2018 Philosophy Applicants, Assemble!

[be.]

56 minutes ago, kretschmar said:

I received a call this morning from an admissions director at one of my MA programs. He asked me if I would like to be considered for their PhD, which is funded (whereas the MA, it turns out, was not). He noted that the committee "quite liked" my writing sample and that if I didn't wish to remain in the program beyond the MA, that was no problem.

This seems like a pretty good sign. What do you think?

I can’t imagine the program would do this if you didn’t have a very strong chance of being offered a spot in their PhD program. You should be optimistic. Tentatively, congrats!

[Nickybert]

Who's applying to Simon Fraser Uni and York Uni, Canada for their MA philosophy? I am an international student with a BA Hons first class in philosophy. I have spent 2 years working as a research assistant in a top business school here in Africa. I have four article publications and an upcoming book chapter. I tried writing a good statement of interest and submitted an excerpt from my Bachelors project for my written sample. I have good recommenders, I think, all PhDs. In spite of these, I am still very much apprehensive. The wait is a quiet purgatory of its own. Do I stand a chance? Reading through the thread, I see that the process is quite competitive. I need some reassurance, goodness me.  

Edited January 17, 2018 by Nickybert

[Neither Here Nor There]

2 hours ago, Nickybert said:

Who's applying to Simon Fraser Uni and York Uni, Canada for their MA philosophy? I am an international student with a BA Hons first class in philosophy. I have spent 2 years working as a research assistant in a top business school here in Africa. I have four article publications and an upcoming book chapter. I tried writing a good statement of interest and submitted an excerpt from my Bachelors project for my written sample. I have good recommenders, I think, all PhDs. In spite of these, I am still very much apprehensive. The wait is a quiet purgatory of its own. Do I stand a chance? Reading through the thread, I see that the process is quite competitive. I need some reassurance, goodness me.  

I have not applied there, but you have a good chance. York is good about accepting non-Canadian applicant. International students do pay a higher tuition rate; I don't know what kind of scholarships they offer to off balance that. But you should be competitive for admissions. I don't think the publications will put you ahead of other students, if its not in North American journals, but it would clear up any doubts that they could have about having a BA honours from a North American university. Good luck.  

[Nickybert]

15 hours ago, Neither Here Nor There said:

I have not applied there, but you have a good chance. York is good about accepting non-Canadian applicant. International students do pay a higher tuition rate; I don't know what kind of scholarships they offer to off balance that. But you should be competitive for admissions. I don't think the publications will put you ahead of other students, if its not in North American journals, but it would clear up any doubts that they could have about having a BA honours from a North American university. Good luck.  

Thank you for that green light. The waiting game can be so tough. Thanks. Good luck to you too.

[Goonasabi]

Hello everyone,

I've applied to 17 schools:

1. Michigan   2. UNC - Chapel Hill   3. Princeton University   4. Ohio State University   5. Pennsylvania   6. Washington University in St. Louis (WashU)   7. Yale   8. Harvard   9. Purdue   10. Baylor   11. Wisconsin   12. Florida State (FSU)      13. Rutgers   14. Virginia   15. Notre Dame   16. Florida   17. Iowa

This process was TOUGH! My AOIs are Early Modern, Phil Mind, and Phil Religion. And my writing sample didn't come together until the beginning of December (it is on modality in Descartes). All of these schools save for just a few are strong in early modern. GRE: 170, 168, 5.5. I got word about acceptance to Florida State yesterday (funding info still to come). I much hope that we hear many success stories here!

 

[kretschmar]

Nice list of schools! Let us know what happens. 

Out of curiosity, is your MA in philosophy, or religion, or something else? (My background is in religion.)

[Goonasabi]

15 minutes ago, kretschmar said:

Nice list of schools! Let us know what happens. 

Out of curiosity, is your MA in philosophy, or religion, or something else? (My background is in religion.)

Thanks! It is an ambitious list, so I'm happy to get into any of them. 

The MA itself is just philosophy. But it being a degree from a seminary, you have a number of core requirements to satisfy in theology, etc. It's a seminary in the Protestant tradition, so save for electives, you won't get a broad treatment of religion in general. 

