Philosophy and/or Polisci...???

My Name is Yon Yonson · May 11, 2009

I'd love to hear both polisciand philosophy majors advice on this.

I was looking at applying for both polisci and philosophy doctorate programs (Im a polisci major), butI'm not sure what graduate programs in philosophy require in general from their applicants(in terms having a background in philosophy). After this next fall semester I will have taken a basic logic course (intro), metaphsyics and epistemology, philosophical writing, cognition and culture (a PNPcourse), and 'problems in philosophy' (sort of an intro history of philosophy). But.. Is this enough to be seriously looked at by doctorate programs? I mean, if I am not looking at focusing on political philosophy and am more interested in continental philosophy in general (and existentialism in particular) will I not be taken seriously as a polisci major?

Help, anyone?

billiam345 · May 11, 2009

Hi, I'll give you my two cents.

I can tell where you're attending based on the courses you listed -- I'm about to graduate from the same place with a philosophy degree, and I'll be going to grad school for poli sci in the fall.

I was in a similar position during the last round of applications, not really knowing whether I'd rather be in a philosophy or political science department. I ended up applying to both, and had far greater success at getting into poli sci programs (despite having taken only a couple of poli sci courses). Based on my experience (I took many upper level phil courses and got A's in them), I would think you'd have trouble getting into philosophy programs, especially compared to your prospects in poli sci. Of course, if you had a really fantastic writing sample and great recommendations from philosophy (not poli sci) professors, you might be able to overcome this, but I'd keep this in mind when applying.

If you are certain you want to do political philosophy, I suspect that a poli sci program might be more feasible (and apply to more philosophical programs like Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Virginia, etc.). However, if you're not sure of this, then a philosophy program might be what you want, in which case you should take several upper level philosophy courses next semester and knock them out of the park (and pick up a couple of recommendations along the way).