Need MA/Grad School Advice

[coolranchtaco]

Hello all, this is my first post on these forums. Sorry if this is in the wrong place. I'm currently a senior studying at a large state school in the U.S. (highly regional, not much national rep) with a small Philosophy department. Up until now I was very secure in my decision to attend law school and have even begun collecting LSAT study material, but I would also really like to pursue an MA in Philosophy.

 

If it went well I'd pursue a phD, though I'd be content with pursuing law instead.

 

My main concern is how competitive I'd be for grad programs. Having done extensive research on law school admissions through blogs and forums I'm much more aware of what those applications are like. Whereas MA/phD programs seem to be far more nebulous and foreign to me.

 

Currently have a 3.67 overall and a 3.96 in my major (Philosophy). My top choice at this point is the University of Toronto, which offers a 1-year MA program with guaranteed funding+living stipend and does not require the GRE. Seems perfect. Though the incoming class is like 10-15 students, which is awesome once admitted but makes me doubt my chances.

 

I'm hoping to pursue a combination of skepticism (in the antiquated sense from what I gather), ethics and healthy dose of Descartes. Although I'd be up for studying most anything.

 

TL;DR Heelp 

Edited February 25, 2013 by coolranchtaco

[Phil2013]

This is probably the best page for advice on applying, written by a professor at a good grad program: http://schwitzsplintersunderblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/applying-to-phd-programs-in-philosophy.html

 

Also, if you weren't aware, there is a ranking system for schools just for philosophy. Don't rely on it too heavily, but consider it a valuable resource: http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/overall.asp

 

Here's some advice that combines some of the above with my own experiences:

 

1) I hope you're aware that you'll have to wait an extra year as submission deadlines for probably every sort of school have passed

 

2) You need to make sure you have a well-polished writing sample for programs to evaluate your philosophical acumen. Your sample is your most important bit of data, with a close second being letters of rec. It usually consists of one of your best papers from a class which you spend extra time (and by extra time I mean perhaps months and not weeks!) making more rigorous. In my case it was not a paper I had written originally - I actually wrote it in my independent study for my honors thesis. I had taken a grad class the semester before my honors thesis (last year) which was in the topic at hand in the sample, and so my writing sample was sort of a transition between that class and my honors thesis, in that it showed what I learned from that class and foreshadowed issues in the thesis I would be writing. The sample needs to show a modicum of originality - it can't just be a fairly obvious historical exegesis or comparison. It needs to dip into secondary literature on the topic in order to show committees that you at least have a taste of the subfield you are approaching the sample and know in general what important has been written on the topic being discussed.

 

3) I also come from a large state school. It was formerly ranked school which now has a slightly smaller department due to budget cuts. The thing to worry about here is how far your letters go. The less well-known the school, the less likely a person on a grad admit committee will be able to trust the content of the letter. Also, your grades get slightly devalued - a 3.6 from Princeton is better than a 4.0 from No Name U. Your high philosophy GPA probably means you'll be fine, as GPA is not as important of a factor, but keep that in mind when you see people with 3.6's getting into schools you applied to.

[coolranchtaco]

Thanks for the response. I'm currently taking the Spring semester off (was feeling burnt out from taking 17 credits every semester) but will be returning to school in the Fall. So I'll be graduating in December. Not sure if all the deadlines are uniform, but I think UofT's is in early January. If I begin to prepare now, would you say I'd have enough time to gather all the required documents/essays for admission?

 

I'm also fairly certain that I'll be able to pursue an independent study with a wonderful professor during my last semester. I'd like to use the term paper required for the independent study as my writing sample if possible. My university doesn't allow students who aren't in the honors college to write a formal thesis, so I'll hopefully be earning latin honors based solely upon my GPA.

 

Also pretty sure that I'll be able to get my GPA up to a 3.7 since I've got one semester left and plan on only taking professors whose teachings styles I know and enjoy.

[Samahito]

Perhaps you could also look into dual JD/MA or JD/PhD programs.

[brittney1]

LSU offers funding for MA students.

 

Sarkar is a Descartes expert and a great teacher: http://uiswcmsweb.prod.lsu.edu/hss/prs/People/Philosophy%20Faculty/item41245.html

[wishfulthinker85]

I applied to M.A. philosophy programs last year to 4 schools and they were all rejects. I am looking to reapply for fall 2014. i'm going to retake the gre but only to get a better verbal score; my math was fine and i heard you can take your highest scores from different tests now if you took it within the last five years. i'm revising my writing sample and sop in addition to getting a third philosophy professor to recommend me (i only had 2 philosophy recommendations and 1 english recommendation last time). i might also consider having my new boss write something for me as i now work at a law firm. but what i really need help with is picking schools with good ethics and moral philosophy programs (esp. ones that are safety schools that take more than 1-2 people).

 

last time i applied to western michigan, mi state, colorado state, and bowling green. that was a mistake because that's far too few schools. this time i'm going to apply to 10-20 schools and pray one of them takes me.

 

i think i might reapply to michigan state and western since they are located in-state and also bowling green. i added wayne state even though it's not my first choice, miami uni in ohio, and university of minnesota. i would've added uni of michigan to the list of places to apply if their M.A. program offered funding since i studied as an undergrad there. i'd like to apply to princeton and brown as well but even though i have relatives who were alumni of the schools, i'm not sure my chances are that great. my gpa in my major which was philosophy was 3.2, but my overall was below a 3.0 due to pursuing another major prior to philosophy that i hated and wasn't very good at apparently. this is also the reason i chose to apply to M.A. programs v. PhD programs. i figured my switching majors during my last year and the gpa would go against me getting into any quality PhD programs. 

 

any advice as to how to pick good schools specializing in ethics and moral philosophy for M.A. programs would be appreciated. thank you.

Edited March 11, 2013 by wishfulthinker85

[tnkertom]

Miami U of Ohio is another good option if you're looking for a strong MA program in philosophy with funding.  It's a 2-year, dedicated MA program, so you don't have to compete with PhD students for professors' attention, and they offer pretty generous assistantships combined with a good teacher training program.  I was 0/10 the first time I applied to PhD programs, in 2009.  Now I'm just finishing up my degree at Miami, and I got 7a/2w/5r in my applications to PhD programs for next fall.

[wishfulthinker85]

Miami U of Ohio is another good option if you're looking for a strong MA program in philosophy with funding.  It's a 2-year, dedicated MA program, so you don't have to compete with PhD students for professors' attention, and they offer pretty generous assistantships combined with a good teacher training program.  I was 0/10 the first time I applied to PhD programs, in 2009.  Now I'm just finishing up my degree at Miami, and I got 7a/2w/5r in my applications to PhD programs for next fall.

ok thank u very much. i was thinking about applying to that program. i will def apply to it now. thanks so much

[eugvdeb]

ok thank u very much. i was thinking about applying to that program. i will def apply to it now. thanks so much

Depending on your exact interests, another that could be worth thinking about is Duquesne. MA students are partially funded with tuition, which is not as good of a deal as the full-funding at MA-only places, but there are also some job opportunities with which you can end up with minimal debt. It's also free to apply online, and in fact, there may be a rolling deadline for the MA application if you are still fishing for next year. Duquesne is obviously a program focused on both Continental and history of philosophy, but there is a consortium with Pitt and the other local schools, so you can take up to 2 classes outside the department as well, to supplement analytic interests.