Terminal MA, Now What?

[MetaphysicalDrama]

At this time last year, I was admitted to the University of Chicago's Master of Arts in Philosophy and Humanities program.  I accepted their offer, and I completed the program last Spring.  I had a wonderful time, I was proud of the work I was doing, and I was optimistic about my chances of getting into a funded PhD program starting this Fall. 

 

Presently, I have been rejected by every PhD program to which I had applied (0/12). 

 

I had originallly thought that this would be a gap year between master's studies and doctoral studies.  Now that I have no doctoral studies to look forward to I find myself questioning what I should be doing with my life.  I've been working retail this year for roughly nine dollars an hour, and that was okay as long as I had something to look forward to in the Fall.  Now that I've received the bad news from so many institutions, I've become frustrated and disappointed to see that I  haven't progressed professionally since the day I graduated from high school. 

 

Why have I been working retail?  It is not because I didn't pursue other career oppurtunities.  It is because I haven't received a single oppurtunity to pursue a job in a community college, copywriting, data entry, or human resources.  I admit that I have to lie to any organization other than a PhD Program in Philosophy regarding how much I would like to become part of their organization.  However, if I had a gig copywriting or in human resources, then compared to where I am now, I might as well be studying at Harvard. 

 

I know there must be more of you out there who have completed the terminal MA and failed to move on to a PhD.  However, I'm really confused regarding what to do now.  I've loved life as long as I have been going to graduate seminars and composing research papers, but now I wake up every day just wishing my heart would stop beating.

[blumenbergian]

I'm so sorry to hear about your struggles, MetaphysicalDrama. This is a brutal process. I guess you have a couple options, neither ideal of course. One would be to get on the horse and try again next year. Work hard on your applications before next season, maybe strategically pick different programs to apply to, consult with your advisers and mentors from undergrad and your MA program as to what you should do. If you really think a philosophy PhD is for you and that you'd be unhappy doing anything else, that's what I would do. If you're at all unsure, or too frustrated with the process to go it again (and who could blame you), maybe it's time to make different moves and try for a new career path, maybe in one of the areas you've mentioned, where you could forge your way. Now that I think of it, actually, you could combine both those options -- keep trying to do a PhD while also building a career contingency plan along the way. 

 

I really wish you the best of luck.

[riadamexicana]

Granted, I wasn't in the same *exact* position as you (I only have a BA), but I understand the feeling of disillusionment all too well.  I was shut out of top programs (the only programs to which I naively applied) two years in a row.  But don't despair!  I spent this summer re-working my writing sample/reaching out to new programs, and was accepted into a couple of different strong (top 30-20) programs this time around.  My point is simply that you shouldn't give up, regardless of how trying the application process is.  If this is what you want to do with your life, keep looking into different programs and keep reworking your writing samples: there is a good chance you will find the right fit eventually!

Edited April 12, 2013 by riadamexicana

[ArtHistoryandMuseum]

My heart really goes out to you. I was also not accepted this round, I am looking to enter a museum position that is not highly compensated, and I have a Master of Arts. Before I earned my master's degree, I have worked in retail sales; I could take a stab at the discouragement and dissatisfaction there, as an academic-minded person. 

 

Are you an emerging and/or young professional? It's extremely difficult these days to find work! Don't be too, too hard on yourself. it is tough out there, especially if you are being considered against those with more working experience... 

 

As I have been interviewing for work, I have come to realize all of a sudden that I may be too "intellectual" for the administrative roles that I am seeking. 

 

Of course, I do not have enough "demonstrable" academic background to get the museum work that I am ultimately seeking... I hate that. It's especially frustrating because I am well-read in my field, and my passion is evident. I just don't have the papers or degree to show it.

 

So, keep in mind that you may not be an intellectual fit for admin jobs, and that you may have to be brave to re-try to get back into academia, so that you *can* progress. Do take this year to focus on strengthening your application, if that's what you dream of doing. Also, having that project on the side should help keep up your spirits...

 

Good luck! 

