Applying to New school(Philosophy)

[Earnest]

Hi,  I am a graduate student in Seoul National University majoring in philosophy(Ph.D.) My main interests are existentialism and phenomenology. Since I want to study Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Levinas more in depth, I am planning to apply to several Universities in the U.S. UChicago, and UPenn are nice places to study Heidegger and Levinas. It seems New school is also a wonderful place to study my interests in depth. I am thinking of applying to these schools. I heard that in Boston College, students could complete the Ph.D. and masters degree in 5 years. So some people recommend applicants to apply to MA which could be finished in a year. They say that it would be less stressful because they would have two years to prepare for the Ph.d exam. However, in the case of New school, I am not sure if I have to apply to MA program or Ph.D. program. I have no idea which would be the better choice for me. And I am concerned because I might not have a chance if I apply to Ph.D. program. I would be glad to receive your pieces of advice. Thank you. 

[maxhgns]

Don't go to the New School. Their funding is woefully inadequate, and their ratio of graduate students to professors is horrifically high.

[Earnest]

Really?? My academic adviser recommended for me to apply there. He thinks it would be one of the best places to study european contemporary philsophy. Do you know anyone who is in the program recently?

Edited September 6, 2017 by Haeyeon Han

[maxhgns]

I have known four students there. Three transferred out because the funding was so bad, and the student::prof ratio was so bad. One stayed because he had external (governmental) funding and has a rich family. Tuition is something like $20 000 a year, and their best funding package is something like 40% of that. Plus there's the cost of living in New York. The philosophy department has just eleven full-time faculty, and 74 PhD students alone. They no longer list how many MA students they have, but the last time they did it brought the total to over 100 graduate students. You should never, ever attend a program that doesn't fund you, and the New School is one of the worst offenders. It's as close to a scam as you can get without actually being a scam.

The best place for contemporary European philosophy is probably DePaul, but you should also check out programs like Columbia, Duquesne, Emory, Guelph, Memphis, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Penn State, Riverside, Stony Brook, Toronto, Vanderbilt, and Villanova (in addition to Chicago, UPenn, and Boston College, as you're planning to).

[OnlyATautology]

I'll add to this with some experience from advisors at my school at the moment;

First off the poster above is absolutely correct. Even if you have significant personal funding of your own to pay for your education, you would likely find the experience (at the New School) more than a bit lackluster. As much for the size and impersonality of the program as anything else. In the context of your hopefuly Ph.D. in the field this is I think for most the worst possible world of social existence. The best Ph.D. experiences will be met by personal relationships and 1-1 relationships with professors and the other graduate students. I can't see this happening there, unfortunately.  The only upside of the New School of course being New York City generally (unless you are of the pastoral orientation).

I've spoken with individuals within my school who are very knowledgeable on Kierkegard and Continental philosophy generally, and the general message has been that many of the religious schools as mentioned by Max are going to likely be the best experience. Upenn, Chicago & Northwestern are sort of exceptions that are typically within the normal east-coast ivy or close to ivy continuum. 

(As I am sure you are aware the ivy league schools + many of the other well known schools are either Primarily Analytic or nearly entirely Analytic. This includes UMich, MIT, Stanford, UC-Berkeley, UCLA, Rutgers, UToronto, Pitt, US, Oxford, Cambridge., etc). The one notable exception is Columbia. 

I personally grew up in Chestnut Hill (in Newton) for many years in my childhood, and I can tell you that the area is wonderful. As far as I am concerned, Boston is one of the best cities in the world. 

Boston College is a great school and seems to me to be ideal for your interests. The other schools mentioned above are also worth deep consideration and further research in the liu of contacting professors and graduate students in the departments themselves. I would do your best to be friendly and somewhat outward with the people within the field you are interested in studying. It will certainly help with applications in the future if they have perhaps heard your name or even are familiar with you before they review the application for acceptance.

 

Good Luck with your applications

 

 

[franz]

On 9/5/2017 at 8:06 PM, Haeyeon Han said:

Hi,  I am a graduate student in Seoul National University majoring in philosophy(Ph.D.) My main interests are existentialism and phenomenology. Since I want to study Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Levinas more in depth, I am planning to apply to several Universities in the U.S. UChicago, and UPenn are nice places to study Heidegger and Levinas. It seems New school is also a wonderful place to study my interests in depth. I am thinking of applying to these schools. I heard that in Boston College, students could complete the Ph.D. and masters degree in 5 years. So some people recommend applicants to apply to MA which could be finished in a year. They say that it would be less stressful because they would have two years to prepare for the Ph.d exam. However, in the case of New school, I am not sure if I have to apply to MA program or Ph.D. program. I have no idea which would be the better choice for me. And I am concerned because I might not have a chance if I apply to Ph.D. program. I would be glad to receive your pieces of advice. Thank you. 

Just to chime in, as someone who applied and got into the New School and some religion programs last year, the funding offer I received was quite bad. I believe it was around 40% tuition, which was completely out of the question as a cost for me. It was my last choice for philosophy programs, and I didn't find the faculty fit for my interests (continental philosophy with some similarities to your research interests) as good as religion programs.

I would also strongly encourage you to consider religion programs. From my (admittedly, limited at present) experience, they have more faculty who are interested in these sorts of topics, and the chances of getting into religion programs, even at top places like U Chicago or Yale, seem better, at least for the MA.

Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss it more or have any questions.

[awdrgy]

I haven't met any continential grads or undergrads who even consider applying to New School. The history of the school is interesting, but they don't seem to fund. There are plenty of better (already mentioned) places to study continental philosophy, and not just due to funding.