Grad School Prospects

[lth]

This is my inaugural post. Greetings. I'll get to the point-

I'm terrified about my chances of getting into a philosophy phd program and would love some advice. My situation is thus: 

I graduated in 2014 from an unknown but accredited baptist school. My undergraduate experience was a mess. A cavalier approach and several disagreements with professors (I would simply leave class and never return) resulted in a disastrous freshman and sophomore year. As a junior, I got serious about academics and worked hard to that end. Unfortunately, in the beginning of my third year, my mom developed serious medical issues and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This brought considerable hardship both mentally and financially. Anyways, the end result was a cumulative undergrad GPA of 3.0, and a major (philosophy) GPA of 3.5. I also recently took the GRE and scored a 147Q, 165V. AWA Pending. As it stands I have 9 schools I am applying to, none of which appear on the PGR ranking. If I secure letters that speak well of my abilities, have a personal statement that addresses my weak spots, and write a very excellent sample, are my chances even worth the time I have already spent? I understand the admissions process is varied and dynamic, but if anyone can speak to my specific set of circumstances I would be incredibly thankful. 

Thanks guys, I'm shaking in my boots over here. 

[Rose-Colored Beetle]

Hey ITH,

I have a few thoughts for you. Take them with a grain of salt, since I'm just one person.

First, I'm curious to know your philosophical interests and aims going into academia. Do you want to primarily teach or just research and write? What are your topical areas of interest? Do you know anybody you'd particularly like to work with? (If you don't that's fine.)

Second, depending on what unranked programs you're aiming for, I would advise caution. The rankings seem to track placement into PhD-granting (e.g., R1) programs and postdocs well, but overall placement somewhat less well. Baylor, for instance, was #1 overall for sheer placement on a fairly reliable report from the APA. Some unranked schools place well because of brand strength in certain niche domains (local, religious, etc.) These schools will be an advantage in my book over low-tier state schools like Ohio State, Iowa, Missouri, etc.

Third, if your undergrad institution is not well known (which was my situation), that might be okay. This probably seems obvious, but the more prestigious the PhD program, the more it (and your GPA, to an extent) could matter. For small-school graduates, an MA can go a long way, and you may want to apply to a few good MAs as backup. These MAs are often used to picking up small liberal-arts students like us. Look at Western Michigan, Boston College, Brandeis, Georgia State, and NIU. (UW Milwaukee could be included but I think it's been losing influence.) This will depend on your intended direction and interests, of course.

If you want to talk more (which I'd be happy to do!) feel free to PM me if you'd rather.

[hector549]

2 hours ago, Rose-Colored Beetle said:

Hey ITH,

I have a few thoughts for you. Take them with a grain of salt, since I'm just one person.

First, I'm curious to know your philosophical interests and aims going into academia. Do you want to primarily teach or just research and write? What are your topical areas of interest? Do you know anybody you'd particularly like to work with? (If you don't that's fine.)

Second, depending on what unranked programs you're aiming for, I would advise caution. The rankings seem to track placement into PhD-granting (e.g., R1) programs and postdocs well, but overall placement somewhat less well. Baylor, for instance, was #1 overall for sheer placement on a fairly reliable report from the APA. Some unranked schools place well because of brand strength in certain niche domains (local, religious, etc.) These schools will be an advantage in my book over low-tier state schools like Ohio State, Iowa, Missouri, etc.

Third, if your undergrad institution is not well known (which was my situation), that might be okay. This probably seems obvious, but the more prestigious the PhD program, the more it (and your GPA, to an extent) could matter. For small-school graduates, an MA can go a long way, and you may want to apply to a few good MAs as backup. These MAs are often used to picking up small liberal-arts students like us. Look at Western Michigan, Boston College, Brandeis, Georgia State, and NIU. (UW Milwaukee could be included but I think it's been losing influence.) This will depend on your intended direction and interests, of course.

If you want to talk more (which I'd be happy to do!) feel free to PM me if you'd rather.