[BernardJOrtcutt]

Here is some modest consolation:

Consider this, if you were shut out of PhD programs, then if you had been accepted, you may not have gotten a job after you graduated. You are better off having spent two years in grad school and not getting to work in philosophy than having spent seven to nine years in grad school and not getting to work in philosophy.

Other than that, I suppose your options are claer:

Re-work your sample, try to do more great work and see if you can send it to your letter writers (Or ask them if they just won't be writing you a good enough letter), re-take the GRE, get a puplication or conference presentation, apply to more safety schools, and do-over next year.

OR

Figure out something else you are passionate about and pursue it

OR

Find something you are willing to do that will pay the bills in a city you would like to live in and surround yourself with friends with whom you can still talk about the stuff that interests you

(OR)

Figure out how to change your own desires.

(OR)

Work a job you don't enjoy and be dissatisfied.

I don't know if the second to last one is psychologically possible (Drugs, Religion, Psychotherapy?), but it seems these options about exhaust logical space.

Best of luck :/

[LeftInLimbo]

You can still revamp your writing sample and statement of interest.  You can re-apply the next round to schools that you have chosen more strategically for how they fit your interests and less for their prestige.  These 3 factors should inter-influence each other: sample, interests, and fit.  Write a sample that reflects your interests, and apply to a program where your interests and sample would be well received. 

 

Of course you can also retake the GREs for a higher score and try to publish or present.

 

Naturally this is only good advice provided that you excelled in your MA work, otherwise it might be time to try another path.

[MetaphysicalDrama]

Thanks for the advice so far.  I will likely give it one more go come the next application season.  I suppose I'll take this oppurtunity to offer a little bit more information about my projects, and to ask a couple questions about how to put forth a more competitive application. 

 

Schools most interested in attending: University of Pittsburgh, University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Johns Hopkins University.

 

Grad GPA: 3.8 (University of Chicago)

Undergrad GPA: 3.59 (University of Denver)

 

Writing sample: Explicating Vocabularies of Epistemic Normativity

 

The aim of my writing sample was to justify the use of a vocabulary of objective truth within the limits of Rorty's critique of traditional epistemology.  I accomplished this feat by appealing to McDowell's disquotational use of the word "true" as a way to show what we are doing when use a vocabulary of objective truth. 

 

Presentations: "Explicating Vocabularies of Epistemic Normativty" to a University of Chicago doctoral seminar.  "A Subtle but Crucial Difference: Kant, McDowell, and the possibility of synthetic a priori judgments" at a University of Chicago Graduate Student Conference.  "Inclination and Sensibility in Kant's Moral Philosophy at the SUNY Oneonta Undergraduate Philosophy Confernece.  I do not have any publications.  Would any of you recommend any journals in particular for my level of study to which I should submit work.

 

My GRE scores were likely my applications Achillies heel, so I suppose a Kaplan course is in order.  On the 700 point scale I would ideally like to boost my scores by 100 points in quantative and verbal, and I could likely increase my writing by at least .5 after a year at UChicago.

 

Three questions I have yet to receive a good answer to are:

 

What second tier schools that offer funding are good places to study the following authors: Kant, Hegel, Rorty, Brandom, and Sellars?  In other words, what's a good place to study German Idealism and the Pittsburgh School?

 

How important is it that you begin to outline the kind of project you would like to work on in your doctoral studies.  In my statement, I present the kinds of projects I have worked on, and what I had learned from working on them.  However, I only offered a cursory description of what my doctoral project's driving concern would be and some authors I would like to work on.

 

Of course the quality of the material you offer in your writing sample is what is most imporant.  However, would I benefit from offering a sample that focuses on Kant  instead of keeping such a contemproary focus as I did last season?

[BernardJOrtcutt]

Here is something I would say: You should ask these questions to your professors you studied under. They ought to have some interest in their students doing well in PhD applications. My MA program was exceedingly helpful, we had seminars on how to put together our application, and I had several faculty members read over my statement.

 

Also, your interests make it somewhat hard to get a good feeling for "second tier." Normally I would recommend the Leiter Rankings, but German Idealism is pretty frowned upon in the analytic schools, and the Leiter rankings heavily skew analytic.