2017 Applicants - Intro

[hector549]

Hi everyone,

This is my first time applying. It's been a couple of years since I finished my undergrad. Age 30 is rapidly approaching, and I'm very ready to get going on this next step before I'm too damn old.

I'm applying to a range of mid-ranked PGR doctoral programs, and PGR MA programs (~10).

Areas of interest are broadly: ethics, philosophy of science, philosophy of mind.

Currently working on my sample, juggling my full time job, and stressing. At least the GRE is done..

[Schopenhauerfanboy]

A fellow applicant for Fall 2017:

Applying to the following programs:
Syracuse, Western Ontario, McGill, Toronto, Baylor, Purdue, St. Louis, Boston U, Johns Hopkins, British Columbia, UT Knoxville, and New Mexico.

B.A. GPA 3.9, M.A. GPA 3.9, 8 peer-reviewed conferences, two publications, good letters from full profs at top-5 Canadian MA program. Unimpressive GRE though, and quant score is bad(!) GREs 5.5 AW, 161 Verbal, 144 Quant. Hoping that my quantitative score won't sink my academic ship. 

 

[Swann]

1 hour ago, Schopenhauerfanboy said:

A fellow applicant for Fall 2017:

Applying to the following programs:
Syracuse, Western Ontario, McGill, Toronto, Baylor, Purdue, St. Louis, Boston U, Johns Hopkins, British Columbia, UT Knoxville, and New Mexico.

B.A. GPA 3.9, M.A. GPA 3.9, 8 peer-reviewed conferences, two publications, good letters from full profs at top-5 Canadian MA program. Unimpressive GRE though, and quant score is bad(!) GREs 5.5 AW, 161 Verbal, 144 Quant. Hoping that my quantitative score won't sink my academic ship. 

 

just out of curiosity...what do you mean by "peer-reviewed conferences"?

[Duns Eith]

8 minutes ago, Swann said:

just out of curiosity...what do you mean by "peer-reviewed conferences"?

Yeah, the phrase sounds odd. Maybe he means that the paper was accepted on a competitive, blind-review process? Or that peers gave comments/chaired the conference?

If so, I think Western Michigan University's annual Grad Conference would be a paradigm case of a conference with these qualities!  Remember to submit your papers next August!

[Schopenhauerfanboy]

24 minutes ago, Swann said:

just out of curiosity...what do you mean by "peer-reviewed conferences"?

A conference for which there was a blind, peer-review admission process (i.e. tenured profs reviewed the papers etc). The International Association for Philosophy and Literature's annual congress, meetings of the Canadian Philosophical Association, etc.

Perhaps there's another term available (?), but I'm not familiar with it.

[Swann]

10 hours ago, Schopenhauerfanboy said:

A conference for which there was a blind, peer-review admission process (i.e. tenured profs reviewed the papers etc). The International Association for Philosophy and Literature's annual congress, meetings of the Canadian Philosophical Association, etc.

Perhaps there's another term available (?), but I'm not familiar with it.

Oh ok, that makes sense. Thank you. 

I am used to only hearing people talk about "Student Conferences," which are grad or undergrad (or both) level conferences, or "Professional Conferences" that include professors, researchers, students, etc.

anyway, nice job presenting at so many. I would think (though I do not know for certain) that that would help your chances of admission somewhat.

[Schopenhauerfanboy]

1 hour ago, Swann said:

Oh ok, that makes sense. Thank you. 

I am used to only hearing people talk about "Student Conferences," which are grad or undergrad (or both) level conferences, or "Professional Conferences" that include professors, researchers, students, etc.

anyway, nice job presenting at so many. I would think (though I do not know for certain) that that would help your chances of admission somewhat.

Professional Conference would by a synonym here then!

And, thanks, I'm hoping that they will count for something in the eyes of admissions committees ! 

[Bryterlayter]

Hi all, I don't have much to mention in the way of Phds but I thought I'd offer some help. A bunch of you mentioned that you were applying to New Mexico this season and I did my undergrad in philosophy there and spent a lot of time with the grad students and took some of the graduate level classes if you have any questions, you're welcome to message me.

[Duns Eith]

Bryterlayter, that's a good idea.

I'll make myself available as well: I am currently at Western Michigan University's MA program. Feel free to ask via PM if you have questions. It's a tight-knit community with good placement records and a faculty who want you to flourish. If you have interest in analytic philosophy, you'll enjoy it here.

[unitstructures]

Hello everyone-

Musicology applicant here. Ten schools: NYU, CUNY, Columbia, Pittsburgh, Duke, UNT, Princeton, Illinois, and Northwestern. Got in UNT already. Anxiously waiting for the others.

Applied spontaneously to a masters program last year, got in, but decided to wait and go straight for PhD instead.

I did my masters at NYU Steinhardt and undergrad at CU Boulder, both in music, if anyone has questions.

Wishing everyone the best.

[Duns Eith]

3 hours ago, unitstructures said:

Hello everyone-

Musicology applicant here. Ten schools: NYU, CUNY, Columbia, Pittsburgh, Duke, UNT, Princeton, Illinois, and Northwestern. Got in UNT already. Anxiously waiting for the others.

Applied spontaneously to a masters program last year, got in, but decided to wait and go straight for PhD instead.

I did my masters at NYU Steinhardt and undergrad at CU Boulder, both in music, if anyone has questions.

Wishing everyone the best.