Some good thoughts here. However, keep in mind that BC doesn't fund its MA students, so it's not a good option for an MA. You shouldn't ever go to an unfunded master's. There's no reason to do so, since there are plenty of funded options out there. Also, Brandeis offers funding sometimes, but only partial funding, and it's in a high COL part of the country, so keep that in mind. I'm not sure what you mean by UWM "losing influence." It's one of the top MA's, with good funding and placement that tops Western Michigan and GSU among others (though Western and GSU are great programs too!).

here's a list of MA's the OP might want to consider (though they're primarily analytic which may or may not suit OP's interests):

https://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/m-a-programs-in-philosophy/

Edited November 10, 2018 by hector549

[Rose-Colored Beetle]

On 11/10/2018 at 1:49 PM, hector549 said:

Some good thoughts here. However, keep in mind that BC doesn't fund its MA students, so it's not a good option for an MA. You shouldn't ever go to an unfunded master's. There's no reason to do so, since there are plenty of funded options out there. Also, Brandeis offers funding sometimes, but only partial funding, and it's in a high COL part of the country, so keep that in mind. I'm not sure what you mean by UWM "losing influence." It's one of the top MA's, with good funding and placement that tops Western Michigan and GSU among others (though Western and GSU are great programs too!).

here's a list of MA's the OP might want to consider (though they're primarily analytic which may or may not suit OP's interests):

https://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/m-a-programs-in-philosophy/

Thanks for the input, Hector. My comment about UWM was maybe too dramatic. I have two colleagues who recently did their MAs at UWM, and my understanding from talking to at least one of them is that they've recently lost at least one of their good professors. This impression is vague, though, and I'd do well to follow up on it. As with any MA program, it'd be good to look at where they actually place. There could be quirks; for example, Western Michigan has placed at Boulder, Michigan, and Cornell, but never at Princeton, despite having one (and now two) Princeton PhDs on the faculty.

[The_Last_Thylacine]

On 11/10/2018 at 10:07 AM, Rose-Colored Beetle said:

Hey ITH,

I have a few thoughts for you. Take them with a grain of salt, since I'm just one person.

First, I'm curious to know your philosophical interests and aims going into academia. Do you want to primarily teach or just research and write? What are your topical areas of interest? Do you know anybody you'd particularly like to work with? (If you don't that's fine.)

Second, depending on what unranked programs you're aiming for, I would advise caution. The rankings seem to track placement into PhD-granting (e.g., R1) programs and postdocs well, but overall placement somewhat less well. Baylor, for instance, was #1 overall for sheer placement on a fairly reliable report from the APA. Some unranked schools place well because of brand strength in certain niche domains (local, religious, etc.) These schools will be an advantage in my book over low-tier state schools like Ohio State, Iowa, Missouri, etc.

Third, if your undergrad institution is not well known (which was my situation), that might be okay. This probably seems obvious, but the more prestigious the PhD program, the more it (and your GPA, to an extent) could matter. For small-school graduates, an MA can go a long way, and you may want to apply to a few good MAs as backup. These MAs are often used to picking up small liberal-arts students like us. Look at Western Michigan, Boston College, Brandeis, Georgia State, and NIU. (UW Milwaukee could be included but I think it's been losing influence.) This will depend on your intended direction and interests, of course.

If you want to talk more (which I'd be happy to do!) feel free to PM me if you'd rather.

Ohio State is a low-tier state school? It's ranked 28 in the PGR. 

[Duns Eith]

On 11/18/2018 at 7:34 PM, Rose-Colored Beetle said:

Western Michigan has placed at Boulder, Michigan, and Cornell, but never at Princeton, despite having one (and now two) Princeton PhDs on the faculty.

Given that there have been only 2-3 applications seasons since they were both hired (Fall 2015) I don't know what this would indicate.

[The_Last_Thylacine]

On 11/25/2018 at 8:15 PM, Duns Eith said:

Given that there have been only 2-3 applications seasons since they were both hired (Fall 2015) I don't know what this would indicate.

Moreover, no program consistently "places" students at Princeton, with the exception of Oxford, and most of the students who matriculate there have completed their undergraduate degree at either (1) an Ivy-league school, (2) a top-ranked college like the University of Chicago or Duke, or (3) either Oxford or Cambridge. Only a relatively small contingency are mined from other schools. 

[Rose-Colored Beetle]

I guess "low-tier" was the wrong word for OSU, but I think my point stands regarding programs that have alternative modes of appeal (religious, regional).

Fair enough on Princeton. The placement director at WMU thought it worth mentioning that they've never placed there, so I was just parroting.