Hi friend, I just recieved an email from sfsu. It says "Department of philosophy at San Francisco State University has recommended your admission for fall 2018. Your application has been returned with our endorsement to the Division of Graduate Studies, which will send official notification to you." 

Do you know how long will I have to wait until recieve the official notification?

congratulations! a couple of weeks I think. what's your interests, btw?

[TomKatze]

6 minutes ago, Spinozian said:

congratulations! a couple of weeks I think. what's your interests, btw?

Thank you!

metaphysics, Aristotle, early modern, philosophy of religion...I think.

Are you in a Ph.D program now?

[Spinozian]

7 minutes ago, TomKatze said:

Thank you!

metaphysics, Aristotle, early modern, philosophy of religion...I think.

Are you in a Ph.D program now?

 

Nice, sounds like you'll be a good fit there. And I'll be starting my PhD in the Fall.

Piece of advice in SF - TEACH. You'll have the opportunity to teach a few sections of critical thinking or intro applied ethics/social phil/phil art classes if you have the time. That, imo, is a main part in what makes that program great. I can't stress how important that is for your own philosophical well-being.

Also, you'll have the opportunity to take upper-level lecture courses in lieu of grad seminars in some cases, and I'd personally recommend against that. Fill your course load (2-3 classes per semester) with the graduate seminars (unless you've got pre-recs to cover, obviously). You'll not only get a better, more hands-on approach to the subject matter, but you'll be writing papers that might a.) turn into your MA thesis b.) turn into your writing sample c.) flesh out your AOCs d.) give you excuses to go present at conferences and network with other graduate students (essential for when you jump into applying for PhD programs!). Many times all of the above is what occurs. Finally, if you find that your area you really like isn't being taught that semester, feel free to ask for personal study projects for credit. Also, TA-ing is a good way to establish a report with professors you might want on your thesis committee that you haven't had a chance to take a course with (two years goes by fast).

Ok, stepping off the soapbox now. Again, good luck, and congratulations. Most bars in SF are cash only and the ATM fees are a kick in the dick, so heads up on that.

[Right on the Marx]

15 hours ago, Spinozian said:

 

Nice, sounds like you'll be a good fit there. And I'll be starting my PhD in the Fall.

Piece of advice in SF - TEACH. You'll have the opportunity to teach a few sections of critical thinking or intro applied ethics/social phil/phil art classes if you have the time. That, imo, is a main part in what makes that program great. I can't stress how important that is for your own philosophical well-being.

Also, you'll have the opportunity to take upper-level lecture courses in lieu of grad seminars in some cases, and I'd personally recommend against that. Fill your course load (2-3 classes per semester) with the graduate seminars (unless you've got pre-recs to cover, obviously). You'll not only get a better, more hands-on approach to the subject matter, but you'll be writing papers that might a.) turn into your MA thesis b.) turn into your writing sample c.) flesh out your AOCs d.) give you excuses to go present at conferences and network with other graduate students (essential for when you jump into applying for PhD programs!). Many times all of the above is what occurs. Finally, if you find that your area you really like isn't being taught that semester, feel free to ask for personal study projects for credit. Also, TA-ing is a good way to establish a report with professors you might want on your thesis committee that you haven't had a chance to take a course with (two years goes by fast).

Ok, stepping off the soapbox now. Again, good luck, and congratulations. Most bars in SF are cash only and the ATM fees are a kick in the dick, so heads up on that.

I will be headed to SFSU in the fall, this is great information. Thank you!

[TomKatze]

On 2018/4/5 at 12:45 PM, Spinozian said:

 

Nice, sounds like you'll be a good fit there. And I'll be starting my PhD in the Fall.

Piece of advice in SF - TEACH. You'll have the opportunity to teach a few sections of critical thinking or intro applied ethics/social phil/phil art classes if you have the time. That, imo, is a main part in what makes that program great. I can't stress how important that is for your own philosophical well-being.

Also, you'll have the opportunity to take upper-level lecture courses in lieu of grad seminars in some cases, and I'd personally recommend against that. Fill your course load (2-3 classes per semester) with the graduate seminars (unless you've got pre-recs to cover, obviously). You'll not only get a better, more hands-on approach to the subject matter, but you'll be writing papers that might a.) turn into your MA thesis b.) turn into your writing sample c.) flesh out your AOCs d.) give you excuses to go present at conferences and network with other graduate students (essential for when you jump into applying for PhD programs!). Many times all of the above is what occurs. Finally, if you find that your area you really like isn't being taught that semester, feel free to ask for personal study projects for credit. Also, TA-ing is a good way to establish a report with professors you might want on your thesis committee that you haven't had a chance to take a course with (two years goes by fast).

