2021 Philosophy M.A.

[Ambikaa]

Hi, everyone!

 

I applied for Philosophy Master's programmes for this year and have repeatedly been getting rejections from universities. I'm guessing that there were at leas a couple of weaknesses in my applications, but the whole process has been especially frustrating because universities don't seem to care about providing any feedback or justification for their decisions and so I have no idea how I will ever improve.

 

I was hoping to hear from other applicants to Philosophy programmes, to get an idea of whether or not this is a common experience and sentiment.

Edited March 18, 2021 by Ambikaa

[SmugSnugInARug]

This is a perfectly normal part of the experience. The application process is not designed to promote applicant mental health nor to provide clear, actionable feedback on your application.

At best, there’s a general sense of what is valued for programs, but the whole variety of factors at play can make it extremely difficult to determine why a decision is made.
 

This is especially true because there are often so many more applicants who are perfectly qualified than there are slots available.

You could have a great application, but they may already have 6 students studying that topic, so they have to pass in favor of someone else whose focus is less represented (this example is less true for MAs, but still holds).
Unfortunately, this means you have to rely on analysis that doesn’t come directly from the programs themselves. Speak with your letter writers, especially anyone who has served on a graduate acceptance committee (which can be hard when you attended an undergrad where there isn’t a graduate program).

The two best things you can do for your application are:

Figure out what you can do to improve your application based on general standards (do you need to edit your writing samples? Do you need to get a different letter of rec? Do you need to retake the GREs?)

Make sure that the programs you are applying to are the best ‘fit’ for you, where you have the greatest chance of being picked from a pool of equally qualified applications, based on your research interests and the department specialities. (Again, this is less true for MA programs than PhDs, but it is still somewhat true.)

And yeah, it sucks. I’ve been shut out before, left alone with basically no understanding of why I wasn’t successful in my application, which was a terrible feeling. You are definitely not alone in this.

[Mischief]

7 hours ago, SmugSnugInARug said:

This is a perfectly normal part of the experience. The application process is not designed to promote applicant mental health nor to provide clear, actionable feedback on your application.

At best, there’s a general sense of what is valued for programs, but the whole variety of factors at play can make it extremely difficult to determine why a decision is made.
 

This is especially true because there are often so many more applicants who are perfectly qualified than there are slots available.

You could have a great application, but they may already have 6 students studying that topic, so they have to pass in favor of someone else whose focus is less represented (this example is less true for MAs, but still holds).
Unfortunately, this means you have to rely on analysis that doesn’t come directly from the programs themselves. Speak with your letter writers, especially anyone who has served on a graduate acceptance committee (which can be hard when you attended an undergrad where there isn’t a graduate program).

The two best things you can do for your application are:

Figure out what you can do to improve your application based on general standards (do you need to edit your writing samples? Do you need to get a different letter of rec? Do you need to retake the GREs?)

Make sure that the programs you are applying to are the best ‘fit’ for you, where you have the greatest chance of being picked from a pool of equally qualified applications, based on your research interests and the department specialities. (Again, this is less true for MA programs than PhDs, but it is still somewhat true.)

And yeah, it sucks. I’ve been shut out before, left alone with basically no understanding of why I wasn’t successful in my application, which was a terrible feeling. You are definitely not alone in this.

Chiming in to say that I agree with everything @SmugSnugInARug has said. I have been through a shutout too, and it's important that you work at not associating your success in philosophy graduate admissions with your own self worth. I know it is hard to do, but it's something to work on.

[Ambikaa]

Thank you so much for your responses! I've been trying my best to stay motivated and not let the results get to me, but it can get really difficult at times.