[Franzkafka]

On 1/18/2018 at 7:21 PM, Goonasabi said:

Hello everyone,

 I've applied to 17 schools:

1. Michigan   2. UNC - Chapel Hill   3. Princeton University   4. Ohio State University   5. Pennsylvania   6. Washington University in St. Louis (WashU)   7. Yale   8. Harvard   9. Purdue   10. Baylor   11. Wisconsin   12. Florida State (FSU)      13. Rutgers   14. Virginia   15. Notre Dame   16. Florida   17. Iowa

This process was TOUGH! My AOIs are Early Modern, Phil Mind, and Phil Religion. And my writing sample didn't come together until the beginning of December (it is on modality in Descartes). All of these schools save for just a few are strong in early modern. GRE: 170, 168, 5.5. I got word about acceptance to Florida State yesterday (funding info still to come). I much hope that we hear many success stories here!

Congratulations! Are all these PhD programs in Philosophy?

[Goonasabi]

45 minutes ago, Franzkafka said:

Congratulations! Are all these PhD programs in Philosophy?

Yep!

[LORDBACON]

On 1/8/2018 at 12:25 AM, goldenstardust11 said:

I wrote a thank you note and gave them each a couple bars of organic dark chocolate. I intentionally did this before I had heard back from any schools (but after their letters were submitted) so they got thanked for their efforts regardless of the end result.

Nice, and thanks, goldenstardust11.  After applying to 25 schools and reflecting on all they have done to meet my deadlines I have been wondering about this often, and agree that consequences are not a motive. 

*Segues awkwardly into first post*  I'll be sharing my outcomes and waitlist declines, if any. 

-158/158/4.5 on GRE (didn't study, hope it doesn't come back with teeth!)

-4.0 UG GPA overall (Phil/Engl majors) at school with top 12-ish philosophy MA department (USA)

-strong letters, and (my recommending prof's say) strong sample, though it is not in an area I'm intending to do more work in (aesthetics)

-3.67 grad GPA at top 12-ish philosophy MA dept

-AOI: Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Kant, existentialism, ancient phil, phil of religion (metaphysics/epistemology concerning mysticism and the absurd).

My applications are a respective 33/67 split between 20th to 50th-ranked PGR schools friendly to continental (UCR, UCSD, Chicago, Brown, Syracuse, Notre Dame, CUNY... ) and the best (for me) matches from the frequently-touted "speppy" departments (Duquesne, USF, Fordham, BU, SUNY..)

Anything here that looks worrisome to anyone, now that I am helpless to do anything about it?  I would appreciate thoughts, what you would/would not have done differently in my shoes, suggestions going forward from the review stage, etc.  Any continental-leaning grads with opinions on SPEP vs PGR departments?  For now I'm happy to sort it in terms of the kinds of offers I receive and the outcomes of resulting visits (thanks again, goldenstardust11). 

Good luck to everybody, and thanks!

Edited January 19, 2018 by wayfarin' stranger
possible dementia

[All The Day Sounds]

On 4/10/2017 at 3:01 PM, iunoionnis said:

But first of all, who all is applying in 2018? How far along in the process are you? 

Hello! Congrats to everyone who has been admitted so far!

I finished an MA a few years ago in theology and have been teaching high school classes (religion and philosophy) at a private school. I took several philosophy classes in undergrad (ancient Greek, ethics, metaphysics) and my theo classes were pretty heavy on philosophy readings (with an emphasis on people like Augustine and Aquinas). Unfortunately, none of the papers from my philosophy classes were good enough to submit as a writing sample (IMO), so I used a paper from a graduate course on female medieval hagiography. I hope it isn't too much of a strike against me. (It was a good paper)

Since then I've taken a course through Harvard extension: Philosophical Foundations of Economic Justice, and I am currently working my way through a MOOC Logic course (which I noted on my apps). 

My main AOIs are Political Philosophy and Ethics and the history of philosophy.

