What do you mean by your "letters of rec. are excellent" ?

[Rollontheground]

Right, I'd call those schools top 5%ish schools. This is all hypothetical of course; I don't really have any idea what I'm talking about. Hume, absolutely on the sample. 

 

I don't know if unheard-of colleges are screwed; like I said, i just suspect that they're expected to be in the top two percent.

[MattDest]

I know I've been identified IRL a few times by friends of mine (usually co-applicants) who recognize my username. I would be interested to know if any of my letter-writers read this. If any of you do, ily <3. 

[TheVineyard]

I know I've been identified IRL a few times by friends of mine (usually co-applicants) who recognize my username. I would be interested to know if any of my letter-writers read this. If any of you do, ily <3. 

 

I no longer post all of my acceptance/waitlist/rejection info for fear of losing anonymity.

[MattDest]

I no longer post all of my acceptance/waitlist/rejection info for fear of losing anonymity.

 

Scaredy-cat.   (NSFW)

Edited February 26, 2014 by MattDest

[TheVineyard]

Scaredy-cat.   (NSFW)

 

I thought I was the only phil applicant that listens to rap.

[Cottagecheeseman]

I thought I was the only phil applicant that listens to rap.

You're not. Have you listened to Schoolboy Q's new album? I've been spinning that lately. 

[MattDest]

I thought I was the only phil applicant that listens to rap.

 

I listen to almost exclusively rap. I actually sponsored a kick-starter of this guy's rap, I think it's hilarious and awesome at the same time. 

[TheVineyard]

I listen to almost exclusively rap. I actually sponsored a kick-starter of this guy's rap, I think it's hilarious and awesome at the same time. 

 

Do you listen to Tech N9ne? How about Rittz? If not, you need to get on that.

[objectivityofcontradiction]

Slum Village - Evolution = excellent newish rap release. 

[perpetuavix]

Using this diagnosis then, a person from a small school would just be... screwed. Because no matter how high a percentage ranking their professors say they are in their department, they're just top 1% of crap, which is still crap. That's really too bad. There should be some way of getting useful recommendations from unrecognized programs.

I came from a small school. I don't think either of my letter writers from there are very well known, but one of them is pretty well connected to a lot of other places (co-writes articles, networks at conferences, keeps up with people he went to grad school with). I also had a letter from a professor from my Masters' program in education, so there was no connection whatsoever there. But they all wrote me solid letters that supported everything else in my application. 

[Rollontheground]

I should qualify what I said earlier. I don't think anyone is necessarily screwed at a small school. It's the writing sample that matters. The letters usually rank people against other philosophy students the recommender has had. Thus, different caliber schools would seem to require different percentages to be deemed "excellent." I gave those hypothetical percentages with the assumption that all other application components are equal. So, let's assume that two applicants have the same GRE scores, an equally awesome writing sample, and same GPA. Let's also disregarding the notoriety of the letter-writer. If all this were so, I would expect a letter from an Ivy League Professor that says "this applicant is in top 10% of philosophy students" to hold equal weight to a letter from a professor at an unranked, unheard of school that said "this applicant is in the top 1 or 2% of philosophy students." 

 

And again, I have no way of confirming this. It's just my opinion; I don't want to scare anyone!

[perpetuavix]

I should qualify what I said earlier. I don't think anyone is necessarily screwed at a small school. It's the writing sample that matters. The letters usually rank people against other philosophy students the recommender has had. Thus, different caliber schools would seem to require different percentages to be deemed "excellent." I gave those hypothetical percentages with the assumption that all other application components are equal. So, let's assume that two applicants have the same GRE scores, an equally awesome writing sample, and same GPA. Let's also disregarding the notoriety of the letter-writer. If all this were so, I would expect a letter from an Ivy League Professor that says "this applicant is in top 10% of philosophy students" to hold equal weight to a letter from a professor at an unranked, unheard of school that said "this applicant is in the top 1 or 2% of philosophy students." 

 

And again, I have no way of confirming this. It's just my opinion; I don't want to scare anyone!

I don't disagree about the comparative part; it's not as impressive for my professors to say I was in the top 2%, or at least committees might not know if it's truly meaningful. But I'm just using some anec-data to show that unknown letter writers doesn't mean you won't be able to get in anywhere.