Advice on Faculty/Programs

[Kantianisms]

Hi all,

 

I was wondering if either current graduate students or those who have recently visited departments had any advice about particular programs or faculty. How helpful are professors? Is the department a good climate for study? Is funding sufficient to support living in the area? How is the TA/RA load? Do they prepare you well for the profession/placement (PhD for MA programs & job for PhD programs)? Are there any particular issues within the department (such as between faculty members)? Are there any particularly "bad" (unhelpful, rude, etc.) faculty? Is the area "good" (I am married, so I don't necessarily mean entertainment wise, but rather standard/cost of living, security, etc.)?

 

I am planning on applying to both PhD and MA programs in the fall, and am trying to narrow down my list of schools to apply to. My areas of interest are most normative domains - political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of action, metathics - so if your AOI is similar, your view would be quite helpful.

 

I know that most people would prefer remain anonymous, particularly if you happen to be commenting on particular faculty members you would suggest steering away from, so if private messages work better for you, that is perfectly fine.

 

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

[Cottagecheeseman]

The best way to go about getting info like this isn't to ask here. We can help with actual aspects of your application, and things like that, but not so much this just by virtue of the low-amount of members and the TONS of graduate programs.

So how would you do it? Well it seems that you have an interest in analytic philosophy. So check out the Philosophical Gourmet. It's a rankings of the top 50 Philosophy departments in the US, and also a few in the English speaking world. But even cooler than that, it has Rankings by subfield, such as ethics, political philosophy, metaphysics, ect. So, go there, find schools that look good from a faculty perspective, then email some students at that department asking them nicely things like "what are your favorite and least favorite aspects of the department?" and "if you had the chance to go there again, would you?". They can answer things about area of living. A lot of schools have their stipend info online, so you can Google standard of living in that area and cross-reference with the stipend. For example, some of the California schools give out little stipend compared to standard of living. Texas and Wisconsin Madison are the only two I know with legit bad stipends, but they are good schools and you should consider going their regardless. All stipends will help you live at near poverty levels.

MA programs are bit different, some fund some don't. Leiter has a list of the best MA's that's useful. For funded programs, NIU, UW-Milwaukee and Georgia State University are probably the best funded programs out there. Brandeis and Tufts have great programs, but they don't fund that much. All MA's fund less than most Phds. Other good programs that fund are out there. When it comes to an MA you want to look at Placement, Faculty quality, and funding. AOI matters less with MA programs because you aren't there long enough to specialize.

Also, know that philosophy is HIGHLY competitive. And I can't stress that enough. I had an idea of what competitive meant in my mind, and I found out that the way philosophy programs actually are is a lot more so. Work on your writing sample, get it perfect. Study hard for the GREs. Hopefully you have strong letters, and GPA as well. Apply to a lot of programs, but not too many/ (people who applied to 10 got into all of them. People who applied to 20 didn't get in anywhere. So pick a good number, at least 8, but it's expensive so don't overdo it) Good luck!

[Kantianisms]

Thanks for the advice, but I have checked out quite a bit of information such as PGR, Leiter Reports blog, Philosophy News, Eric Schwitzgebel's blog, etc. However, I think that everyone knows there is much more specific information which should be a factor in decision making - for example, a top-ranked faculty member who you would like to work with may not be particularly helpful as an advisor, or a top-ranked faculty may not have a program which prepares students well for a career in academia. These of course, are going to be things you won't find from looking at rankings and would be difficult to infer from department websites. Now, it seems like most people wait until they've gotten acceptance letters and visit departments before they take this information into consideration, but I would prefer to take this information into account in the schools I decide to apply to, if at all possible.

 

Now as for not being many members and lots of graduate programs - that's certainly true, but I was wondering if anyone had any information about any department, faculty, or program. My particular AOI is in normative subjects, so if you have any information regarding faculty or departments that specialize in political philosophy, ethics, metaethics, philosophy of action, etc., that would be the most helpful.

 

Again, thanks for the advice - I really do appreciate it. And thank you in advance to anyone who would be willing to help a prospective student out.

[Establishment]

Thanks for the advice, but I have checked out quite a bit of information such as PGR, Leiter Reports blog, Philosophy News, Eric Schwitzgebel's blog, etc. However, I think that everyone knows there is much more specific information which should be a factor in decision making - for example, a top-ranked faculty member who you would like to work with may not be particularly helpful as an advisor, or a top-ranked faculty may not have a program which prepares students well for a career in academia. These of course, are going to be things you won't find from looking at rankings and would be difficult to infer from department websites. Now, it seems like most people wait until they've gotten acceptance letters and visit departments before they take this information into consideration, but I would prefer to take this information into account in the schools I decide to apply to, if at all possible.

 

Now as for not being many members and lots of graduate programs - that's certainly true, but I was wondering if anyone had any information about any department, faculty, or program. My particular AOI is in normative subjects, so if you have any information regarding faculty or departments that specialize in political philosophy, ethics, metaethics, philosophy of action, etc., that would be the most helpful.