Ok, stepping off the soapbox now. Again, good luck, and congratulations. Most bars in SF are cash only and the ATM fees are a kick in the dick, so heads up on that.

It's so kind of you.Thanks a lot!

I'm hesitating to apply for a TA. I'm a international student and my spoken English is not as good as native speakers. Maybe I will have trouble with listening and communicating with professors during classes at begining. Is it a better choice to do a TA in the second semester? I aim at applying for good PhD programs. If get a TA will help me a lot, I will try my best to do so.

Sorry to bother you to ask other thing. I hear that the program has many graduate students. How many will be showing in a class? I want to prepare myself better before attending.

btw. What's your WS about? Would you mind tell me that doing what areas will get most help from sfsu?

I saw you were accepted in Toronto. A top program! Congratulations too! 

[Rose-Colored Beetle]

Does anyone know what the best funding is that Brandeis offers? I was just bumped from waitlist to acceptance, but only with a $10k merit-based scholarship and potentially $10k more in need-based aid.

This comes nowhere close to the alleged $48k pricetag of three to four semesters, to say nothing of living expenses. Even supposing a $7k stipend per semester for TA-ing, that's still $0 for luxuries like food and shelter.

[coffeepls]

1 hour ago, Rose-Colored Dasein said:

Does anyone know what the best funding is that Brandeis offers? I was just bumped from waitlist to acceptance, but only with a $10k merit-based scholarship and potentially $10k more in need-based aid.

This comes nowhere close to the alleged $48k pricetag of three to four semesters, to say nothing of living expenses. Even supposing a $7k stipend per semester for TA-ing, that's still $0 for luxuries like food and shelter.

I don't know the specifics, but I've heard that their funding is pretty atrocious, so the offer you described seems standard. 

[akraticfanatic]

3 hours ago, Rose-Colored Dasein said:

Does anyone know what the best funding is that Brandeis offers? I was just bumped from waitlist to acceptance, but only with a $10k merit-based scholarship and potentially $10k more in need-based aid.

This comes nowhere close to the alleged $48k pricetag of three to four semesters, to say nothing of living expenses. Even supposing a $7k stipend per semester for TA-ing, that's still $0 for luxuries like food and shelter.

I'm PMing you. 

[intrusive.thot]

Accepted to GSU, Brandeis, & Edinburgh but just accepted GSU's offer this morning. It came down to cost of attendance and quality of faculty. 

[Thefrog]

On 3/17/2018 at 10:05 PM, Descartes blanche said:

I just received an acceptance e-mail from the University of Missouri - St. Louis. Is there anyone on here who is familiar with the department at UMSL, or has any information about their program? It was kind of a random choice for me when I applied but I'm intrigued by their placement record considering that they don't seem to get a lot of hype.  Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated. 

 

I've actually researched them. They used to be really good, but lost lots of faculties in the last few years. You can read their internal and external assessments on their website under "Department Documents". Some pretty good and in depth stuff in there. 

[Rose-Colored Beetle]

On 4/3/2018 at 12:47 PM, chanchu1352 said:

I still got nothing. I am going to call them. 

I was only recently admitted off the Brandeis waitlist. 98.5% sure I'm going to decline.

[Descartes blanche]

I just declined my acceptance to the University of Houston yesterday and I'm about to do the same with Virginia Tech. Hopefully, this will be helpful for someone. 

[buffystrong]

In case anyone is interested: I have just accepted my offer from UW-Milwaukee and will be soon declining offers from NIU, VT, and WMU--hopefully this means that someone else will be able to take my place in any of these wonderful programs!! Good luck, everyone!!

[Thefrog]

5 hours ago, Descartes blanche said:

I just declined my acceptance to the University of Houston yesterday and I'm about to do the same with Virginia Tech. Hopefully, this will be helpful for someone. 

So, have you made your final decision yet?

[Descartes blanche]

6 hours ago, Thefrog said:

So, have you made your final decision yet?

Not yet, unfortunately. I'm stressing out over two funded offers and a close waitlist. All three schools are good in different ways but neither is good in all the ways I want them to be. School (a) is close to where I live, has just increased my funding offer to the best M.A. funding/cost of living ratio I've seen, but it doesn't happen to have the ideal program for my AOI along with an average placement record. School (b), which is the close waitlist school, has an ideal program for my AOI and a decent funding package, but a pretty bad placement record for some reason. And lastly, school (c) is pretty well suited for my AOI, has a decent placement record, but has the lowest funding of the three, and is located in a city that I don't care too much to live in. What would you do?