MA placement records this year

[ianfaircloud]

Ahh, geez. I see that this thread was hijacked...

 

Please take the Talbot discussion to another thread, not only because it will improve that discussion (which could be a good one), but also because it will help us stay on topic on this thread.

[ianfaircloud]

Updated MA program placement records. Each placement indicates one student. So, e.g., "Yale, Northwestern, Duke Law, shut-out" would indicate four students' placements.

 

Brandeis's final confirmed placement record: Michigan, UNC, Cornell, WUSTL, Riverside, UCLA Politics, and an Ivy League law school.  43% success among applicants to T20 programs!

 

Tufts's placement record last I heard: Duke, Duke, Brown, UT Austin, Indiana Bloomington, Johns Hopkins, Western Ontario.

 

Georgia State's record not final:  Indiana University, UC Irvine, University of Pennsylvania, Boston University, Florida State University, University of Missouri, and Western Ontario.

 

UW Milwaukee's last I heard: Pitt HPS, Wisconsin, T20 w/ wait-list at T10, Northwestern, UC Riverside, Notre Dame w/ wait-list at USC, Florida State w/ wait-list at UC Riverside, UNC, T21-30 w/ similar wait-lists, Northwestern w/ T10 waitlist, and several shut-outs.

 

Depending on what happened with UW Milwaukee, I think Brandeis will have the top placement record this year. Three of seven were admitted to T20s. Placement records shouldn't be evaluated strictly by how many were admitted to top programs; they should be evaluated by the share of applicants who were admitted to top programs. To have nearly half admitted to T20s is excellent, on par with Tufts's records in recent years. Tufts, on the other hand, will have the third-best record, behind UW Milwaukee and Brandeis.

 

What does this mean? I think Brandeis and UW Milwaukee have become solid top-three schools. Neither can share the status of Tufts quite yet. And probably Brandeis is solidly better than UW Milwaukee, only because Brandeis's record has been better for several years in a row.

 

Georgia State's placement record isn't as strong as those of these top three MA programs. Having said that, I'm convinced that Georgia State is the right choice for a lot of people pursing the MA. 

 

What I'd like to do next is to break down the placement records according to areas of interest. E.g Brandeis's record is consistently better for those in metaphysics and epistemology than it is for those in, e.g., ethics or political philosophy. Who knows what to make of that!

Edited April 16, 2014 by ianfaircloud

[Monadology]

Updated MA program placement records. Each placement indicates one student. So, e.g., "Yale, Northwestern, Duke Law, shut-out" would indicate four students' placements.

 

Brandeis's final confirmed placement record: Michigan, UNC, Cornell, WUSTL, Riverside, UCLA Politics, and an Ivy League law school.  43% success among applicants to T20 programs!

 

Tufts's placement record last I heard: Duke, Duke, Brown, UT Austin, Indiana Bloomington, Johns Hopkins, Western Ontario.

 

Georgia State's record not final:  Indiana University, UC Irvine, University of Pennsylvania, Boston University, Florida State University, University of Missouri, and Western Ontario.

 

UW Milwaukee's last I heard: Pitt HPS, Wisconsin, T20 w/ wait-list at T10, Northwestern, UC Riverside, Notre Dame w/ wait-list at USC, Florida State w/ wait-list at UC Riverside, UNC, T21-30 w/ similar wait-lists, Northwestern w/ T10 waitlist, and several shut-outs.

 

Depending on what happened with UW Milwaukee, I think Brandeis will have the top placement record this year. Three of seven were admitted to T20s. Placement records shouldn't be evaluated strictly by how many were admitted to top programs; they should be evaluated by the share of applicants who were admitted to top programs. To have nearly half admitted to T20s is excellent, on par with Tufts's records in recent years. Tufts, on the other hand, will have the third-best record, behind UW Milwaukee and Brandeis.

 

What does this mean? I think Brandeis and UW Milwaukee have become solid top-three schools. Neither can share the status of Tufts quite yet. And probably Brandeis is solidly better than UW Milwaukee, only because Brandeis's record has been better for several years in a row.

