Philosophy from another field

[test12341234]

How plausible is it to be accepted to a legit Philosophy PhD coming from a different undergraduate field, but with lots of past philosophical content/exposure and substantial self-study and writing. Say, English but with an emphasis on continental, politics with an emphasis on political philosophy, math/computer science with extensive work in logic/probability, etc.?

[thursday]

Going to give you the answer that pretty much everyone on this forum will (because it's true!): not inherently implausible, but a much, much more likely path is getting into a good MA and then a legit PhD from there. Even if you have a great deal of philosophical skill without formal training, you need time to learn the conventions of the field, write a good writing sample, build relationships with philosophy professors who could write letters of rec, etc. This is exactly what terminal MAs are for: helping students with non-traditional philosophical backgrounds learn the ins and outs of academic philosophy before applying to a PhD program.

Also, I said this recently to another poster with a similar question, but you should note that even substantial self-study and writing is very different from studying philosophy formally, or doing philosophy professionally! This is certainly not to say you don't know what you're talking about/you wouldn't actually like it or anything like that - just something to keep in mind as you keep exploring this.

[maxhgns]

It happens all the time, but your writing sample should be in philosophy, and so should some of your references. As thursday observes, the path is much easier with a philosophy MA first.