Acceptance Thread

[Iakobos]

Hello, philosophers of The GradCafe! New member and (thus far) unsuccessful Ph.D applicant here. A few questions, if any of you have the time:

 

1. Has anyone heard anything from Yale or Michigan? From what I can gather from the forum posts, the results page can be unreliable.

 

2. Did anyone apply to joint-programs in Classics and Philosophy/programs in Ancient Philosophy?

 

2.a. If so, would you mind briefly going over your background in philosophy and/or classics?

 

2.b. Do you think applicants of those programs are, in some way, evaluated differently from applicants of the general program?

 

 

Congratulations to all those who have been accepted to graduate programs. I wish I were in your shoes!

Edited March 8, 2014 by Iakobos

[deverettf]

I just sent you PM answering your questions, lakobos.

[Bizzle]

I've been rejected by Yale, no word from Michigan.

[PhiPhiPhi]

 

Three offers seems really low for UConn compared to past years--do they not have many spots this year, or are they planning to make another round of admits prior to sending out wait-lists?

I don't have any detailed info on the applications, sorry. I'd be very surprised if we only accepted just a few though. I think they're going through and picking their favorite students, then extending the rest of the offers by the 15th.

 

I see four on the survey (one under U Conn Storrs, one under UConn, two under university of connecticut, storrs). I also see that the dates of notficiation ranged from 1/23 to 2/12.

 

It's really hard to believe they only have a few spots, considering how many faculty they just hired.

 

Unfortunately, in years past, it looks like they don't do a waitlist. Instead, it appears as if literally every applicant is on an undisclosed waitlist, and will not be notified until april 15 (or later). To make matters worse, it looks like those who emailed the DGS in the past to inquire about the application were told they were 'very high' on the waitlist, and it's unclear if they got in or if that was the form response to all inquiries.

 

So, my guess is that more offers are probably coming iff people in the first round decline. And they already know who they're going to make those offers to. But we won't know if we're one of those people until we're getting a call or a rejection on april 15. Such a good system...

I don't have any inside info, so there may well have been four by now. I explicitly know of three - one from the Cal State MA program and two from the NIU MA program.

 

As to the waitlist - UConn certainly does do a waitlist, because many of the students currently enrolled were on it during their graduate admissions run. Not being one of those people, I don't know whether they were explicitly told they were on a waitlist, but I imagine so, given previous conversations.

[Monadology]

Congrats to the New School offer! I hope it's real, if I remember correctly in the last couple of years they sent out offers by postal mail and in the last third of March, which seems kind of nuts to me.

[AcademicX]

Congrats to the New School offer! I hope it's real, if I remember correctly in the last couple of years they sent out offers by postal mail and in the last third of March, which seems kind of nuts to me.

Yeah, it seems a little weird based on how acceptances have been released in past years. Let's wait to see more posts. I hope you get an e-mail soon and can confirm this! Good luck!

[dgswaim]

Waitlisted by Kentucky. Will be removing myself. Would rather take the MA offer from Wyoming than an offer from Kentucky.

[humean_skeptic]

So there are still Michigan and Oxford offers to come? 

[Table]

Well...I wouldn't say that's any different than Phil, except the fact that we have one MA program that consistently places its kids top-10...Acceptance rates for Harvard M.D. and Harvard J.D. are much, much higher (around double) than Harvard PhD in Philosophy, this was posted a couple years back and remains true.

 

Harvard says they recieve "nearly 300" phil phd apps each year. I would guess they make about 10 first-round acceptances, which would put them at a 3.3% acceptance rate. Harvard med in 2012 was 3.9%. That's not much higher.

[Weltgeist]

i got the e-mail from the New School with the acceptance. Apparently I've also got some fellowship, the details of which are yet to come, so my timing might not be indicative of others. I will probably decline it in any case.

Edited March 8, 2014 by Weltgeist

[AcademicX]

Harvard says they recieve "nearly 300" phil phd apps each year. I would guess they make about 10 first-round acceptances, which would put them at a 3.3% acceptance rate. Harvard med in 2012 was 3.9%. That's not much higher.

 Someone posted in the waitlist thread that Columbia had 6 funded positions for 319 applicants this year. That's a 1.9% acceptance rate.

[greencoloredpencil]

 Someone posted in the waitlist thread that Columbia had 6 funded positions for 319 applicants this year. That's a 1.9% acceptance rate.

 

But surely it's slightly higher (though not much) since they admit more than they hope to enroll? 

[ungerdrag]

Hello, philosophers of The GradCafe! New member and (thus far) unsuccessful Ph.D applicant here. A few questions, if any of you have the time:

 

1. Has anyone heard anything from Yale or Michigan? From what I can gather from the forum posts, the results page can be unreliable.

 

2. Did anyone apply to joint-programs in Classics and Philosophy/programs in Ancient Philosophy?

 

2.a. If so, would you mind briefly going over your background in philosophy and/or classics?

 

2.b. Do you think applicants of those programs are, in some way, evaluated differently from applicants of the general program?

 

 

Congratulations to all those who have been accepted to graduate programs. I wish I were in your shoes!

 

Welcome to the forums, lakobos!

 

1. Yale has sent out first round acceptances; Michigan hasn't. But Michigan did admit one or two people (including me).

 

2. Wish I could help you, but I don't know anything about this.

 

Good luck!

[Monadology]

i got the e-mail from the New School with the acceptance. Apparently I've also got some fellowship, the details of which are yet to come, so my timing might not be indicative of others. I will probably decline it in any case.

 

Congrats and thanks for confirming its legitimacy!

