2019 Graduate Entrants

[HomoLudens]

On 6/12/2018 at 4:17 PM, _deat said:

I don't know the specifics of the program but Vanderbilt is always rated very highly in continental circles.  A few classmates of mine from Stony Brook are finishing up their PhDs down there.  And regarding good continental programs in Tennessee, The University of Memphis has a good reputation.  

Thanks for the reply. I will also check out Memphis. I had two cousins go to Memphis, and they recommend the school as well.

[Nopun]

Hey I have been recently impressed by a few of the faculty at both SJSU and CSULB however, I have not seen them mentioned much on this forum. If anyone has more information on those two programs and would reply or DM that would be greatly appreciated!

[akraticfanatic]

My AOIs are social/political/legal analytic philosophy and epistemology. My writing sample overlaps these interests. I'm currently an MA student at Brandeis (happy to answer questions about that). I'm applying to ~24 PGR-ranked philosophy PhD programs and ~14 law schools. I'm especially interested in talking to other people who are applying for both philosophy and law! 

[procrastikant]

Long-time lurker - excited to finally have my time to be involved! I'm currently studying in Europe in a PPE Master's program. My AOIs are political philosophy/ethics/feminism/20th century continental.

Due to financial restrictions, I aim to apply to between 5 and 8 schools of varying rank and prestige.

[hector549]

On 6/17/2018 at 1:59 PM, Nopun said:

Hey I have been recently impressed by a few of the faculty at both SJSU and CSULB however, I have not seen them mentioned much on this forum. If anyone has more information on those two programs and would reply or DM that would be greatly appreciated!

I don't know much about SJSU, but I did notice that CSULB is now on Leiter's list of best MA programs for the first time, which is located here: http://34.239.13.205/index.php/m-a-programs-in-philosophy/

[Kantattheairport]

L. A. Paul off to Yale then. Interesting - she was one of my main POI at UNC.

[mithrandir8]

On 6/18/2018 at 4:51 PM, akraticfanatic said:

My AOIs are social/political/legal analytic philosophy and epistemology. My writing sample overlaps these interests. I'm currently an MA student at Brandeis (happy to answer questions about that). I'm applying to ~24 PGR-ranked philosophy PhD programs and ~14 law schools. I'm especially interested in talking to other people who are applying for both philosophy and law! 

Feel free to message me, I did something like this 3 years ago and just graduated from law school and am applying again

[_deat]

On 6/19/2018 at 8:41 AM, procrastikant said:

Long-time lurker - excited to finally have my time to be involved! I'm currently studying in Europe in a PPE Master's program. My AOIs are political philosophy/ethics/feminism/20th century continental.

Due to financial restrictions, I aim to apply to between 5 and 8 schools of varying rank and prestige.

Nice to see someone else is interested in continental on this forum!

[RequiredDisplayName]

Aight yo, time to bring this thread back to life.

It's me, ya boi! I'm back from the dead for a second attempt at this PhD shit. Last cycle was a disaster. I'll post my stats later. This time around I've been much more strategic and calculated. Here is a list of schools I'm planning on applying to:

University of Southern California, Princeton University, University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame, University of California-San Diego, University of Virginia, Georgetown  University, Syracuse University, Vanderbilt University, Johns Hopkins University, Rice University, McGill University, Dalhousie University

Last year, I approached applications all wrong. I decided to only apply to top PGR ranked programs. If you look at past results, usually those who receive offers form places like NYU and Rutgers also receive offers from Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Michigan, Pitt, etc. My application obviously was not in that top %. So, this time around I've decided to apply to places that might be closer to my level i.e. places I think I have a better (even if only slightly) chance of getting into (I'll admit I feel weird saying this because every school is difficult to get into. According the the Yale Grad school admissions statistics, the acceptance rate for the Phil PhD is about 4%. According to Notre Dame's Grad School stats, the acceptance for their Phil PhD is about 10%. I doubt any program worth attending has acceptance rates substantially greater that this. So, even schools that are easier to get into are not easy to get into). I'm still applying to a number of top places because I've improved my application (writing sample, letters, CV) quite a bit, so I think its worth another shot. 

[hector549]

12 hours ago, RequiredDisplayName said:

Aight yo, time to bring this thread back to life.

