Rejection Thread

[hector549]

Rejected from UVA. Better to have some resolution I suppose..

[TBH9]

Rejected from Pitt - was emailed to check website. Kind enough as these things go.

[eigenname]

UCSD tried to sneak a 2am rejection past me, but there's no getting past me! *tears*

[Nichi]

16 hours ago, Big Ariana said:

my understanding is that the 'pedigree' stuff is ambiguous between the fancy shine of good grades from a good school/good letters from a famous person on one hand and the hard-lined evidence that these students can handle graduate coursework. A letter from a moderately well known prof at a program in the 30s saying "this student took a graduate seminar, made some contributions discussions, and did well on a paper held to graduate level standards" will go way further than any number of conference presentations or extra curriculars. 

the sad truth is that not everybody has the opportunity to take these sorts of classes as an undergrad. that's unfair and a bummer. but adcoms are mainly asking the question "will this student succeed in the program?" and if you haven't done graduate-level coursework that leaves a huge question mark. so if you have the opportunity to do a quality MA (or even just audit graduate-level seminars somewhere and try to write a paper, many professors will let you do this if you have an undergrad degree in philosophy), you're showing that you can succeed at the graduate level, even if you don't end up writing a significantly better writing sample. it's possible to still excel coming straight from an undergrad-only institution, and maybe things like conferences will help in this case. but the best way you can show you're ready for graduate-level coursework is taking graduate-level coursework, and for many people, this means an MA is the best way to shore up their application, even if you don't think it'll result in an astronomically better writing sample.

I agree an MA gives you more time and training to become more skilled at doing philosophy. On the other hand, I've read (on Schwitzgebel's blog, if I recall correctly) that many top programs will be more likely to take people right out of undergrad (and school in general who want to shape students instead of getting students more set in their ways). So there's a bit of a double-edged sword. 

I suppose coming from a small, unknown school without even a master's program I should expect the T20 rejections to start rolling in any day. (Minus the one waitlist.)

[Duns Eith]

My presumption has been confirmed. I am rejected at Notre Dame and "The" Ohio State University.

Dang.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Turretin

[Schopenhauerfanboy]

6 hours ago, Turretin said:

My presumption has been confirmed. I am rejected at Notre Dame and "The" Ohio State University.

Dang.

I have a good feeling about you getting into Purdue.

[Duns Eith]

47 minutes ago, Schopenhauerfanboy said:

I have a good feeling about you getting into Purdue.

Thanks!

May the adcomms have that good feeling too!

[To φ or not to φ]

Rejected from Johns Hopkins. Yet to receive an email but happened to notice the decision status on the application portal.

Edited March 4, 2017 by To φ or not to φ

[hector549]

Rejected from Johns Hopkins. Also just checked the portal.

[ThatDeleuzeGuy]

Just got my rejection from Purdue. Two years running. Sigh...

[offyerhst]

On 2/25/2017 at 11:50 PM, Electric Anxiety said:

University of New Mexico rejected me. This one hurt quite a bit... I think I prefer quick and dirty emails compared to physical mail that for some reasons seems like it could only contain good news. The entire process of seeing the letterhead from the school and opening is brutal when you see the classic "we are sorry to inform you..."

Been there buddy. 

[eigenname]

Finally heard back from WUSTL - I was on a hidden wait-list, but am now on the 'list of non-admitted students'. Sad! 

Edited March 6, 2017 by eigenname

[Duns Eith]

6 hours ago, ThatDeleuzeGuy said:

Just got my rejection from Purdue. Two years running. Sigh...

That sucks. I take it you're the one with 12 conferences and all that other jazz? Geeze.

[753982]

19 minutes ago, eigenname said:

Finally heard back from WUSTL - I was on a hidden wait-list, but am now on the 'list of non-admitted students'. Sad! 

What does that even mean??

[eigenname]

4 minutes ago, 753982 said:

What does that even mean??

Well it's probably a nicer way of saying I was rejected.  Not enough people rejected their offers I suppose! Well now it's just Irvine LPS - hoping enough people turn their offers down for others so I can be considered!  Otherwise it's a shut-out for me I guess... 

Edited March 6, 2017 by eigenname

[ThatDeleuzeGuy]

30 minutes ago, Turretin said:

That sucks. I take it you're the one with 12 conferences and all that other jazz? Geeze.

No, I'm currently non-degree at Purdue since my undergrad was in Econ. Have taken 4 grad classes in philosophy at Purdue to improve my application 1 A, 3 A- along with a letter from Dan Smith among others. GRE 163/160/5.0. My AOI is in Deleuze and comparative philosophy between Deleuze and Nagarjuna. Was a bit hopeful that I could make the waitlist but . 

[Needle in the Hay]

1 hour ago, eigenname said:

Finally heard back from WUSTL - I was on a hidden wait-list, but am now on the 'list of non-admitted students'. Sad! 

I'm sorry to hear that. Did you solicit that information from them? I wish you the best at the places you're waiting to hear back from.

[753982]

1 hour ago, eigenname said:

Well it's probably a nicer way of saying I was rejected.  Not enough people rejected their offers I suppose! Well now it's just Irvine LPS - hoping enough people turn their offers down for others so I can be considered!  Otherwise it's a shut-out for me I guess... 

Yeah, that's what I figured, but I think I'd almost prefer that departments take the JHU route and just say "your app was denied." Straight to the point!   I'm probably also shut-out.

[eigenname]

7 minutes ago, 753982 said:

Yeah, that's what I figured, but I think I'd almost prefer that departments take the JHU route and just say "your app was denied." Straight to the point!   I'm probably also shut-out.

I guess it's hard to be rude when you have to put your name to that message! Commiserations, my friend - are you planning to try again / do an MA in the meantime? 
 

42 minutes ago, Theoldpond0 said:

I'm sorry to hear that. Did you solicit that information from them? I wish you the best at the places you're waiting to hear back from.

Thanks a lot! Yep, I emailed WUSTL to check if I was on the wait-list: good news - I was. Bad news: Not anymore. :|  Well it's just one *possible* wait-list at Irvine now, so I don't have much hope - I'm hoping for funding for my masters program, or I might have to get a job to start paying off my student loans...

[LennyBound]

Officially rejected from Arizona

[Franzkafka]

16 minutes ago, LennyBound said:

Officially rejected from Arizona

Did you get an email?

[LennyBound]

1 minute ago, Franzkafka said:

Did you get an email?

Yup. Received it about half an hour ago. There have been similar posts (i.e., about receiving rejection e-mails from Arizona) on the applications Facebook group today. 

[753982]

21 minutes ago, eigenname said:

I guess it's hard to be rude when you have to put your name to that message! Commiserations, my friend - are you planning to try again / do an MA in the meantime? 

I'm going to strongly consider doing an MA. I went to an undergrad without a good reputation for strong academics or selectivity, so it'd probably help. I'm in the same boat as you, in that if I'm not offered a funded MA slot somewhere, I will probably just move on and do something else. I wouldn't want to go through this process again without a credential that would greatly increase my competitiveness. 

[Duns Eith]

My presumption had been confirmed. I am rejected at Indiana University Bloomington

Dang.

[Franzkafka]

14 minutes ago, Turretin said:

My presumption had been confirmed. I am rejected at Indiana University Bloomington

Dang.

Via email?