overoverover Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 So I have to wonder whether philosophy's graduate applicant pool has collapsed in the same way history and English graduate applicant pools have... I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isostheneia Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I feel like all the other fields on TGC are nice and friendly and interdisciplinary, talking to each other and sharing stories. And we philosophy students are by ourselves over in the corner, heatedly discussing the merits of semantic holism or something. Which is to say that I don't know what you mean either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoink7 Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I'm pretty sure Catria is referencing posts like this the History applicants thread & similar posts in the English applicant thread where there seems to be a feeling that there is reduction in the number of applicants this year. I have no idea how accurate those reductions are nor do I have any real sense that philosophy is experiencing anything similar. However, I only discovered TGC recently, so I'm probably not the best judge. isostheneia, a_for_aporia and Infinite Zest 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isostheneia Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Thanks for the clarification, yoink. It's hard to tell from TGC, but one professor wrote to Daily Nous expressing a similar trend: http://dailynous.com/2014/12/03/drop-in-graduate-applications/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinite Zest Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Hopefully, this also means a rise in acceptance rates. I wouldn't be surprised. Professors are constantly telling students not to get PhDs in philosophy. Maybe some of them are actually listening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Page228 Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 The speculation about decreased applications this year in at least one of the disciplines mentioned above (I think Lit.) was initiated by a poster commenting on decreased traffic on the forums. (Maybe there are fewer posts because there are fewer applicants.) It's certainly a nice thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overoverover Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 The speculation about decreased applications this year in at least one of the disciplines mentioned above (I think Lit.) was initiated by a poster commenting on decreased traffic on the forums. (Maybe there are fewer posts because there are fewer applicants.) It's certainly a nice thought. Seems plausible: at least in the states, the economy has improved even in the two years since I first applied. With gainful employment more abundant, grad school becomes less attractive to some. Also, I was thinking recently that TGC seemed less active than in 2012-2013, but that's just going by some fuzzy memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edit_Undo Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 TGC was busier last season for sure. Last season we had a poll on areas of interest and we had 74 members who have cast their votes. This season, we have 28 members who have cast their votes on a similar post. That number might increase in the following days but I don't expect it to get even close to 74. However, this cannot be taken as an indication of decrease of applicants. This only shows that fewer members are active in this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catria Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 The speculation about decreased applications this year in at least one of the disciplines mentioned above (I think Lit.) was initiated by a poster commenting on decreased traffic on the forums. (Maybe there are fewer posts because there are fewer applicants.) It's certainly a nice thought. I took Rutgers' deadline extension in English (from Dec.15 to Dec. 22) as an indication rather than decreased forum traffic. Again, I am not a humanities student, but one has to wonder whether that collapse has remained confined to one area or has been observed across fields. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_for_aporia Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 TGC was busier last season for sure. Last season we had a poll on areas of interest and we had 74 members who have cast their votes. This season, we have 28 members who have cast their votes on a similar post. That number might increase in the following days but I don't expect it to get even close to 74. However, this cannot be taken as an indication of decrease of applicants. This only shows that fewer members are active in this forum. Well I think we can all agree that there isn't deductive entailment such that (Less philosophy applicants active TGC) --> (Less philosophy applicants in general). But it seems like the antecedent at least helps provide a good reason, especially if there is other empirical evidence, for thinking that the consequent might be true. Having said that, I took a look at TGC forums for philosophy applicants in the 2014, 2013, & 2012 seasons, and it looks like last year's cohort was especially active for some reason. Ultimately, the only way to get reliable empirical evidence would be to get the applicant numbers from the DGS or someone like that, for the Fall 2015 season at the top 50 PGR departments (or at least like 15+ of them). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nastasya_Filippovna Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 Let's hope that we on the Grad School Cafe are the ONLY people apply to any phd programs in philosophy! (HA...HA) PreciselyTerrified, brettmullga and Infinite Zest 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overoverover Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Okay, strangest nightmare I've had about this process: In the dream, I was accepted to every school. Not just the schools I applied to, but EVERY school. Then when all the schools found out, they got offended that I was considering all of the other schools and rescinded the offers. I really want the semester to begin so I can think about something beside admissions! Ritwik, reixis, a_for_aporia and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psm1580b Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Hi, I'm a new person waves I haven't had any nightmares per se, however I have woken up in several cold sweats panicking about whether or not I remembered to send in the correct copies of whatever-damn-piece-of-paper-that-was or somesuch. This is not good for my heart. I'm desperately wanting this process to be