2016 Waitlist Thread

[dgswaim]

I would have used a thesis chapter, but I only had one chapter complete and it's 32 pages long, and I didn't like the idea of breaking it up. I went with a paper on models and the intersection of pragmatism and realism in their deployment.

[currentphilgrad]

5 hours ago, designer peirce said:

Ah, this thread clears up a lot. I got an email from Indiana's HPS department that was very positive but disconcertingly ambiguous. When I showed the message to my letter-writers, they all interpreted it as saying I was accepted, but on a waiting list for a fellowship.

The DGS didn't clarify when I responded, though I didn't push on the matter, since she said she'd be sending more info. I heard from her on the 2nd, so I guess I can infer from the information here that it wasn't an acceptance. What a letdown.

I'm kind of curious what your waitlist letter said. Mine was filled with the typical superlatives that come with letters of this kind, but there was nothing to indicate that this was anything other than a form letter.

[designer peirce]

11 hours ago, currentphilgrad said:

I'm kind of curious what your waitlist letter said. Mine was filled with the typical superlatives that come with letters of this kind, but there was nothing to indicate that this was anything other than a form letter.

It said they were very impressed with my portfolio and I was on a waiting list for a fellowship, which she would hopefully tell me more about soon. I read it as being waitlisted before showing it to my references/our DGS; there wasn't anything particularly unusual about it, so it wouldn't surprise me if we got the same message. 

[philosophe]

WL at Arizona! sweet.

[MentalEngineer]

On 2/8/2016 at 7:07 PM, psm1580b said:

It's funny you say that, a lot of people tell you to use your "best" work--regardless if it is in the area you wish to research. For a M.A. person, that's probably your thesis. It's what you've spent your most time on and had probably the most significant feedback from peers and faculty. Last year that's what I used. I submitted a paper that was really not at all related to the people that I was hoping to work with. This year I switched it up and submitted a paper that was within philosophy of physics. 

Last year: 15 rejections.

This year (so far) one HPS program waitlist.

This is clearly not enough data to form a conclusion from, but it is definitely pointing in a particular direction. 

Of course, another interpretation is that last year I was not graduated and therefore what they were receiving in my application was not actually complete. This year, there remain no questions about my last two semesters of performance. (I've always wondered if this played any role at all...)

I changed my writing sample as well and also went from a thesis chunk to an original piece. My intuition, though, is that success has less to do with fit and more with quality. Writing about something I was genuinely interested in exploring and saw as a critical element of a broader research program made this year's WS much better as a paper than the thesis chunk I defaulted to last year because it happened to be the best thing I had. That writing about something which interests me also does a better job of showing my fit for programs that I want to be in seems like less of a factor than the jump in quality between the two topics.

[psm1580b]

2 minutes ago, MentalEngineer said:

I changed my writing sample as well and also went from a thesis chunk to an original piece. My intuition, though, is that success has less to do with fit and more with quality. Writing about something I was genuinely interested in exploring and saw as a critical element of a broader research program made this year's WS much better as a paper than the thesis chunk I defaulted to last year because it happened to be the best thing I had. That writing about something which interests me also does a better job of showing my fit for programs that I want to be in seems like less of a factor than the jump in quality between the two topics.

Something else that comes out in the quality of the writing is your interest in the topic. I passed my thesis defense no problem and graduated. But one person who read my thesis (after much writing-sample shortening/editing) looked at me and said, "You hate this topic, don't you?" 

Well. That told me everything I needed to know. 

[MentalEngineer]

1 hour ago, psm1580b said:

Something else that comes out in the quality of the writing is your interest in the topic. I passed my thesis defense no problem and graduated. But one person who read my thesis (after much writing-sample shortening/editing) looked at me and said, "You hate this topic, don't you?" 

Well. That told me everything I needed to know. 

My thesis defense was basically all three committee members saying "You know you're done with this topic. We know you're done with this topic. We'll ask you a few questions that we know you have answers to because we've heard you complaining about how unhelpful the answers are for weeks, and then you can start working on something interesting."

Edited February 9, 2016 by MentalEngineer

[dgswaim]

On the waiting list at Penn. Come on, Michael Weisberg! You know you wanna direct my dissertation!!!

[philosophe]

2 minutes ago, dgswaim said:

On the waiting list at Penn. Come on, Michael Weisberg! You know you wanna direct my dissertation!!!

Congrats!!! 

[psm1580b]

If anyone, like me, needs a little good news, I took a look back at some prior results for Indiana HPS for 2015 and noticed that the number of posted WL's was equal to the number of acceptances (+1 who was accepted off WL and declined). So, there's a little bit of positive news for those of us who were WL'd...