 

Again, thanks for the advice - I really do appreciate it. And thank you in advance to anyone who would be willing to help a prospective student out.

 

I get the idea behind what you're doing, but practically speaking I don't think it's going to work.

 

Mainly speaking, what you're asking is incredibly broad. You've got three or four interests that are going to be fulfilled by a large range of universities and professors. It's one thing to be admitted to schools X, Y, and Z and to email graduate students about professors A, B, and C. It's something completely else to ask people to tell you about Professors A₁ through Professors A_n from schools X₁ to X_n. I don't suspect a lot of people are going to respond. I know for one that I'm not going to slander my professors or my program to some anonymous person who may not even be interested in my program/advisor, or might not even get into my program were they to apply.

[Monadology]

You might get some help if you specified programs or faculty you had questions about, but as has been pointed out your current approach is entirely impractical. Also, if you can come up with a specific list you'd probably be better served if you just email a graduate student at the programs you're interested in.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Monadology

[Kantianisms]

It certainly is a broad request, but I guess I figured that people would be willing to help out. It's not going to be much different from emailing graduate students in a particular program, since I'm not going to know who your advisor is before hand. That is, if I pick a random graduate student to ask about a particular faculty member or AOI within the program, I'm not going to know if that graduate student shares my AOI or is an advisee of a facutly member I would like to work with. Furthermore, despite Establishment's worry, emailing graduate students at a specific program would be just as anonymous, and they would still have no idea whether or not I'm going to be accepted into the program.

 

Moreover, the request is broad is one sense, in that I was wondering if people have general information (e.g. Brian Leiter seems like he feels self-important or Daniel Dennett doesn't teach many courses). Otherwise, it is only broad in my question format, but very specific to a reader and potential commenter. For example, I saw a post which stated that a student visited both WUSTL and Duke and said that both seemed like great programs - advice like this would be much appreciated. Or, it would be very specific to the school you are attending or have currently attended.

 

I understand that this may make people uncomfortable, but I thought I would try, since it would be easier than emailing a number of graduate students from 20 or so schools. Moreover, if anybody had advice on departments or faculty which could be made publicly available, it would help out future applicants on their decision of where to apply.

[philstudent1991]

In metaethics, my AOI, some top programs include NYU, Michigan and Wisconsin, though certainly many programs have faculty working in this area. Of course, all of those are incredibly competitive. No idea what your background is, but an MA seems to be the best way to improve one's application. I would add to that a funded, prestigious MA, so GSU, NIU, UWM like zizek said. And ya, perfect your sample, get a professor to read it, get great letters, blow away the verbal portion of the GRE (165+), have a professional SOP, and nonetheless expect to get rejected almost everywhere.

[Cottagecheeseman]

It certainly is a broad request, but I guess I figured that people would be willing to help out. It's not going to be much different from emailing graduate students in a particular program, since I'm not going to know who your advisor is before hand. That is, if I pick a random graduate student to ask about a particular faculty member or AOI within the program, I'm not going to know if that graduate student shares my AOI or is an advisee of a facutly member I would like to work with. Furthermore, despite Establishment's worry, emailing graduate students at a specific program would be just as anonymous, and they would still have no idea whether or not I'm going to be accepted into the program.

 

Moreover, the request is broad is one sense, in that I was wondering if people have general information (e.g. Brian Leiter seems like he feels self-important or Daniel Dennett doesn't teach many courses). Otherwise, it is only broad in my question format, but very specific to a reader and potential commenter. For example, I saw a post which stated that a student visited both WUSL and Duke and said that both seemed like great programs - advice like this would be much appreciated. Or, it would be very specific to the school you are attending or have currently attended.

 

I understand that this may make people uncomfortable, but I thought I would try, since it would be easier than emailing a number of graduate students from 20 or so schools. Moreover, if anybody had advice on departments or faculty which could be made publicly available, it would help out future applicants on their decision of where to apply.

For starters, most graduate programs list students and sometimes they list that student AOI. Email them, it's the easiest way, and you'll actually get answers that you won't get here.

[Kantianisms]

For starters, most graduate programs list students and sometimes they list that student AOI. Email them, it's the easiest way, and you'll actually get answers that you won't get here.

Let's hope so. Not sure why offering information in a private message is so different than being asked in an email.

[Cottagecheeseman]

Let's hope so. Not sure why offering information in a private message is so different than being asked in an email.

Also a lot of us on here are just now entering programs. It's better to talk to people who have spent a few years in the program.

[Kantianisms]

Also a lot of us on here are just now entering programs. It's better to talk to people who have spent a few years in the program.

Sure, but most have already asked these questions and visited campuses quite recently.

 

It's alright though, I won't push it any further. If anyone feels differently, please feel free to post your advice here or PM me if you would prefer to keep things anonymous.

[AcademicX]

I sent you a PM too

[Kantianisms]

Thanks everyone! Your advice is much appreciated