over now. Good, bad--doesn't matter. Just over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overoverover Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Hi, I'm a new personwaves I haven't had any nightmares per se, however I have woken up in several cold sweats panicking about whether or not I remembered to send in the correct copies of whatever-damn-piece-of-paper-that-was or somesuch. This is not good for my heart. I'm desperately wanting this process to be over now. Good, bad--doesn't matter. Just over. I went through my apps again a few nights ago. Didn't find any mistakes but it still didn't settle my nerves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kant_get_in Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I went through my apps again a few nights ago. Didn't find any mistakes but it still didn't settle my nerves. I found a typo in my writing sample. I suppose I should just give up. Infinite Zest and brettmullga 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isostheneia Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Hi, I'm a new person waves I haven't had any nightmares per se, however I have woken up in several cold sweats panicking about whether or not I remembered to send in the correct copies of whatever-damn-piece-of-paper-that-was or somesuch. This is not good for my heart. I'm desperately wanting this process to be over now. Good, bad--doesn't matter. Just over. Very cool to see that your primary interest is in space and time. Wish I knew more about what's being done these days in that field. Welcome. I'd also encourage any lurkers on this site to make an account, stop in, and say hello. It's always nice to see who'll be sharing in our collective anxiety/nightmares over the next few months. a_for_aporia 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_for_aporia Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I found a typo in my writing sample. I suppose I should just give up. Then I'd have to give up twice! a_for_aporia 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overoverover Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Then I'd have to give up twice! Obviously typos aren't great. However, think about how fast committees have to read samples. Odds are they'll overlook a single minor typo, and if they do notice they probably won't care too much. So don't worry if you're able! a_for_aporia 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
overoverover Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Very cool to see that your primary interest is in space and time. Wish I knew more about what's being done these days in that field. Welcome. I'd also encourage any lurkers on this site to make an account, stop in, and say hello. It's always nice to see who'll be sharing in our collective anxiety/nightmares over the next few months. Seconded. TGC is great for commiseration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a_for_aporia Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Obviously typos aren't great. However, think about how fast committees have to read samples. Odds are they'll overlook a single minor typo, and if they do notice they probably won't care too much. So don't worry if you're able! Thanks. They're both in a fairly long footnote, so hopefully I'll be okay. But I'm sure I will go 0/12 anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catria Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Thanks. They're both in a fairly long footnote, so hopefully I'll be okay. But I'm sure I will go 0/12 anyway I hope not, if the collapse in the applicant pool alluded to earlier is real... a_for_aporia 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ineedwine Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Hello all, I discovered this forum a few days ago while looking forward to my rejections. I thought I'd create an account seeing as how I'll probably be stopping by until the end of notifications. A bit about myself: 3.6 undergrad GPA at a UC, though my major was in the social sciences 3.93 GPA for my MA studies in Philosophy at a state school GRE scores were 163V/150Q/5.0A No publications I applied to 11 programs: U. Oregon, Michigan State, Penn State, Vanderbilt, Marquette, Stony Brook, U. Memphis, Emory, Berkeley (Rhetoric), W. Ontario (Theory and Criticism), and Binghamton (Comp Lit) Looking forward to another month or so of relaxation before I have to think about getting in the thick of things again. Wow, you seem to be remarkably similar to me! I'm also applying to W. Ontario's theory and criticism program. That's the first I've heard of someone else applying there. Good luck to us both! We should probably be friends, I assume you are into continental philosophy and critical theory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ineedwine Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 One of the application systems has two different spots to upload writing samples... but as far as I can tell (and I double-checked) they only want one sample. The system won't let me leave the second spot empty. Do I upload the same sample twice? I was so prepared to pay, click submit, and be done. Argh. Was it University of Oregon? I noticed they had two places to upload a writing sample. I just uploaded it twice. I figured it couldn't hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armchair_revolutionary Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Wow, you seem to be remarkably similar to me! I'm also applying to W. Ontario's theory and criticism program. That's the first I've heard of someone else applying there. Good luck to us both! We should probably be friends, I assume you are into continental philosophy and critical theory? I don't know, bro, it makes me suspicious as to whether you are truly into critical theory if you are trying to make friends. I kid. Your areas of interest look nearly identical to mine. I wish you well in your applications. Who knows, perhaps I'll see you at Michigan State, Oregon, or UWO. By the way, I have a few friends attending A&M and they say great things about the program, particularly Tommy Curry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armchair_revolutionary Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Wow, also to ineedwine, I have to apologize. I was just thinking the other day when I was looking at this forum how sad it is that is is mostly all male, which is one of the unfortunate circumstances of philosophy. The belief must have penetrated me so deeply that I did indeed start to think everyone here was a dude. How sad of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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