[dgswaim]

Ahhhh!!!!!!! I need an outright acceptance!!! I mean, the positive reaults I've had are nice and all, but they don't make me feel terribly secure about the future of myself and my family.

[designer peirce]

Waitlisted for UVA. I had a moment of deep horror when I received an email from Elizabeth Barnes and realized I never mentioned that one of my primary research interests is disability studies. I'd been generally advised not to mention that interest in my statements (because it's far apart from my other pursuits) but I don't know why I didn't bring it up for this specific case.  

I mean, her work on that was among the reasons I was interested in the department. A good example, perhaps, of why sleep deprivation is bad for PhD applications. Still, I'm pretty jazzed to be considered at all. 

[Dialectica]

Anyone else curious why we haven't had a normal, non-fellowship acceptance from Virginia, but we've got waitlists started already? That seems strange to me. I could totally be missing something though.

[MVSCZAR]

13 hours ago, dgswaim said:

Ahhhh!!!!!!! I need an outright acceptance!!! I mean, the positive reaults I've had are nice and all, but they don't make me feel terribly secure about the future of myself and my family.

You got it. 

[dgswaim]

8 minutes ago, MVSCZAR said:

You got it. 

Wouldn't let me upvote anymore today, but I upvote this.

[dgswaim]

4 hours ago, designer peirce said:

Waitlisted for UVA. I had a moment of deep horror when I received an email from Elizabeth Barnes and realized I never mentioned that one of my primary research interests is disability studies. I'd been generally advised not to mention that interest in my statements (because it's far apart from my other pursuits) but I don't know why I didn't bring it up for this specific case.  

I mean, her work on that was among the reasons I was interested in the department. A good example, perhaps, of why sleep deprivation is bad for PhD applications. Still, I'm pretty jazzed to be considered at all. 

You're smart enough to know that Zoidberg is f***ing hilarious, therefore you are not dumb and should not feel dumb.

[philosophe]

4 hours ago, designer peirce said:

Waitlisted for UVA. I had a moment of deep horror when I received an email from Elizabeth Barnes and realized I never mentioned that one of my primary research interests is disability studies. I'd been generally advised not to mention that interest in my statements (because it's far apart from my other pursuits) but I don't know why I didn't bring it up for this specific case.  

I mean, her work on that was among the reasons I was interested in the department. A good example, perhaps, of why sleep deprivation is bad for PhD applications. Still, I'm pretty jazzed to be considered at all. 

Why not mention it when you email her to say thanks for the WL? Perfect opportunity to bring it up!

[designer peirce]

3 hours ago, dgswaim said:

You're smart enough to know that Zoidberg is f***ing hilarious, therefore you are not dumb and should not feel dumb.

Aww, thanks. 

3 hours ago, philosophe said:

Why not mention it when you email her to say thanks for the WL? Perfect opportunity to bring it up!

I'm worried it's going to seem disingenuous/tacked-on because that work is so far from my other interests. But maybe I should go for it. 

[jjb919]

A waitlist has been posted for Boulder on the results page. Anyone want to claim it?

My chances are getting slimmer.

[spirograph]

3 hours ago, jjb919 said:

A waitlist has been posted for Boulder on the results page. Anyone want to claim it?

My chances are getting slimmer.

I'm the second posted Boulder waitlist. The person who emailed me was frank about my chances not looking good.

[jjb919]

Just now, spirograph said:

I'm the second posted Boulder waitlist. The person who emailed me was frank about my chances not looking good.

Thanks for the info! I'm not sure whether it's refreshing that the email was upfront and honest about your chances, or distressing in that the clear implication is that you might as well have been rejected.

[currentphilgrad]

Waitlisted at Irvine! I am queen of the waitlists! Now I just need to become queen of the acceptances...

[dgswaim]

I want to get in off the Penn waiting list so bad. I'm cool, Penn. Seriously. I'll like, buy you beer and give you foot rubs and stuff.

[currentphilgrad]

22 minutes ago, dgswaim said:

I want to get in off the Penn waiting list so bad. I'm cool, Penn. Seriously. I'll like, buy you beer and give you foot rubs and stuff.

Then here's the plan. Get everyone who was accepted to Penn to reject. Then get everyone on the waitlist to reject except for you. Then they'll have no choice but to go to the pool of people that they were going to reject (which includes me) and they'll accept me. Then you and I both get to go to Penn! Deal?

[dgswaim]

13 minutes ago, currentphilgrad said:

Then here's the plan. Get everyone who was accepted to Penn to reject. Then get everyone on the waitlist to reject except for you. Then they'll have no choice but to go to the pool of people that they were going to reject (which includes me) and they'll accept me. Then you and I both get to go to Penn! Deal?

Do we have to kill anyone? Don't get me wrong; I'm not objecting to instrumental killing. Just trying to square away the details.