 

Georgia State's placement record isn't as strong as those of these top three MA programs. Having said that, I'm convinced that Georgia State is the right choice for a lot of people pursing the MA. 

 

What I'd like to do next is to break down the placement records according to areas of interest. E.g Brandeis's record is consistently better for those in metaphysics and epistemology than it is for those in, e.g., ethics or political philosophy. Who knows what to make of that!

 

Your UW-M info is a bit out of date, I believe. At this stage are you looking for best offers received (and best waitlist received) or offers accepted? I can PM you some more up-to-date info.

[ianfaircloud]

Your UW-M info is a bit out of date, I believe. At this stage are you looking for best offers received (and best waitlist received) or offers accepted? I can PM you some more up-to-date info.

 

I suppose I'm looking for either one. The Brandeis record is the record of offers accepted. But if we can get a record of best offers extended, that would be even better. 

 

(As you know, Tufts and Brandeis do not display on their placement records the best offers extended. Though these offers are listed next to the placement record, the record itself indicates only which programs people chose to attend.)

[Tim O'Keefe]

Since people interested in MA programs might be looking at this thread, I wanted to update the Georgia State information for this year. Several people recently got off of waitlists, and--barring last-minute acceptances I haven't yet heard of--here is what I think is GSU's 2014 placement record:

 

Stanford,  Indiana University, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Boston University, University of Miami, University of Missouri, and Western Ontario

[ianfaircloud]

Tim, Thank you so much for giving us the update. It turns out that UW Milwaukee, Brandeis, Tufts, and Georgia State all have solid records this year. Since so many of us quickly judge a placement record according to PGR ranking, I compiled this early draft of placement as I see it now. Obviously we will update these records as we hear more.

 

In my view, a placement record must be judged also by the share of applicants that is admitted to top programs. On that measure, Brandeis comes out looking good. Over 40% of Brandeis's applicants to PhD programs were admitted to T20 programs. Two of these were T10s. That's the kind of record that Tufts usually posts. But UW Milwaukee has 6 of 14 in at T25. It would be helpful to know how many of Georgia State's applicants were shut out. If none, then Georgia State's record is impressive by other measures.

 

The placement records indicate that any one of these four schools will help position strong candidates for success in graduate admissions.

 

Note also that the "Other" and "NR" stuff could be critical. For instance, UW Milwaukee has someone in at Pitt HPS, which is listed as "Other." Brandeis has someone at an Ivy League law school, which is listed as "Other." NR stands for "Not ranked, philosophy program."

 

EDIT: I may have misunderstood someone about the Tufts record. I'm waiting for confirmation, but more than one of these placements may belong to the same person at Tufts!! Obviously that could dramatically diminish the quality of the record! I'll post an update when I can.

Edited April 16, 2014 by ianfaircloud

[ianfaircloud]

I heard something interesting. I heard that the faculty at GSU tends to steer some students away from top programs on the grounds that those students are better fit for study at lower-ranked programs. These are students who are perhaps not making the highest grades. Now, there's a reason that I said, "I heard that . . . ." This is hearsay, and though it comes from a source that I've come to trust, I wonder whether everyone at GSU would say that it's accurate. Certainly I would want to know whether Tim O'Keefe thinks this is accurate.

 

If GSU does steer some away from top programs, this could be relevant in evaluating its placement record.

 

For what it's worth, at my MA program, my professors seem to encourage everyone to apply widely. So everyone is told to apply to top programs as well as lower-ranked programs. (Again, it's worth noting that "lower ranked" programs are often excellent places to study philosophy. All this judging based on PGR ranking can really be a distraction sometimes.) Also it's worth noting that at my MA program, grades are pretty inflated. I think that's really common among American graduate programs in any field. Not everyone gets a 4.0, but many of us do (or did).

[objectivityofcontradiction]

I'm headed to a Top-25 from a European MA. 

[alethicethic]

Updated MA program placement records. Each placement indicates one student. So, e.g., "Yale, Northwestern, Duke Law, shut-out" would indicate four students' placements.