Submitted applications: Boston College, Marquette, UW Milwaukee, FSU (MA), Tulane, York (MA)

I also applied to Notre Dame Theology (PhD)

GRE: 

V 169   Q 150  A 5

Last year I was wait-listed at Marquette and Tulane. Here's to this year!

[dgswaim]

Hey guys. Just wanted to let y'all know I'd be happy to answer questions about the department at Penn via PM. Good luck to all!

[kretschmar]

16 hours ago, wayfarin' stranger said:

Anything here that looks worrisome to anyone, now that I am helpless to do anything about it?  I would appreciate thoughts, what you would/would not have done differently in my shoes, suggestions going forward from the review stage, etc.  Any continental-leaning grads with opinions on SPEP vs PGR departments?  For now I'm happy to sort it in terms of the kinds of offers I receive and the outcomes of resulting visits (thanks again, goldenstardust11).

Nice work applying to 25 programs! Are you determined to work in continental philosophy? Your interests seem to include a little of everything. Did you happen to apply to Columbia and/or Stony Brook?

[LORDBACON]

2 hours ago, kretschmar said:

Nice work applying to 25 programs! Are you determined to work in continental philosophy? Your interests seem to include a little of everything. Did you happen to apply to Columbia and/or Stony Brook?

Thanks!  It was a list of 27 but I cut out Harvard and Columbia.  I wish I would have stuck with Columbia and cut out one of my fall-backs.  Now you've got me obsessing over a counter-factual, hahaha.  What worries me about wandering too deep into top 20 is my grad GPA.  It's not a stretch to imagine an Ivy League dept turning their nose up at that as well as my grad institution (which to me is a dream MA dept).

Yup, the SUNY I mentioned is Stony Brook!  Analytic-heavy departments seem to reliably exclude too much of my AOI.  I'd be happy in a dept without someone competent in my primary AOI (Nietzsche) if they nailed the others.  I just haven't seen that in a dept that is not strong in post-Kantian continental traditions, so it's not a requirement per se but de facto, it seems.  For my current MA an analytic dept is fine (thankfully, my thesis advisor is competent in existentialism and also teaches it); for a PhD an analytic dept spells 'attrition' in my eyes. 

Where are you applying, and what's your view on that?  BTW congrats on the 'boost' to your MA application, kretschmar! =)

[tmck3053]

Hi all - have been lurking for a bit but thought I'd introduce myself. I'm applying from Sydney, Australia, where I did my undergrad. I feel like a slightly non-standard applicant in that sense because we don't really do GPAs or anything like that in Australia so I had to leave much of that blank in the application. I did obviously have to sit the GRE (170/170/6.0) and my writing sample is sort of in social epistemology. My AOIs are vague I guess but they're mostly in phil of language, phil of maths, epistemology - mostly from a pragmatist perspective. I'm applying to some places that are nice to pragmatists (Chicago, Pittsburgh, Harvard, etc.) and some other places that are probably a bit more indifferent (Berkeley, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, NYU, MIT, Oxford).

Anyway - that's me! Good luck everyone with your applications and also good luck in your various attempts to avoid intense blood pressure spikes every time you receive an email. My own efforts in that regard are not going so well.

Edited January 22, 2018 by tmck3053

[LORDBACON]

a perfect GRE score is going to get their attention, I'm sure.  From that alone I'd bet you've got a killer sample and stellar letters to go with it.  Best of luck to you, tmck!  In the likely case we don't both end up at Chicago, I'll see you there in a (wildly distant) alternate reality. 

[tmck3053]

You know Chicago actually has me feeling conflicted! Of course things change when/if you get the chance to visit campuses and meet people, but Chicago seems so incredibly up my alley with some of the people there but also the way that the department presents itself. I am just left with superficial worries about whether because it is known as a slightly non-mainstream department that it might make things more difficult upon completion?

By the looks of things your interests are more continental so it might work differently in that field, but my sense of things is that the world of analytic philosophy can be quite chauvinistic in its own way.

Of course this is all putting the cart way before the horse but I wonder about it sometimes. Would Chicago be one of your top preferences? Best of luck to you also @wayfarin' stranger - perhaps we will see each other at Chicago.

