How many schools did you apply to?

[Philosophizer]

I applied to 14 schools, half ranked in the top 20, the other half 21-45 (according to the gourmet report). Haven't heard back from any yet, 14 seemed like a lot of schools, but I'm still very nervous about it!

[uromastyx]

15 here. Waiting to hear back from almost all of them.

I was advised to apply to "at least 12" by my advisor, due to the current climate.

[PhilosophyHopeful2013]

18.  Heard from 1, accepted by that 1 school.  

 

Uromastyx, were you accepted to UT Austin for philosophy or something else?  Congrats either way.

[uromastyx]

18.  Heard from 1, accepted by that 1 school.  

 

Uromastyx, were you accepted to UT Austin for philosophy or something else?  Congrats either way.

Sorry, I crashed the thread. I am in German Studies (and one for film). I should have stated that.

Congrats to you as well.

[Impysh]

Just the four in North America.  I had a mad moment of inspiration, along the lines of, "This is the one shot I'm going to get to apply to a globally ranked school, and if I'm going to do that, I might as well shoot for the very best, because I'm not leaving the UK for anything less".  It's likely that I can get an unfunded PhD position at my current university in the UK if I don't get accepted anywhere else, so I looked at the applications as very labour-intensive lottery tickets more than anything else

[lesage13]

Oh wow, I applied to 11 (10 in the US and 1 in Canada) and I thought I was being ridiculous...

[introspectiveopacity]

Oh wow, I applied to 11 (10 in the US and 1 in Canada) and I thought I was being ridiculous...

 

10 in the Us, 1 in Canada as well. (PGR ranked about evenly among the top 40.) But I don't feel ridiculous at all. Just realistic, given the chances at any one school.

[Phil2013]

15: 14 in US, 1 in Canada. Have one acceptance so far. Pretty evenly distributed among the PGR - one school was amongst the few schools on the PGR that are "evaluated but not ranked."

[porteclefs]

17 all US. A couple at the very top of PGR, most between 15-30, and a couple near 40. It doesn't feel like overkill at all. I know of too many people with solid applications that have been shut out.

[lesage13]

10 in the Us, 1 in Canada as well. (PGR ranked about evenly among the top 40.) But I don't feel ridiculous at all. Just realistic, given the chances at any one school.

 

I thought so too, but that changed after talking to others who were also applying this season--most applied to fewer schools. This makes sense, since the cost involved can be quite prohibitive once you include things like transcript fees, GRE fees for each school over the initial four free ones, mailing expenses, etc. in addition to the cost of applying to each school (in my experience, ~$90) and the standard GRE fee (not including retests, prep books, or prep courses). In all, I think I've spent close to $2000 on my applications this season, and if I don't get anything, then that's another ~$2000 next year.

[Phil2013]

Given my interests and expectations, I probably could have gone without applying to four of the places that I did. However, I had the resources to do 15, so I did so. The factors for admittance are so idiosyncratic that applying to less than 10 places seems to me to be dangerous, unless you are some hotshot from a top university or applied to less on the idea that if you don't get into said places you wouldn't find philosophy worth doing. If you more or less just want to get in somewhere, you gotta do more than 10, IMO.

[introspectiveopacity]

In all, I think I've spent close to $2000 on my applications this season, and if I don't get anything, then that's another ~$2000 next year.

 

Really? I'm pretty certain I've spent in the $1000-1200 range for the same number of apps.

[uromastyx]

Really? I'm pretty certain I've spent in the $1000-1200 range for the same number of apps.

Maybe a difference in schools? I'm in the $2000 range, including the GRE (twice) and mailing additional LORs and materials to all the schools.

[lesage13]

Really? I'm pretty certain I've spent in the $1000-1200 range for the same number of apps.

 

The math is really rough, but here's how I got that estimate: 11 x 90 (avg cost per app) + 7 x 25 (cost of sending GRE scores to each institution after the four free ones) + 185 (cost of GRE) + 300 (Misc.: Transcripts, postage, GRE prep materials... etc.) = 1650 x 1.13 (Sales tax in Ontario, Canada) = 1864.50 CAD.

Btw, I'm still really bitter about all the money I spent (406.80 just on the ETS stuff, ~500, if you count prep materials) on what is probably the least important part of my application.

[porteclefs]

The math is really rough, but here's how I got that estimate: 11 x 90 (avg cost per app) + 7 x 25 (cost of sending GRE scores to each institution after the four free ones) + 185 (cost of GRE) + 300 (Misc.: Transcripts, postage, GRE prep materials... etc.) = 1650 x 1.13 (Sales tax in Ontario, Canada) = 1864.50 CAD.

Btw, I'm still really bitter about all the money I spent (406.80 just on the ETS stuff, ~500, if you count prep materials) on what is probably the least important part of my application.

As my advisor put it, "this is a lottery you want to play. the payout is well over a quarter million dollars (tuition remission and stipend) and your odds are far better." So, who cares what you paid up front. As long as you get in, you wont care in the least.