Hi! Welcome to TheGradCafe. There are a lot of sub forums here, so it is easy to get things mixed up if you are new here. Turns out you have posted in the subforum for Philosophy, but you are studying Musicology. It's okay.

I think you want to post here instead:

http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/81-music/

Feel free to introduce yourself there too!

Edited December 28, 2016 by Turretin

[unitstructures]

Oops! Thanks for the friendly heads up.

Best wishes to all philosophy applicants.

Bye now!

 

[Duns Eith]

22 hours ago, unitstructures said:

Oops! Thanks for the friendly heads up.

Best wishes to all philosophy applicants.

Bye now!

 

No problem! I hope the Musicology program is welcoming and you get support there! Tschüß!

[MentalEngineer]

In the vein of Bryterlater and Turretin, I'm happy to answer questions about either UW-Milwaukee or Florida State.

[753982]

I've been lurking, so I decided to go ahead and take the plunge and register. I'm applying to a range of programs as someone with a BA from an unprestigious state school. I applied to several PhD programs in the PGR report, ranging from T15 programs to programs in the 30-50 range, and am also applying to some terminal MA programs in anticipation of being shut-out entirely from PhDs. I'm eager to see how things go, and am happy to be about done with filling out (and paying for) applications like the rest of you.

Edited January 16, 2017 by 753982

[majorshake]

Hey team,

Reapplying this year after an educational but unsuccessful season last year.

Back then I was applying while almost done with my MA and with okay references. My GPA was 4.0 from a pretty well regarded department in Australasia.

Main difference is that I have finished the MA and done exceedingly well, I have better references (including one new referee who is well known to all of the programs I'm applying for), and I have a lot more teaching experience (a few papers under review in good journals doesn't hurt either, I hope - but nothing published yet). 

I'm applying to Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Toronto, DePaul and Villanova. Hoping someone will take, but not heartbroken if they don't - my backup plans are Monash and University of Sydney, both of which are much closer to home, and both of which are excellent places for what I want to do (+ no coursework, yay!)

Good luck to everyone

[goldenstardust11]

Welcome to both! @majorshake, you've got an interesting assortment of schools on your list - what's your AOI if you don't mind my asking? 

[majorshake]

6 hours ago, goldenstardust11 said:

Welcome to both! @majorshake, you've got an interesting assortment of schools on your list - what's your AOI if you don't mind my asking? 

I'm torn between two loves - history of philosophy (especially early modern and medieval) and political philosophy (especially critical theory approaches to politics). The way I put it in my SoP: I'm interested in the background to Kant's development (esp. Descartes, Hume, Leibniz and Spinoza) and the way his influence was picked up later on (esp. Hegel, Arendt, Frankfurt School). 

If I stay in Australia, I have a project developing on virtue and emotions in early modern philosophy (looking at Descartes, Margaret Cavendish, and either Walter Charleton or John Smith [or both]). 

[goldenstardust11]

1 hour ago, majorshake said:

I'm torn between two loves - history of philosophy (especially early modern and medieval) and political philosophy (especially critical theory approaches to politics). The way I put it in my SoP: I'm interested in the background to Kant's development (esp. Descartes, Hume, Leibniz and Spinoza) and the way his influence was picked up later on (esp. Hegel, Arendt, Frankfurt School). 

If I stay in Australia, I have a project developing on virtue and emotions in early modern philosophy (looking at Descartes, Margaret Cavendish, and either Walter Charleton or John Smith [or both]). 

Ah, very cool. We have some overlapping interests, then. I'm especially interested in the relationship between Kant and Hegel, but I've also enjoyed studying the relationship between Kant and Hume  Good luck with the season!!! 

[majorshake]

3 hours ago, goldenstardust11 said:

Ah, very cool. We have some overlapping interests, then. I'm especially interested in the relationship between Kant and Hegel, but I've also enjoyed studying the relationship between Kant and Hume  Good luck with the season!!! 

Oh neat!
I see from your earlier post you're applying to some of the same schools!

Good luck to you too - maybe we'll meet in person come September.

[Kingoftherats]

Hi out there,

I recently finished submitting the last of my doctoral applications and am now allowing myself to spend some time on this site. Not looking forward to all the waiting ahead, but glad to have tgc to obsess over.

Hoping that everyone's hard work pays off! 

[dgswaim]

7 hours ago, Kingoftherats said:

Hi out there,

I recently finished submitting the last of my doctoral applications and am now allowing myself to spend some time on this site. Not looking forward to all the waiting ahead, but glad to have tgc to obsess over.

Hoping that everyone's hard work pays off! 

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about Cincinnati, Utah, or Notre Dame. I visited all three last year and might have info that could be helpful to you in making decisions!

[Kingoftherats]

7 hours ago, dgswaim said:

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about Cincinnati, Utah, or Notre Dame. I visited all three last year and might have info that could be helpful to you in making decisions!

Thanks! You are most kind. I will take you up on that offer if/when the time comes for me to make decisions. 

[samori]

Hi folks - I'm another first year PhD after a successful (but wild) application season last year. I'd be happy to answer any possible questions anyone might have about the whole process, so please feel free to PM me!

[Tecumseh Valley]

Applying to 14 programs at 13 schools (Ohio State, Northwestern, U Chicago (both Philos and Committee on Social Thought), Columbia, UConn, Oregon, Michigan, Stanford, Berkeley, Oxford, Maryland, Emory).

Have an MA in Philos from many years ago and a lot of teaching experience

AOS - aesthetics