Fall 2016 Applicants: Introduce Yourselves

[sidebysondheim]

I should have been more clear: I'd look at a strong philosophy terminal MA with a recorded history of getting people into a top program (e.g., UW Milwaukee, Brandeis, Georgia State, Tufts, etc). Brown, I suppose, is not high on the list (gourmet report), but still in top 25, which are very hard to get into. I think it's worth reiterating that philosophy PhD programs are ridiculously competitive overall. Many qualified students get shut out and while you may be very good, your complete lack of formal philosophy background will probably be a major barrier. The way to circumvent that, IMO, is to go to a top philosophy terminal MA. One way of viewing this is not necessarily to focus on the research you're ultimately interested in doing, but playing catch up learning philosophical methodology, major texts, etc. and generally filling any holes in your philosophical background. 

Sorry if any of that came off rude, just trying to be as clear as possible.

[panpsychist]

On October 11, 2015 at 2:43:51 PM, gughok said:

Hey everybody,

I've heard TGC has been quiet this year but I thought I'd try to make my contribution. I haven't actually decided if I'm applying for this cycle - I'm currently trying to choose between going for it or taking a year off, which is quite the conundrum.

I'm a fourth-year Linguistics and Philosophy major at Cornell, though I started out studying Physics and waded through some Math. I'd really love to work on philosophy of mind and AI at somewhere like NYU or Rutgers but I don't fancy my chances much at the moment.

One question: signatures? I saw instructions somewhere for how to make one, but I couldn't figure it out, and I saw elsewhere that they've been disabled.

Apparently you figured out how to do signatures. Your writing sample sounds extremely interesting. Has something to do with the zombie argument, I assume?

[gughok]

On 11/24/2015, 2:16:03, panpsychist said:

Apparently you figured out how to do signatures. Your writing sample sounds extremely interesting. Has something to do with the zombie argument, I assume?

Yes! It's still a really rough work in progress (I've only gotten one round of proper feedback and my professors have gone silent =/) but the gist is that I argue all those arguments are just more intuitions and not really arguments. I take it by your name that you do philosophy of mind?

[panpsychist]

On November 25, 2015 at 8:00:03 PM, gughok said:

Yes! It's still a really rough work in progress (I've only gotten one round of proper feedback and my professors have gone silent =/) but the gist is that I argue all those arguments are just more intuitions and not really arguments. I take it by your name that you do philosophy of mind?

That sounds really interesting, and quite honestly I have the same impression toward those arguments (I think the Knowledge Argument is the strongest one). I would really like to read your work. And yes, philosophy of mind is one of my interests. 

[UnAltroEgitto]

Good day everyone. I am a soon-to-be applicant to a Ph.D. program in the U.S. Actually, as of yet, none of my applications is ready, and I am still wondering if I should take the GRE test again just in time for abiding with the deadlines (by the way, I just opened a thread with some impressions of my GRE experience, If you are curious.)

I am Italian, educated in Italy, and I have devoted my B.A. to contemporary Philosophy while my M.A. has solely revolved around Math Logic, and this is now my only field of interest, together with A.I. (not to be confused with Philosophy of Mind, though) and Natural Language Processing. Indeed, I am about to complete a Master's degree in Big Data Analytics and at the moment I am working as a researcher on some neural network applications.

Last year I submitted four applications to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and was admitted in all of them, but after spending a long and excoriating time racking my brain on whether to accept or turn down the offers, I decided to enroll in the above-stated master program instead, and only now I am ready to send new thoughtful applications.

My M.A. thesis took me almost three years to write and was advised both by the Philosophy and Mathematics Departments. It was about some abstruse Model Theoretic theorem and its systemic implication.

I know it may sound presumptuous, but I will apply to the MiT, Carnegie Mellon, Irvine, Davis, Texas and, maybe, UGA programs. For those with a strong penchant in Logic, the choice is limited to the Departments that have a dedicated path, and one cannot be cautious enough in looking for the right faculty members that are capable of providing adequate interest in supervision (in this regard, U of Washington, U of British Columbia, and few others, when contacted, have told me they won't be able to follow me, i.e. they are not interested.)

That's pretty much it for now, glad to have met this site!

[Cromulent Flurp]

Hi, 

I've just started a PhD at a New Zealand university and am applying to US PhD programmes this round.

I applied to ten programmes last year while doing my MA, and wasn't accepted anywhere. I was waitlisted at a PGR top-10 school and at a PGR top-25 school, which said it expected to make me an offer, which didn't eventuate. I'm hoping that my chances will be better now that I have my Master's and a couple of publications, one in a top-40 journal that's the leading journal in the field, and another in a specialist ethics journal that's again the leading journal in its area. I'm using one of the publications as a writing sample. 

I study ethics in general, especially metaethics. 

I'm applying to (in no particular order) USC, UC Boulder, Princeton, Michigan, Cornell, UC San Diego, NYU, Brown, Yale, Berkeley, WashU, and Duke. 