 

Brandeis's final confirmed placement record: Michigan, UNC, Cornell, WUSTL, Riverside, UCLA Politics, and an Ivy League law school.  43% success among applicants to T20 programs!

 

Tufts's placement record last I heard: Duke, Duke, Brown, UT Austin, Indiana Bloomington, Johns Hopkins, Western Ontario.

 

Georgia State's record not final:  Indiana University, UC Irvine, University of Pennsylvania, Boston University, Florida State University, University of Missouri, and Western Ontario.

 

UW Milwaukee's last I heard: Pitt HPS, Wisconsin, T20 w/ wait-list at T10, Northwestern, UC Riverside, Notre Dame w/ wait-list at USC, Florida State w/ wait-list at UC Riverside, UNC, T21-30 w/ similar wait-lists, Northwestern w/ T10 waitlist, and several shut-outs.

 

Depending on what happened with UW Milwaukee, I think Brandeis will have the top placement record this year. Three of seven were admitted to T20s. Placement records shouldn't be evaluated strictly by how many were admitted to top programs; they should be evaluated by the share of applicants who were admitted to top programs. To have nearly half admitted to T20s is excellent, on par with Tufts's records in recent years. Tufts, on the other hand, will have the third-best record, behind UW Milwaukee and Brandeis.

 

What does this mean? I think Brandeis and UW Milwaukee have become solid top-three schools. Neither can share the status of Tufts quite yet. And probably Brandeis is solidly better than UW Milwaukee, only because Brandeis's record has been better for several years in a row.

 

Georgia State's placement record isn't as strong as those of these top three MA programs. Having said that, I'm convinced that Georgia State is the right choice for a lot of people pursing the MA. 

 

What I'd like to do next is to break down the placement records according to areas of interest. E.g Brandeis's record is consistently better for those in metaphysics and epistemology than it is for those in, e.g., ethics or political philosophy. Who knows what to make of that!

 

You're excluding the CSUs. SFSU in particular has had very strong placement in the last few years that compares quite favorably with the programs you're discussing. 

[MattDest]

You're excluding the CSUs. SFSU in particular has had very strong placement in the last few years that compares quite favorably with the programs you're discussing. 

 

Agreed - and UMSL which also has a pretty good placement record the last couple of years. 

[ianfaircloud]

You're excluding the CSUs. SFSU in particular has had very strong placement in the last few years that compares quite favorably with the programs you're discussing. 

 

 

Agreed - and UMSL which also has a pretty good placement record the last couple of years. 

 

Yeah, I've been operating according to what I called the "T7", the first seven programs that Leiter mentions on his site. Leiter writes: "Among terminal MA programs, the top program in the country (in terms of faculty quality) is Tufts University.  After Tufts, several other terminal MA programs have very strong faculties:  Arizona State University, Brandeis University (their M.A. program is relatively new, so has a limited placement ecord), Georgia State University, Northern Illinois University, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and Virginia Poytechnic Institute & State University.  Other terminal M.A. programs with strong faculties include University of Houston; University of Missouri, St. Louis; and San Francisco State University.  Other M.A. programs also worth considering for students with the right interests would include California State University, Los Angeles; Colorado State University (esp. for applied ethics); Ohio University; Texas Tech University; and Western Michigan University."

 

I assume -- but maybe incorrectly -- that Leiter means to say that Tufts + these other six are programs with "very strong faculties."  The other programs have "strong faculties." Then there are some "worth considering," in his words.

 

I don't mean to endorse Leiter's ranking ("ranking" may not even be the right word for this). It is, however, the ranking that I think most people have viewed. I think it's the most influential of them.

I completely agree that it would be nice to expand this list.

 

Does anyone have data on these other programs? I'd like to add them. That way we can see for ourselves which programs placed better. I have a feeling that Leiter's system isn't going to perfectly correspond with the placement data this year or any year. And I've said in this forum that I believe UMSL is an excellent place, maybe better than some in the T7. In terms of placement, I know UMSL has done well before.

