The 300 (speculation)

[Philhopeful]

So for some reason or other, I feel like every US top 20 department that I look at cites that there are roughly 300 applicants for their Phd program per year. That's a LOT of philosophy students. Who are all those people? Given the lack of transparency of the application process, I have a hard time believing that they aren't lurking the web talking about admissions somewhere. Where could they be? How many of them do you think are actually competitive? 

[bar_scene_gambler]

Clever title. My guess is that there's a lot of overlap between the 300 applicants that each department cites, which is to say that if someone thinks that they're capable of getting into a top 20 department, they're probably applying to several top 20 schools. So there probably aren't as many as you think. And besides, that "300 applicant" thing is pretty universal. Georgia State had a little over half that apply last year, and that's just an MA program. Competition is going to be tough regardless of the ranking. As for where they are, my guess is that they're spread out over sites like this, philosophy forums, places like reddit. That, and some probably don't feel the need to discuss their applications with others. As for competitiveness, who can really say? There are probably many applications to top 20's that aren't competitive, but I'm willing to bet that at least a quarter of them are.

It doesn't really matter to me one way or the other, because the type of person who is looking at a PGR top 20 program isn't going to be competing with me for a spot anyways. They'll most likely have strongly analytic interests and won't be looking at places like U Chicago and Emory. 

[gatewayselect]

Clever title. My guess is that there's a lot of overlap between the 300 applicants that each department cites, which is to say that if someone thinks that they're capable of getting into a top 20 department, they're probably applying to several top 20 schools. So there probably aren't as many as you think. And besides, that "300 applicant" thing is pretty universal. Georgia State had a little over half that apply last year, and that's just an MA program. Competition is going to be tough regardless of the ranking. As for where they are, my guess is that they're spread out over sites like this, philosophy forums, places like reddit. That, and some probably don't feel the need to discuss their applications with others. As for competitiveness, who can really say? There are probably many applications to top 20's that aren't competitive, but I'm willing to bet that at least a quarter of them are.

It doesn't really matter to me one way or the other, because the type of person who is looking at a PGR top 20 program isn't going to be competing with me for a spot anyways. They'll most likely have strongly analytic interests and won't be looking at places like U Chicago and Emory. 

 

To be fair, Chicago is still pretty analytic. I'm only personally familiar with their emeritus professors Tait and Wimsatt, but glancing at their current professors they've got people in solidly analytic subfields. Your point probably still stands though, because I doubt they'd be pitting continental vs analytic applicants. Instead they probably have some sort of quota they want to meet in terms of analytic/continental or in terms of individual professors who were open to taking on new students in their subfields. 

[bar_scene_gambler]

I visited and spoke with several grad students at Chicago a few weeks ago, and the environment is, at least, according to the grad students and the feel that I was getting from the department, a good mix of both analytic and continental philosophy. They take their Cavell, Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, and Heidegger all very seriously there. It's a strange place, but I really appreciate the openness to both traditions. 

[MattDest]

I'm not really surprised that they aren't lurking the web - I barely stumbled onto these sites, and it is not as if they are advertised that heavily. I do wonder about how many competitive applicants there are. I wish that departments provided more data about the applicants they accept.

[bar_scene_gambler]

 

 

I wish that departments provided more data about the applicants they accept.

Some do. Georgia State has a very detailed breakdown of the average stats that their admitted students have. They might be comparable, given that it's a difficult MA program to get into.