Edited January 22, 2018 by tmck3053

[LORDBACON]

14 minutes ago, tmck3053 said:

You know Chicago actually has me feeling conflicted! Of course things change when/if you get the chance to visit campuses and meet people, but Chicago seems so incredibly up my alley with some of the people there but also the way that the department presents itself. I am just left with superficial worries about whether because it is known as a slightly non-mainstream department that it might make things more difficult upon completion?

By the looks of things your interests are more continental so it might work differently in that field, but my sense of things is that the world of analytic philosophy can be quite chauvinistic in its own way.

Of course this is all putting the cart way before the horse but I wonder about it sometimes. Would Chicago be one of your top preferences?

Chicago is a world-class department either way you look at it.  I value employment outcomes a lot less than the quality of philosophical training, but I'd still give a tentative 'yes'.  It has an important place in the history of analytic philosophy (John Dewey, for example).  Then again, placement records speak for themselves.  Did you look at that and worry?  From an analytic approach it would likely be a top choice for me (but we seem to weigh values differently); from a CP approach it is a top choice.

[kretschmar]

On 1/19/2018 at 8:18 PM, wayfarin' stranger said:

Yup, the SUNY I mentioned is Stony Brook!  Analytic-heavy departments seem to reliably exclude too much of my AOI.  I'd be happy in a dept without someone competent in my primary AOI (Nietzsche) if they nailed the others.  I just haven't seen that in a dept that is not strong in post-Kantian continental traditions, so it's not a requirement per se but de facto, it seems.  For my current MA an analytic dept is fine (thankfully, my thesis advisor is competent in existentialism and also teaches it); for a PhD an analytic dept spells 'attrition' in my eyes. 

Where are you applying, and what's your view on that?  BTW congrats on the 'boost' to your MA application, kretschmar! =)

I've applied to a smattering of MA programs, of which I prefer GSU, and to two PhD's. My undergraduate major is not in philosophy, so I anticipate heading the MA route and reapplying to a far longer list of PhD's for 2020.

I have similar observations regarding programs strengths. The two traditions rarely coexist in elite contexts. Ideally, I would like to get a PhD in a department that is both prestigious in mainstream analytic circles and genuinely pluralist. That list, of course, is a short one.

[LORDBACON]

On 1/21/2018 at 11:10 PM, kretschmar said:

I have similar observations regarding programs strengths. The two traditions rarely coexist in elite contexts. Ideally, I would like to get a PhD in a department that is both prestigious in mainstream analytic circles and genuinely pluralist. That list, of course, is a short one.

That's another good argument for Columbia.  Certainly that also includes Brown, Chicago, WashU, Syracuse, CUNY, and Notre Dame- all for which I've got a line in the water.  Did you apply to TTU's MA program?  I'm doing a thesis on Nietzsche there this semester, and the dept also has recent placements into Pitt and Rutgers. 

[tmck3053]

58 minutes ago, wayfarin' stranger said:

Chicago is a world-class department either way you look at it.  I value employment outcomes a lot less than the quality of philosophical training, but I'd still give a tentative 'yes'.  It has an important place in the history of analytic philosophy (John Dewey, for example).  Then again, placement records speak for themselves.  Did you look at that and worry?  From an analytic approach it would likely be a top choice for me (but we seem to weigh values differently); from a CP approach it is a top choice.

I haven't really had a look at their placement records - my worries more stem from what people around here at Sydney say about different places in the states, but then again we are somewhat provincial out here (and our department is dominated by very high analytic types that do tend to look down their nose at other ways of approaching philosophy). 

I do like the idea of being trained somewhere that doesn't buy into the insulation of analytic philosophy from continental philosophy and broader historical themes (as though analytic philosophers work solely at the 'cutting edge'), and Chicago certainly fits that bill. 

What is it about the CP approach that makes Chicago a top choice for you?

[LORDBACON]

34 minutes ago, tmck3053 said:

I haven't really had a look at their placement records - my worries more stem from what people around here at Sydney say about different places in the states, but then again we are somewhat provincial out here (and our department is dominated by very high analytic types that do tend to look down their nose at other ways of approaching philosophy). 