[uromastyx]

As my advisor put it, "this is a lottery you want to play. the payout is well over a quarter million dollars (tuition remission and stipend) and your odds are far better." So, who cares what you paid up front. As long as you get in, you wont care in the least.

Agreed!!

[lesage13]

As my advisor put it, "this is a lottery you want to play. the payout is well over a quarter million dollars (tuition remission and stipend) and your odds are far better." So, who cares what you paid up front. As long as you get in, you wont care in the least.

 

Oh, absolutely. But, then again, I have the luxury of the bank of mom and dad, a generous student loan, and a pretty decent TA-ship. There are plenty of students out there who don't have any of these resources, and don't have ~$2000 dollars just sitting around to be spent. Obviously, I don't think this was designed to disadvantage economically disadvantaged students, but given that the general sense is that one's chances correlate with the number of applications sent out and the norm is to send at least 10, it certainly does have that effect.

[wideawake42]

I only applied to 4 places, because that was all I could afford, so I made sure they were places which fit my interests perfectly. It's hard not to feel nervous because of the odds, disadvantaged because of my financial situation, and just generally inadequate, but I think such bad feelings are just a result of the stress of the process. In any case, I'm still glad for everyone else that they could afford so many apps. I have always been poor, and I couldn't have made it this far if I had developed a grudge about it.

[MKEPhil]

15, have only heard back from 1, but it was an acceptance.  It is quite a financial risk but I hope that some more financially limited students can take advantage of fee waivers.  The only reason I could do so many was the 1100 in savings bonds I had given to me as gifts from my Grandparents when I was a child.

Edited February 8, 2013 by Jasontc

[Phil2013]

15, have only heard back from 1, but it was an acceptance.  It is quite a financial risk but I hope that some more financially limited students can take advantage of fee waivers.  The only reason I could do so many was the 1100 in savings bonds I had given to me as gifts from my Grandparents when I was a child.

Similarly, I had an extra 1100 sitting around from a scholarship and award which paid for the bulk of my 15 applications.

[Billy Goehring]

I applied to 4 in philosophy and 4 in comparative literature, so 8 total.
 

I don't have a lot of extra money, so I only apply to programs I really, really want to attend. Last round I applied to four PhD and two MA programs (ended up 0a/3w/1r for Phd and 1a/1r for MA). 

 

Hopefully things turn out better this time around--I'm 0a/2w/0r for the time being. Deja vu.

[superhamdi]

Billy, I think you'll do well this round. And you're totally right about only applying to programs you really want to attend/have a good fit. I'm guessing you ended up doing the MA last time?

[Billy Goehring]

Yeah--this is my last semester at Duquesne.

Maybe it's my AOI--I just can't fathom applying to 15-20 schools (I met a guy who applied to 26!). Would people *really* be happy in any of those departments? Or better yet, do people think they "fit" in all those departments? I think they'd save themselves a lot of stress and disappointment if they really thought through that part of the process.

[xaelyn]

I applied to 5 MA programs. Only MAs because my advisor suggested, while we were working on my sample, that my writing was not where it needed to be structurally in order to compete in the applicant pool for the PhD programs I want to go to.

The programs were Tufts (for placement and location), Brandeis (placement, location, and fit), Georgia State (on a whim; surprisingly a good decision-- funding is spectacular), UW-Mil (advisor's suggestion, based on fit), and Arizona State (just because, but the fit is decent).

[Phil2013]

I applied to 5 MA programs. Only MAs because my advisor suggested, while we were working on my sample, that my writing was not where it needed to be structurally in order to compete in the applicant pool for the PhD programs I want to go to.

The programs were Tufts (for placement and location), Brandeis (placement, location, and fit), Georgia State (on a whim; surprisingly a good decision-- funding is spectacular), UW-Mil (advisor's suggestion, based on fit), and Arizona State (just because, but the fit is decent).

I'm guessing you'd like to get somewhere in, say, the PGR Top 15? Because if you come from UCLA and have been admitted to top MA programs, I imagine you could probably get in somewhere like the Top 30.

 

I was never targeting Top 15 schools myself, in that I did not expect to get into them. I applied to two top-5 schools and two top 15 schools, but only because I had the resources to make such a reach. My inhibition which would have given me reason to apply to MA's first was the fact that I came from an unranked department. However, I didn't apply to an MA program. I somewhat regret this, as I think I overestimated the risks of doing an MA, although there are obviously some. However, looking at the PGR-mentioned MA programs I didn't find any that matched enough with my sample and interests to warrant doing so, and even if I was going somewhere where I could change my interests, my sample and background all gravitate towards that area which matched poorly. I've gotten into a Top 25 program, so the process turned out well enough for me, but the idea that I perhaps could have done something which would enable me to shoot higher is making me a bit regretful. Another reason for my regret is anecdotal. There was a student who graudated from my same school a year ago, went to the (unfunded I think) MA at Boulder, and has been accepted to Michigan and Berkeley.