It's me, ya boi! I'm back from the dead for a second attempt at this PhD shit. Last cycle was a disaster. I'll post my stats later. This time around I've been much more strategic and calculated. Here is a list of schools I'm planning on applying to:

University of Southern California, Princeton University, University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame, University of California-San Diego, University of Virginia, Georgetown  University, Syracuse University, Vanderbilt University, Johns Hopkins University, Rice University, McGill University, Dalhousie University

Last year, I approached applications all wrong. I decided to only apply to top PGR ranked programs. If you look at past results, usually those who receive offers form places like NYU and Rutgers also receive offers from Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Michigan, Pitt, etc. My application obviously was not in that top %. So, this time around I've decided to apply to places that might be closer to my level i.e. places I think I have a better (even if only slightly) chance of getting into (I'll admit I feel weird saying this because every school is difficult to get into. According the the Yale Grad school admissions statistics, the acceptance rate for the Phil PhD is about 4%. According to Notre Dame's Grad School stats, the acceptance for their Phil PhD is about 10%. I doubt any program worth attending has acceptance rates substantially greater that this. So, even schools that are easier to get into are not easy to get into). I'm still applying to a number of top places because I've improved my application (writing sample, letters, CV) quite a bit, so I think its worth another shot. 

Welcome back! What's your AOI?

[RequiredDisplayName]

I'd say my primary AOI is meta-ethics and moral psychology. 

[759]

I recently received my MA from a terminal-MA program. 

Stats: 4.0 GPA (grad), GRE 168/156/4.5, BA in Philosophy and Linguistics, GPA 3.75, from a school unranked in philosophy, but very highly ranked in Linguistics.

My thesis was on Kant's theory of empirical concept acquisition. My writing sample defends Hegel's critique of Kant by means of defending Hegel against specific charges made by Karl Ameriks. My research interests include Kant, post-Kantian German philosophy (esp. Hegel), and Wilfrid Sellars. 

Ideally, I would like to go to either Pittsburgh, Columbia, UChicago, or Georgetown.

Feel mostly depressed and dispirited regarding my chances of getting into one of these schools, but I'm trying not to think about it too much.

[SexandtheHaecceity]

Checking in!

Stats: 3.8 UGPA, 3.9 in philosophy. Taking the GRE next week, BA in Philosophy and Pol Sci from an unranked school. 

I'm 5+ years removed from undergrad in a primarily analytic department. My sample paper is a critique of a Deleuze scholar's book, which I do via Deleuze and Nietzsche. Wanna study Deleuze's politics and metaphysics, Spinoza, Nietzsche, in conjunction with contemporary continental philosophy. 

I'm applying to some Ivies, Duquesne, DePaul, Vandy, Memphis, Purdue, BC, BU, Northwestern, U of Chicago, Stony Brook, Fordham, CSULA's MA program, a couple places in the UK, U of Leuven, Lille and a few other schools in France. 

[The_Last_Thylacine]

I'm applying all over the PGR out of a respectable MA program! My GRE score is about the average for those accepted to programs ranked lower than 9th on the PGR (with a few exceptions). My Master's GPA is a 4.0. I had not studied philosophy prior to becoming a Master's student, so I don't have a relevant undergraduate GPA to report. 

My areas of interest are in epistemology, metaethics, and philosophy of law. 

I'm a lawyer, and I passed the bar in Virginia, but there's nothing I'd rather do than study philosophy. It has been such a rewarding and fulfilling time for me being a Teaching Assistant, and I would be so content to attend any of the programs to which I am applying (though of course I have my preferences, which will remain a secret, just in case there are any adcoms).

My writing sample is partially a defense of Mark Shroeder's rejection of the Factoring Account, and I use this rejection to make an argument about the ontology of evidence: namely, that evidence is constituted of objective and subjective reasons for belief. This leads me to defend a dualist view about the ontology of epistemic reasons, wherein I embrace both abstractionism and factualism to give a holistic account of evidence's ontology.

