achilles heel

[philstudent1991]

What do you guys think the biggest weakness of your application is? For me it's gotta be pedigree (I'm at a big state school with no PhD program).

[dvfire]

GPA no doubt

[Loric]

What do you guys think the biggest weakness of your application is? For me it's gotta be pedigree (I'm at a big state school with no PhD program).

 

Oh.. dropping out of my last MFA program and setting the bridge on fire shortly thereafter.

[bar_scene_gambler]

Woah. Tons of new people. Good to talk to you all. My weakest points are either pedigree or GRE. My school has no PhD program and is unknown in Philosophy (though Top 40 US News) and my GRE scores were pretty average.

[Hopephily]

GRE scores are not competitive for the programs of higher rank.  

[shelbyelisha]

GRE scores? Writing sample? Tiny unknown school? Is it possible to have three heels?  Why did I form these all as questions?

[Philhopeful]

GPA and maybe letters of recommendation. I have a few B+s that really worry me.  Also, because I studied abroad for a year, I only have a few multi year relationships with professors. 

 

Oh--and CV! I have like nothing to put on my CV.

Edited December 10, 2013 by Philhopeful

[greencoloredpencil]

GRE math score

[MattDest]

^Ditto! I'm a little worried that my WS doesn't match my SOP as well as it should, but I wanted to submit my best paper. 

[wandajune]

Pedigree. I go to small liberal arts school that virtually nobody has heard of.

[Cottagecheeseman]

GPA, GRE, Lack of Grad Work, Publications, Conferences. I worked a lot while an undergrad, and took less work that a lot of people and still barely had time to complete it. I never got to go to confrences or submit papers because if I missed work I couldn't pay rent. I was depressed/stressed by some personal stuff one semester and it was the only semester I got less than a 4.0. I have a W from my penultimate semester in a English class that I clashed with the teacher on and would've gotten a C in, because he literally hated my work and my opinions on the subject.

 

I suck at math, and I never really took it in Highschool (I was 'religiously homeschool for my life until college) or college, so my math Gre score is pitifully low, though my Verbal and Writing are both strong.

But my letters are good, I won an award for being the best student at a mid-range research university out of like 100 other phil majors. My writing sample is one of the best my faculty advisory for the independent study I originally wrote it in has seen from an undergrad. People know my letter writers, who aren't famous in their fields, but they are well-know (and active in analytic philosophy. So I have that going for me. Honestly, I'm already ready for not getting in anywhere knowing what I'm competing against.

[dfindley]

Everything except my original treatise in metaphysics.

[dfindley]

I'm looking forward to moving to Thailand, getting a nice little house, young pretty wife, and doing my study on my own.

[dfindley]

....

Edited December 11, 2013 by dfindley

[philstudent1991]

Wait dfindley I thought you were already married

[MattDest]

Wait dfindley I thought you were already married

phil 

[dfindley]

Nah I'm heartbroken.

I just wrote that because I thought it sounded more respectable at the time

[Loric]

I find the responses pretty interesting.. not knowing much of anything about anyone else here, I will say that my experience (and discussion with people on adcomms) is that while GPA and test scores can fluctuate a good amount, it's usually the SOP and writing samples that sink potential applicants.

 

Or rather, a middling or poor SOP/PS/etc will make the adcomm unwilling to overlook any of these deficiencies.

 

And "pedigree" is usually only the concern of that one guy on the committee - most couldn't care less. 

[dfindley]

...what experience?

Do you think my book will make me competitive with a 3,4 gpa? -and that one strong (I assume) letter of recommendation would be enough?

I mean, any professor worth his beans should recognize the significance in my work. But.. I know my recommending professor said that quantitative scores establish rankings that are typical standards of admissions.

...I'm just thinking that my writing sample Is so awesome as mine demands exceptions be made in that regard. The standards are as they are because work of such high quality as my own must be so incredibly rare as to be virtually unheard of o_O

[philstudent1991]

...what experience?

Do you think my book will make me competitive with a 3,4 gpa? -and that one strong (I assume) letter of recommendation would be enough?

I mean, any professor worth his beans should recognize the significance in my work. But.. I know my recommending professor said that quantitative scores establish rankings that are typical standards of admissions.

...I'm just thinking that my writing sample Is so awesome as mine demands exceptions be made in that regard. The standards are as they are because work of such high quality as my own must be so incredibly rare as to be virtually unheard of o_O

Dfindley,

 

I'm still not really sure if this is all a joke or not, but here's reality: Applying to graduate school will cost you almost 1000 dollars if you're applying broadly. Ad comms have to look through hundreds of files, so if they see a file that refused to follow the instructions (like sending in the appropriate amount of letters), I just don't see how that file is going to make it very far. Supposing even that your writing sample is amazing, it's not going to get read if your application is incomplete. They don't have time to read hundreds of samples, so they are only going to read those that have strong GRE, GPA, letters and SOP. 3.4 isn't going to sink your application, but only having one letter really is. That will raise serious warning flags with your file, whether they are justified or not. You've gotta get more letters if you're gonna make a real run.

[wandajune]

And "pedigree" is usually only the concern of that one guy on the committee - most couldn't care less. 

 

I wonder about this a lot, because I take this to be a weakness in my application. Theoretically it shouldn't matter, but top 10ish programs rarely admit students who aren't from prestigious or well-ranked undergraduate programs. I'm not sure if it's because those students are just clearly better, or they have better access to well-known faculty for LORs, or if the prestige of their program actually has some effect on how well received they are by adcoms.

[dfindley]

Maybe it implies a superior education.

[Loric]

Maybe it implies a superior education.

 

It doesn't. At least not to intelligent educated people. 

[Table]

Supposing even that your writing sample is amazing, it's not going to get read if your application is incomplete. ... You've gotta get more letters if you're gonna make a real run.

 

Yeah... Dfindley, unless you've contacted the programs you're applying to and they've agreed to look at an application with only one letter, you need to have the required amount. Not because they'll hold it against you otherwise, but because your file will be incomplete and they will just not look at it. 

If you absolutely cannot get any more philosophy professors to write letters for you, ask other professors. If you don't have any professors at all that will, ask employers, high school teachers, whatever. The content of a letter from a non-professor is not going to help you, but the existence of the letter will at least prevent your file from being thrown out as incomplete. 

Edited December 11, 2013 by Table

[Billy Goehring]

Yeah... Dfindley, unless you've contacted the programs you're applying to and they've agreed to look at an application with only one letter, you need to have the required amount. Not because they'll hold it against you otherwise, but because your file will be incomplete and they will just not look at it. 

If you absolutely cannot get any more philosophy professors to write letters for you, ask other professors. If you don't have any professors at all that will, ask employers, high school teachers, whatever. The content of a letter from a non-professor is not going to help you, but the existence of the letter will at least prevent your file from being thrown out as incomplete. 

 

FWIW, I got into a good MA program my first round with only one letter from a philosophy professor--my other letters were from French and English professors. It's better than an incomplete application!