If I don't get in anywhere this round I'll work on going to Oxford, where a good professor said he'd be happy to supervise me. 

[NathanKellen]

On 12/4/2015, 12:49:11, UnAltroEgitto said:

I know it may sound presumptuous, but I will apply to the MiT, Carnegie Mellon, Irvine, Davis, Texas and, maybe, UGA programs. For those with a strong penchant in Logic, the choice is limited to the Departments that have a dedicated path, and one cannot be cautious enough in looking for the right faculty members that are capable of providing adequate interest in supervision (in this regard, U of Washington, U of British Columbia, and few others, when contacted, have told me they won't be able to follow me, i.e. they are not interested.)

That's pretty much it for now, glad to have met this site!

You may be interested in applying to UConn. We are, in my pretty biased opinion, one of the best places to work on logic in the world. We have a number of folks working on logic in the philosophy department, as well as in the maths and linguistics departments. Everyone comes together in an active interdisciplinary logic group, which you can learn about here: http://logic.uconn.edu/.

You should also consider Notre Dame, which has a strong logic program across multiple departments as well. I don't know much about whether CUNY has connections between departments, but they have several logicians doing very good technical work in logic, including Joel David Hamkins, who is a professor in both maths and philosophy.

[UnAltroEgitto]

On 6/12/2015 at 7:11 AM, NathanKellen said:

You may be interested in applying to UConn. We are, in my pretty biased opinion, one of the best places to work on logic in the world. We have a number of folks working on logic in the philosophy department, as well as in the maths and linguistics departments. Everyone comes together in an active interdisciplinary logic group, which you can learn about here: http://logic.uconn.edu/.

You should also consider Notre Dame, which has a strong logic program across multiple departments as well. I don't know much about whether CUNY has connections between departments, but they have several logicians doing very good technical work in logic, including Joel David Hamkins, who is a professor in both maths and philosophy.

Thank you, Nathan. I have looked into the programs you suggested, and I find them really interesting. I think that, with the sole exception of Notre Dame, CUNY and UConn do mirror my range of interests, and thus, I will most likely apply to both Departments.

Thanks again for the hint and the info. UConn, in particular, looks like a very desirable place to work on logic indeed.

[StFrancisXavier]

I'm a recent graduate with an MA from a Canadian Master's program.  I have a publication in a well respected Canadian Law journal, and was underwhelming on the GRE with a 162, 155, 4.5. First few applications sent out, all that's left to do is cross my fingers and pray!

[D-NixRT]

Hello everyone!

I just graduated with a BA in philosophy from a school not known for philosophy. Before philosophy, I was a delinquent and a slacker in school, so I'm pretty surprised I became as entrenched in academia as I've been. My GPA is only a 3.4 (my Phil GPA is something like a 3.8) and my GRE scores are less than desirable (only thing worth mentioning is a 5.5 on analytic), but I consider myself a hard worker now. I'm hoping to get into a Ph.D program somewhere in the midwest, particularly UW-Madison, and I know it's a long shot. I have a publication under me in philosophical counseling, and I've had some experience lecturing already. I've taken (literally) every single phil class offered at my school, plus a ton of independent studies with professors (4 or 5, I lost count), so I'm hoping I have an adequate philosophical background for applications. Here's hoping I get lucky!

My favorite subjects are in personal identity, philosophy of science, and logic. I'm interested in exploring the metaphysics of gender, but I'm not fond of feminist philosophy, so I'm often hesitant to dig for reading material. Dan Dennett is one of my favorite philosophers, with John Perry a second, and I typically prefer contemporary philosophers to the big names throughout history.

I really want a Ph.D, but I don't aspire to be some world-changing philosopher. I'm perfectly happy becoming a professor and teaching -- being responsible for that eureka! moment that I got in my first philosophy classes.

[AnotherKantFan]

Hi! 

I know I'm particularly late to this discussion, but maybe I'll be able to revive it a bit! I'm graduating from Oxford this spring and I'm applying to 8 North American PhDs and a few masters in Europe. As for the American/Canadian programs, it's going to be, in order of preference: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, UC Berkeley, UChicago, Brown, Toronto, Cornell. I'm mainly interested in Kant (his theoretical philosophy and ethics) and epistemology; also in political philosophy and aesthetics/philosophy of literature. 

[philstudent1991]

All I want for Christmas is a PhD admission!  

[gughok]

39 minutes ago, philstudent1991 said:

All I want for Christmas is a PhD admission!  

I just want to ask Santa to finish my applications for me, this is brutal.

[New Applicant]

1 minute ago, gughok said:

Me tooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

I just want to ask Santa to finish my applications for me, this is brutal.

 

[gza]

On 12/25/2015 at 1:08 PM, gughok said:

I just want to ask Santa to finish my applications for me, this is brutal.

Does anyone else find themselves nixing applications for certain departments as they get toward the home stretch?