[Gnothi_Seauton]

Yeah, I've been operating according to what I called the "T7", the first seven programs that Leiter mentions on his site. Leiter writes: "Among terminal MA programs, the top program in the country (in terms of faculty quality) is Tufts University.  After Tufts, several other terminal MA programs have very strong faculties:  Arizona State University, Brandeis University (their M.A. program is relatively new, so has a limited placement ecord), Georgia State University, Northern Illinois University, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and Virginia Poytechnic Institute & State University.  Other terminal M.A. programs with strong faculties include University of Houston; University of Missouri, St. Louis; and San Francisco State University.  Other M.A. programs also worth considering for students with the right interests would include California State University, Los Angeles; Colorado State University (esp. for applied ethics); Ohio University; Texas Tech University; and Western Michigan University."

 

I assume -- but maybe incorrectly -- that Leiter means to say that Tufts + these other six are programs with "very strong faculties."  The other programs have "strong faculties." Then there are some "worth considering," in his words.

 

I don't mean to endorse Leiter's ranking ("ranking" may not even be the right word for this). It is, however, the ranking that I think most people have viewed. I think it's the most influential of them.

I completely agree that it would be nice to expand this list.

 

Does anyone have data on these other programs? I'd like to add them. That way we can see for ourselves which programs placed better. I have a feeling that Leiter's system isn't going to perfectly correspond with the placement data this year or any year. And I've said in this forum that I believe UMSL is an excellent place, maybe better than some in the T7. In terms of placement, I know UMSL has done well before.

It should be noted that Leiter's blurb about MA programs in philosophy was written quite a while ago.  At least as long as I've known about the PGR, which would be since probably 2008 or so.  It would be unsurprising to learn that the "top 7" no longer corresponds perfectly with the top 7 placement records among terminal MA programs.  That said, I would imagine that the fact that Leiter mentions them as the best choices has contributed to their continued success.  

[ianfaircloud]

[Hopephily]

Here's the final count for Arizona State (MA) this year-- I believe 6 students applied this round and 5 got offers.

 

1 Nebraska

1 Iowa

1 Michigan (4)

1 Indiana (25)

1 Arizona State

 

There were other offers including, Kansas U, Utah, Northwestern (31), U I Chicago (42), and wait lists at U British Columbia and U Conn (50). 

 

One thing to keep in mind about the terminal MA though is that the PhD program is starting up again in the fall. As a result, there will likely be no more funding for MA students. 

[philstudent1991]

A Georgia State MA student got into Stanford yesterday, according to their listserve. You may add that to your list.

[ianfaircloud]

A Georgia State MA student got into Stanford yesterday, according to their listserve. You may add that to your list.

 

Just to clarify here: I actually got word of the Stanford offer from Tim O'Keefe, and it is reflected in the chart above (#9). Or do you mean that a second person was admitted to Stanford? 

[philstudent1991]

Just to clarify here: I actually got word of the Stanford offer from Tim O'Keefe, and it is reflected in the chart above (#9). Or do you mean that a second person was admitted to Stanford? 

The admit was on the deadline, that's all I know lol

[Monadology]

UWM's placement should be going up on their website sometime soon, I know someone got an email yesterday asking for up-to-date information so they could post it. 

[AnxiousAndy]

This information isn't from this year, but in the three previous years LSU's MA placed people at Illinois-Chicago, New Mexico, WUSTL, Purdue, Kansas, Tulane, Indiana, Washington University (Comp Lit), Duke (Divinity), and UNC (Romance Languages and Lit). 

 

I was told this record was strictly anecdotal, so it's quite possible they actually placed more people. Either way, LSU grads have done fairly well getting into solid PhD programs and with a stipend over $8,000 it seems like an excellent option for those looking for a MA program strong in continental philosophy. 

[Establishment]

Milwaukee's placement is up: http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/philosophy/graduate/placement.cfm

[MattDest]

Milwaukee's placement is up: http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/philosophy/graduate/placement.cfm

 

Wowza, impressive. 

[ianfaircloud]

When I have time, I'll post an updated MA placement chart (as I did above).