Philosophy Graduate Conference

[philapp]

Hi everyone, 

 

I am philosophy graduate student outside the state, and planning to send a paper to one of philosophy graduate conferences (ex. Harvard-MIT graduate Conference in Philosophy). I was just wondering how prestigious are these conferences, and how good it is if one's paper gets accepted into one of these conferences. More precisely, is it something that good that you should mention in your CV? Does it indicate that it is also highly probable that you can also publish the paper in a good philosophy journal?

Thank you in advance for your insights. 

Edited November 27, 2014 by philapp

[maxhgns]

Most grad conferences are harder to get into than most professional conferences. For those at fancy schools especially, the competition is incredibly stiff (and the number of available slots much smaller). It definitely goes on your CV (all conference activity should). And it shows that the paper's got potential. If you can conference it regularly, that's a good sign that you can try publishing a longer version.

[overoverover]

I don't know how true it is that most grad conferences are harder to be accepted to than most professional conferences, but that doesn't really matter.

Going to conferences is a wonderful way to get feedback on a project. Plus, after attending a conference or workshop, I always feel incredibly motivated to work out my ideas in more detail.

[NathanKellen]

Hi there, maybe I can shed some extra light. I just organised a graduate conference at UConn last month and I've been to and presented at multiple other graduate conferences (presented at Brown and Western), so I've seen both sides.

 

As maxhgns notes, most graduate conferences are harder to get into than professional conferences (I know this because I have organised both, and talked to many other professors as well). The reason for this is that most graduate conferences are open-topic, which means that you get a lot more submissions, while almost all professional conferences are on a very narrow topic (and so you get far fewer), the exceptions being stuff like the APA, CPA, AAPA, etc. The organisers of the Brown conference the year I presented said they received over 80 submissions and chose 6. Comparatively, the UConn Logic Group conference last April received 10 submissions, and accepted 3. Sometimes conferences choose a broader theme rather than something very narrow, e.g. UConn's solo grad conference this year was on "Realism and Anti-Realism" in any area of philosophy, and these receive more submissions than the especially narrow topics, but less than the open (we received 35 and accepted 4).

 

That being said, don't mistake competition for quality, perceived or otherwise. Just because you get into a grad conference doesn't necessarily mean your paper is amazing, nor does it mean that you'll be able to publish it. Like maxhgns notes, getting into several with the same paper and using all that feedback is a good sign that you're on your way though. Similarly, getting your paper rejected doesn't necessarily mean it's bad - I and my co-organiser had to reject several papers that we liked this year for a variety of reasons (e.g. not enough slots, too long to feasibly present in allotted time, off topic). So if you get rejected, don't give up hope.

 

You should definitely put grad conferences on your CV, but note that they're not super impressive. More important than a line on the CV is networking with other grads and professors working on the same area and getting feedback on your work which will lead to improvements. The line (or multiple) won't get you a job, but coming out of workshopping a paper and making it a publication might.

 

Hope this helps! If you have any specific questions, feel free to post them here, email me (nathan.kellen@gmail.com) or PM me.

[philapp]

Thank you all for your insights. I have never submitted to any conference, even didn't know that I can submit to multiple conferences at the same time, and would receive feedback on my work, which is quite valuable. Thanks again. 

Edited November 28, 2014 by philapp