I do like the idea of being trained somewhere that doesn't buy into the insulation of analytic philosophy from continental philosophy and broader historical themes (as though analytic philosophers work solely at the 'cutting edge'), and Chicago certainly fits that bill. 

What is it about the CP approach that makes Chicago a top choice for you?

Humm.  Noted, but I wouldn't worry until the warning starts getting consistent across a variety of sources.  Of all the depts on my list my advisors only questioned two of them employability-wise: one was multidisciplinary (Committee on Social Thought) and the other is currently #47 on the PGR.  They liked Chicago, and TTU leans strongly analytic.  I wouldn't take that as reliable data though; my advisors know I'm going the continental route.  For me the biggest (but not sufficient!) single sell is the reputation, but overall it's a mix of reputation, inclusivity, and the practical prospects of writing a first-rate dissertation.  Overall it's at the top, and is also competetive in competency/proficiency for my idiosyncratic AOI within the dept.

[genderphage]

Heya gang,

thought I'd say hello, in the waiting period and only just found out about this place (maybe for the best), I just finished up my integrated Masters in Maths & Philosophy at Oxford, where I got kinda average grades (62 average in BA, 67 average in masters year [equivalent to 3.2 & 3.7]), but with a 72 in my thesis on Wittgenstein & Heidegger (with some Merleau-Ponty) on feminist epistemology of emotions (the main argumentative chunk of which I've sent as my writing sample), with GRE 170/169/5.5

 

At the moment main interest would be in continuing that approach from my thesis but talking about animals, so generally looking at more phil of mind stuff from combined analytic & continental perspectives, which made picking places harder - I always thought Wittgenstein was more popular than he actually is haha

 

I've applied to Harvard, Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, CUNY, Toronto, McGill, Stony Brook for PhDs, New School & Tufts for Masters, would probably go for Chicago if I got all my offers but not fully sure, will wait and see...

 

Also all these people applying to dozens of places how do you afford it ??? I basically bankrupted myself applying to 10 which felt like loads!

[kretschmar]

On 1/21/2018 at 11:32 PM, wayfarin' stranger said:

That's another good argument for Columbia.  Certainly that also includes Brown, Chicago, WashU, Syracuse, CUNY, and Notre Dame- all for which I've got a line in the water.  Did you apply to TTU's MA program?  I'm doing a thesis on Nietzsche there this semester, and the dept also has recent placements into Pitt and Rutgers. 

TTU was on my list until the final cut. I admit that it was a decision with overtones of regional snobbery. The program itself was attractive.

[LORDBACON]

5 hours ago, genderphage said:

Heya gang,

thought I'd say hello, in the waiting period and only just found out about this place (maybe for the best), I just finished up my integrated Masters in Maths & Philosophy at Oxford, where I got kinda average grades (62 average in BA, 67 average in masters year [equivalent to 3.2 & 3.7]), but with a 72 in my thesis on Wittgenstein & Heidegger (with some Merleau-Ponty) on feminist epistemology of emotions (the main argumentative chunk of which I've sent as my writing sample), with GRE 170/169/5.5

 

At the moment main interest would be in continuing that approach from my thesis but talking about animals, so generally looking at more phil of mind stuff from combined analytic & continental perspectives, which made picking places harder - I always thought Wittgenstein was more popular than he actually is haha

 

I've applied to Harvard, Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, CUNY, Toronto, McGill, Stony Brook for PhDs, New School & Tufts for Masters, would probably go for Chicago if I got all my offers but not fully sure, will wait and see...

 

Also all these people applying to dozens of places how do you afford it ??? I basically bankrupted myself applying to 10 which felt like loads!

Welcome!  With 25 applications I had to use up all of my savings.  Thankfully I'm in a funded MA and can live paycheck to paycheck as a TA for the next few months while my fate is being mulled over.  Also applied to Stony Brook, CUNY, and Chicago.  Someone's already gotten accepted to Stony Brook!