[Glasperlenspieler]

But surely it's slightly higher (though not much) since they admit more than they hope to enroll? 

 

Not necessarily.  It would seem that most schools admit only as many people as they hope to enroll, and then move to the waitlist if any of the admits decline. (Someone please correct me here if I'm wrong.)

[PhiPhiPhi]

Not necessarily.  It would seem that most schools admit only as many people as they hope to enroll, and then move to the waitlist if any of the admits decline. (Someone please correct me here if I'm wrong.)

That's contrary to what I've heard, although I believe this has become more and more common since the economy has gone to shit.

[MattDest]

Not necessarily.  It would seem that most schools admit only as many people as they hope to enroll, and then move to the waitlist if any of the admits decline. (Someone please correct me here if I'm wrong.)

 

From what I know, most schools admit more than they hope to enroll, and then work down the waitlist when it becomes necessary. 

[Glasperlenspieler]

That's contrary to what I've heard, although I believe this has become more and more common since the economy has gone to shit.

 

 

From what I know, most schools admit more than they hope to enroll, and then work down the waitlist when it becomes necessary. 

I stand corrected.  Thanks!

[humean_skeptic]

From what I know, most schools admit more than they hope to enroll, and then work down the waitlist when it becomes necessary. 

 

Arizona doesn't do that, though, from what I understand. Or do they? Uh oh. 

 

They gave out six initial offers, so I was assuming they wanted to fill six spots, going to the wait list for people who decline initial offers (which most initial offers seem to do). 

Edited March 9, 2014 by humean_skeptic

[hegelbagel]

Does anyone know whether Stanford/Michigan/UIC/Columbia is working with waitlists this year? It seems like, according to TGC, they've just accepted some people, no waitlists and what not. 

[Hilbert's timequake]

Does anyone know whether Stanford/Michigan/UIC/Columbia is working with waitlists this year? It seems like, according to TGC, they've just accepted some people, no waitlists and what not. 

 

The result page seems to show that Columbia, at least, has sent out waitlists...

[Platonist]

April 15 is absolutely ridiculous. Suppose a person received an acceptance offer from a bottom-ranked program B, but wait listed at a very-high-ranked program H, both of which set the deadline for their offers for April 15. Suppose the person has to accept or deny B's offer on April 15 when she does not hear from H. The most rational choice is to accept B's offer. But it turns out that she received an acceptance off the wait list at H after April 15, which she had to painfully deny because she was stuck with B. So April 15 is so ridiculous. This is partly because it is the standard deadline and almost every school follows it. If programs do not adopt a uniform deadline, the April 15 disaster would be avoided. 

 

Thanks for all the responses to my post regarding how the competition of application to philosophy programs would compare to other fields in the humanities. Acceptance rate is a useful indicator. Usually every well ranked program receives about 200 applications and fills in about 3-5 spots. So the average acceptance rate is about 2%, which is ridiculously high. I do not know if other humanities fields have a higher or lower acceptance rate than 2%. 

Edited March 9, 2014 by Platonist

[deverettf]

April 15 is absolutely ridiculous. Suppose a person received an acceptance offer from a bottom-ranked program B, but wait listed at a very-high-ranked program H, both of which set the deadline for their offers for April 15. Suppose the person has to accept or deny B's offer on April 15 when she does not hear from H. The most rational choice it is to accept B's offer. But it turns out that she received an acceptance off the wait list at H after April 15, which she had to painfully deny because she was stuck with B. So April 15 is so ridiculous. This is partly because it is the standard deadline and almost every school follows it. If programs do not adopt a uniform deadline, the April 15 disaster would be avoided. 

 

 

From the "Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees and Assistants": "In those instances in which a student accepts an offer before April 15, and subsequently desires to withdraw that acceptance, the student may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time through April 15.  However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits the student not to accept another offer without first obtaining a written release from the instutition to which a commitment has been made.  Similarly, an offer by an institution after April 15 is conditional on presentation by the student of the written relase from any previously accepted offer."

 

I don't know how difficult it is to obtain a written release, though.

[hegelbagel]

Platonist: I do know of someone in that situation in previous years. Practically speaking, most schools are quite understanding. In this case, the person called school B and asked them to grant him until the end of the day to hear back from School A. He then called school A,, and informed them of how he had an offer from school B and needed a decision on the waitlist as soon as possible. All in all, just needs some coordination.

 

The story ends, rather happily, with said person being accepted by school A. I imagine schools inform students that there are these things going on, so they have to wait. But a non-uniform deadline would be worse than a uniform one. 

[Platonist]

From the "Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees and Assistants": "In those instances in which a student accepts an offer before April 15, and subsequently desires to withdraw that acceptance, the student may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time through April 15.  However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits the student not to accept another offer without first obtaining a written release from the instutition to which a commitment has been made.  Similarly, an offer by an institution after April 15 is conditional on presentation by the student of the written relase from any previously accepted offer."

 

I don't know how difficult it is to obtain a written release, though.

 

 

Platonist: I do know of someone in that situation in previous years. Practically speaking, most schools are quite understanding. In this case, the person called school B and asked them to grant him until the end of the day to hear back from School A. He then called school A,, and informed them of how he had an offer from school B and needed a decision on the waitlist as soon as possible. All in all, just needs some coordination.

 

The story ends, rather happily, with said person being accepted by school A. I imagine schools inform students that there are these things going on, so they have to wait. But a non-uniform deadline would be worse than a uniform one. 

 

Thanks for the inputs to this imagined scenario. Yes, there is  a way of getting out of this dilemma. But this would be the last thing to do, because this would make you a not-nice-guy for the lower ranked school, which would surely be disappointed.