Like, "Eh, fuck it. I'll just save $100."

[thatsjustsemantics]

29 minutes ago, gza said:

Does anyone else find themselves nixing applications for certain departments as they get toward the home stretch?

Like, "Eh, fuck it. I'll just save $100."

Yup. Those departments tend to be the ones I was iffy on to begin with . . . maybe if their apps weren't so expensive.

[offyerhst]

On 12/31/2015 at 9:02 AM, thatsjustsemantics said:

Yup. Those departments tend to be the ones I was iffy on to begin with . . . maybe if their apps weren't so expensive.

Exactly. 

[FoxAndChicken]

Hello! I just found this forum. Working on applications and decided to chat with people. I'll be updating my signature perhaps, but for now, I'm an undergraduate senior applying to mostly Philosophy programs (and Berkeley LMS). I'm actually a logic major, though. I'm interested in philosophical logic, philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, and decision theory. I already applied to Berkeley, Stanford, and Princeton. Still applying to Tufts MA program, Yale, MIT, Michigan, Brown, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, and Columbia. I only have a 3.5 GPA, (though my past two semesters were 4.0) on account of my major is about 1/3 math courses and the early math track did a number on my grades. (I probably wasn't prepared for college math, and the giant weeder classes here were pretty unsympathetic. My upper level math courses are better though, since they are more proof-based. My struggle was mainly with computational questions.) I have all A's in my philosophy courses, though, so that should help maybe. . . ? I've only taken one philosophy course that wasn't really formal, though. I'm taking two more of these next semester. I don't really want to order my preferences, on account of I will go to any program that accepts me. If I get accepted to more than one, then I'll figure that out. I anticipate having to work for a year and reapplying next fall, though.

[jjb919]

I just submitted my last application! Now the waiting game begins...

[SamStone]

ALL OF MY APPLICATIONS HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED! 

wow. I never thought that was going to be over. I have been thinking about this day since last may 

 

Good luck with everyone else finishing!

[dgswaim]

The worst part of being done with my applications is that I have no excuse not to work on my MA thesis.

[awdrgy]

Hey, as is evident, I've sold my entire livelihood with the distant hope of getting into a graduate program.

I was supposed to narrow down some programs, but I basically have decided to apply everywhere, which was either really stupid or really smart. Not sure which yet. There are definitely outstanding programs, but with my average GRE, no-name school, and niche, outlier interests I figured I'd cast a wide net.

I lean quite Continental and am also interested in Critical Theory and literary theory. I was drawn to heavy Continental programs, many not ranked on the PGR, but I looked carefully for publishing, teaching faculty in my AOIs. I applied to a couple of interdisciplinary programs, and I would be very pleased with either admit. Despite not finding much on the west (besides UO), I have a friend attending right now at UCI English, studying Marxism and Continental philosophy, so I tried to drop a few lines in UC though the UCI program is the main Marxist one where I feel I'd have a chance. I'd have done more English now if I had the chance, but I was pretty dead-set on "philosophy." I think my app is better for Philosophy, but there are definitely strong related programs in English for me.

Anyway, that's my story. More in the sig.

Edited January 7, 2016 by nilfunks
added

[awdrgy]

You people who have applied to UChicago Committee in Social Thought, was I supposed to have applied for that already? I specified that I was interested in my application, but I thought I read on the website that you were supposed to be admitted or something. Maybe I read that somewhere else. Now I see that they award you funding? How does that work? Are you admitted to the Committee alongside the program? Do you get extra funding, does it combine, or does it replace your funding?

Does anyone know if it is possible to apply to that after being accepted?

Damn.

[Glasperlenspieler]

1 hour ago, nilfunks said:

You people who have applied to UChicago Committee in Social Thought, was I supposed to have applied for that already? I specified that I was interested in my application, but I thought I read on the website that you were supposed to be admitted or something. Maybe I read that somewhere else. Now I see that they award you funding? How does that work? Are you admitted to the Committee alongside the program? Do you get extra funding, does it combine, or does it replace your funding?

Does anyone know if it is possible to apply to that after being accepted?

Damn.

The Committee on Social Thought in an independent PhD granting program at the University of Chicago. So to be admitted, you need to apply directly to the program, and unfortunately the deadline was December 15th (admissions details here)

That being said, there is also a philosophy and social thought joint program. So, for example, if you were admitted to the philosophy program, you could then apply to the joint program during your second year (see here).

 

[awdrgy]

2 hours ago, DerPhilosoph said:

The Committee on Social Thought in an independent PhD granting program at the University of Chicago. So to be admitted, you need to apply directly to the program, and unfortunately the deadline was December 15th (admissions details here)

That being said, there is also a philosophy and social thought joint program. So, for example, if you were admitted to the philosophy program, you could then apply to the joint program during your second year (see here).

 

oh, that must be what I read. Whew. That's what I was going for, thank you!