Edited November 1, 2018 by The_Last_Thylacine

[hector549]

5 hours ago, The_Last_Thylacine said:

I'm applying all over the PGR out of a respectable MA program! My GRE score is about the average for those accepted to programs ranked lower than 9th on the PGR (with a few exceptions). My Master's GPA is a 4.0. I had not studied philosophy prior to becoming a Master's student, so I don't have a relevant undergraduate GPA to report. 

My areas of interest are in epistemology, metaethics, and philosophy of law. 

I'm a lawyer, and I passed the bar in Virginia, but there's nothing I'd rather do than study philosophy. It has been such a rewarding and fulfilling time for me being a Teaching Assistant, and I would be so content to attend any of the programs to which I am applying (though of course I have my preferences, which will remain a secret, just in case there are any adcoms).

My writing sample is partially a defense of Mark Shroeder's rejection of the Factoring Account, and I use this rejection to make an argument about the ontology of evidence: namely, that evidence is constituted of objective and subjective reasons for belief. This leads me to defend a dualist view about the ontology of epistemic reasons, wherein I embrace both abstractionism and factualism to give a holistic account of evidence's ontology.

Welcome back, fellow MA applicant! I remember you from the 2016 season.

[The_Last_Thylacine]

On 11/1/2018 at 7:41 PM, hector549 said:

Welcome back, fellow MA applicant! I remember you from the 2016 season.

Thanks! I think that I shouldn't be on gradcafe this time, yet here I am anyways.

[hector549]

24 minutes ago, The_Last_Thylacine said:

Thanks! I think that I shouldn't be on gradcafe this time, yet here I am anyways.

Pretty much my feeling as well, haha.

[Kantattheairport]

Aaaand... first application sent. And so it begins!

[Duns Eith]

1 hour ago, Kantattheairport said:

Aaaand... first application sent. And so it begins!

Woohoo!

Go go go!

[SexandtheHaecceity]

Three in (pending my other two professors submitting their LoRs), 10 to go. Rereading my sample paper and the small edits to suit my SOP are becing maddening. 

[Duns Eith]

22 hours ago, SexandtheHaecceity said:

Three in (pending my other two professors submitting their LoRs), 10 to go. Rereading my sample paper and the small edits to suit my SOP are becing maddening. 

[Insert comment on how you need to take a break from editing.]

[zsaha22]

Ahh, hi everyone. This is my first time applying to Ph.D. programs. I applied to MAs in the 2014 season and got into some good ones (brandeis, gsu, UW-milkwaukee, etc.) with funding but rejected those offers to attend an MFA program in poetry. Back at it for this season: I've applied to 25 programs in the US and Canada, mostly up and down the PGR but a few off of it as well (Utah and Oregon). I got my applications in early, so I've just been lurking, wondering why this thread has been so quiet...

[Scoots]

Just got my first acceptance! Rather a surprise to get something so soon. (UK masters degree, details posted on gradcafe results page)

[Duns Eith]

5 hours ago, Scoots said:

Just got my first acceptance! Rather a surprise to get something so soon. (UK masters degree, details posted on gradcafe results page)

Congrats! (Feel free to post acceptances in the thread for accept/reject/waitlist?)

[Kantattheairport]

On 12/12/2018 at 4:06 AM, SexandtheHaecceity said:

Three in (pending my other two professors submitting their LoRs), 10 to go. Rereading my sample paper and the small edits to suit my SOP are becing maddening. 

Also three in now, and a good fifteen to go. I know what you mean about the tinkering!

On 12/13/2018 at 6:25 AM, zsaha22 said:

Ahh, hi everyone. This is my first time applying to Ph.D. programs. I applied to MAs in the 2014 season and got into some good ones (brandeis, gsu, UW-milkwaukee, etc.) with funding but rejected those offers to attend an MFA program in poetry. Back at it for this season: I've applied to 25 programs in the US and Canada, mostly up and down the PGR but a few off of it as well (Utah and Oregon). I got my applications in early, so I've just been lurking, wondering why this thread has been so quiet...

That's an interesting path! I'd be interested to know if/how your poetry and philosophical work inform each other. I've also been wondering about the quietness of the threads. Welcome and good luck!

On 12/13/2018 at 7:38 PM, Scoots said:

Just got my first acceptance! Rather a surprise to get something so soon. (UK masters degree, details posted on gradcafe results page)

Whaaaa, congratulations!