How Strong/Weak do my qualifications sound for grad school?

[Phenomenologist]

Hey all,

I feel like I have a mixed-bag of good and bad things going for me in my grad-school apps, so I'm looking for other perspectives.

THE BAD:

• My Undergrad was spread out over 3 different schools
  
• Half my undergrad (60 credits?) was at community college.
  
• One year of my undergrad (24 credits) was spent studying in Britain (maybe this is more good than bad)
  
• Half of my undergrad I was only part-time (while working part/full-time) -- So, my undergrad is spread out over 6-7 years instead of 4-5.
  
• Not as much extra-curricular activities/involvement as I would like
  
  THE GOOD:
  
  • The school I'm graduating from with my BA is renown in philosophy for having one of the very best philosophy undergrads in the U.S.
    
  • I have a great GPA (3.96 or so at community college, about the same at my present school)
    
  • I will probably have good letters of recommendation. One prof in particular might open some good doors if he writes a strong recommendation.
    
  • I'm an ethnic minority, Japanese (I don't care about this sort of thing, but admissions folks seem to like it)
    
  • I will be (by the time my apps are sent) a member of the relevant academic associations and scholar guilds (American Philosophical Association, American Academy of Religion)
    
  • I'm an active member of our school's "Philosophy Club", and have presented a paper followed by Q&A (maybe one more by the time apps are sent)
    
  • I'm on the Dean's list for good GPA, and was offered Phi Beta Kappa membership (but didn't follow-up with it)
    
  • My transcript has a good interdisciplinary mix of both philosophy and religion classes
    
  • I lived overseas in Britain and studied for a total of 2 years, with a worldwide multi-ethnic community (apparently admissions like this type of thing?)
    
  • My overseas school gave me an accredited certificate of studies, in addition to credit hours toward my BA.
    
  • I managed all of this while being married and have two toddlers.
    

  UNKNOWN: (1) Haven't taken my GREs yet! I anticipate above-average results. (2) Not sure how strong my letters of recommendation will be yet, but I anticipate good.

  Sorry for the long post, but what do you guys think? I feel like I have some good things going for me, but I also feel like the bad things are definitely pretty big ones on paper.

  Are the bad things not as bad as I think? Are the good things not as good as I think? What level of schools would I realistically expect to have a shot at getting in? What parts of my qualifications would particularly qualify or disqualify me from higher-level schools?

  Thanks for the insight!

[anxiousapplicant]

You know your record is fine, so why are you looking for affirmation at one of the most stressful times on this board?

[fuzzylogician]

Your record is strong enough to get you past initial cutoffs at most schools (assuming your GRE is also good), so your grades won't keep you out of grad school. What is missing for us to be able to assess your chances are the parts that will get you into school, the intangibles - the SOP, fit, recommendations, writing sample. Do you have any research experience? A strong paper to use as a writing sample? How strong will your letters be? Your SOP? Start by defining your research interests, which your post doesn't mention at all, and choosing schools that will support those interests. Make a list of schools based on research match, and ignore ranking. After you do that, you yourself should have a better idea of your chances, and we might have a better idea as well.

[johndiligent]

Are you aiming for a Philosophy PhD? If so, I STRONGLY urge you to consult with the Philosophy board, since they'll have much better disciplinary insight.

Bearing in mind that I'm not in Philosophy, here's my view:

- My understanding is that Philosophy is by far one of the most - if not the most - competitive discipline in which to gain admission to a PhD programme. Many excellent students with excellent records have been shut out by all schools, even multiple times.

- I've heard it said multiple times that, in philosophy, your writing sample will be by far the single most important aspect of your application. Since your writing sample cannot be analyzed by this forum, your poll is not going to give you a reliable indication of your competitiveness. I would urge you to ask your professors to evaluate you and give you an idea of where you should be aiming.

- THAT said, judging by the deficits in your profile, I believe many in Philosophy would urge you to seek admission in a Master's programme before going for the PhD.

- Finally, while I certainly understand the need for some gauge of your competitiveness, if you want to apply for graduate study, the results of this poll should not be a factor in your decision to apply or what schools you should aim for. Like all applicants, you'll likely be met with the most success if you apply to a broad mix of schools, some top tier, some mid-tier, and some lower. And the decision to apply really needs to be made by you, and not by the anonymous denizens of the interwebs.

[Medievalmaniac]

You sound as qualified as about 80% of the other extraordinarily qualified people applying to graduate school.

I will say that it all depends in your case on what you do with your narratives. If you can turn your lengthy and spotty undergrad record into a good, strong explanation for how it makes you a better applicant, that's great. Your statement of purpose has to be stellar in philosophy, period - it is incredibly difficult to get an admit in that subject, as others have told you already.

For American Universities, not following through with a Phi Beta Kappa induction is going to loo a little bizarre...most undergrads planning on continuing with their studies would do little short of murder for a bid from PBK.

If you are going to apply, then apply. Asking a bunch of overly-stressed out and amazingly over-caffeinated applicants what they think of your credentials is not conducive to good results. Filling out the forms, taking the required exams, and writing the narratives is a much better use of your energy.

Good luck.

[tarski]

Are you done your undergrad, and waiting to apply next season?

There's not really much to say other than what's already been said (assuming GRE is good, you won't get cut due to numbers, and after that, who knows?) but I'll try to say a few things.

-Reinforcing what johndiligent said, rewrite your writing sample again and again and again and again and again and again and get many friends and professors to give you their advice on it. Your university probably has a writing tutorial service; show the essay to them once you think it's fairly polished and they'll probably still have advice on the language. Get all your letter writers to read and comment on it.

- Apply widely, PhD and MA programs. Apply to well and poorly ranked schools. As you can see from my sig, it's very possible to get rejected somewhere with a lower rank and get accepted somewhere with a higher rank. (I'm going by the philosophical gourmet report). It's just very unpredictable. I applied to 18 PhD and three MA programs.

- Don't just apply for MA programs. In discussions on Leiter's blog, professors have mostly said that the MA was good for switching disciplines or if your undergrad is totally unknown. Maybe the spread-out-undergrad thing will hurt you, I don't know, and I suppose if it does completing an MA in a timely fashion will help that, but you should still apply for PhD programs. I also don't know whether the community college thing would hurt you, but again, the MA would help if it does.

- In another thread, I saw you asking about mentioning the kids in your statement (I think). While this might fit in the diversity/personal history ones, your statement is usually just research interests.

- You put not much extracurricular stuff in your negatives, but they won't really care about this . Your CV will just have academic stuff on it.

[socialpsychg]

Your record is strong enough to get you past initial cutoffs at most schools (assuming your GRE is also good), so your grades won't keep you out of grad school. What is missing for us to be able to assess your chances are the parts that will get you into school, the intangibles - the SOP, fit, recommendations, writing sample. Do you have any research experience? A strong paper to use as a writing sample? How strong will your letters be? Your SOP? Start by defining your research interests, which your post doesn't mention at all, and choosing schools that will support those interests. Make a list of schools based on research match, and ignore ranking. After you do that, you yourself should have a better idea of your chances, and we might have a better idea as well.

This. The less quantitative aspects are equally or more important than your GPA or GRE.