Can an out of state student make it into the Philosophy major?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rutgers University
1

Hello all, I am a junior in high school from Texas, and in my college search I came across Rutgers. How hard would it be for me to make it into Rutgers’ philosophy program? My resume is as follows -

Intended Major - Philosophy ( And then law school)

3.8 GPA
Hispanic URM (Argentinian)
11th Grade
Male
Texas Resident

Work History
• Currently working as a lifeguard
• Swim instructor for kids aging 4-11
• Don’t know if this counts, but I helped my father do some paralegal work last summer, I was mainly an accountant.

Skills
• Fluent in Spanish (speak it at home) and currently in French III, plan to continue in college
• Microsoft Office (Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)
• Leadership, public speaking, communication
• Linux and other computer skills (can pretty much trouble shoot any computer problem, am well known for fixing various operating system problems that usually require more expertise)
• Currently developing my own Linux distribution (mainly as a side project, Linux is a hobby of mine)
• Have been told by my English teachers that I am a good writer (it has improved tremendously since I took the SAT)
• A very good interviewee
• A very well rounder reader

Awards and Achievements ( I know, not so good here)
• Superintendent Scholar 2013-2016
• National Honor Society
• National English Honor Society
• 1870 SAT (first try last year, recently retook and felt very confident)
• 31 ACT (English - 31, Math - 29, Reading - 34, Science - 31)
• Captain of varsity swim team (I have been a member of varsity swim for all 4 years)
• In the top 7.8% of my class

Courses -
• AP Physics I (junior)
• AP Human Geography (sophomore)
• AP English (junior)
• Dual Credit Precalculus (taking this summer, as I am a year behind on math since I transferred to my current school)
• AP Calculus (senior)
• AP Statistics (senior)
• AP Government (senior)
• AP Economics (senior)
• Forensic Sciences (junior)
• French I, II, and III (fresh,soph, junior)
• Dual Credit Computer Science (senior)
• Dual Credit English 221 (senior)

2

You don’t make it into the philosophy program but into the Rutgers School of Arts. Once you are enrolled at the Rutgers SAS (http://sas.rutgers.edu/) you’ll need to complete 11 courses in order to declare your major in Philosophy http://www.philosophy.rutgers.edu/majorminor. You should be fine with a GPA of 3.8.

3

@ThaliO thank you so much for this information. Isn’t Rutgers’ philosophy program very highly ranked?

4

Sorry, just a correction. The 11 courses I mentioned above are actually the courses needed to graduate in Philosophy. Philosophy is part of the SAS school and there is no separate admissions requirement. Once you are admitted into the SAS school, you are required to declare a major and that includes Philosophy. This page will give you some more insight http://sasundergrad.rutgers.edu/forms/major-and-minor-declaration/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1209&Itemid=187.

Although I’m not a philosophy student, I have seen many ranking systems showing Rutgers always at the top 3 best philosophy schools in US. Apparently, NYU, Rutgers and Princeton have been holding those 3 top positions in the last two decades.

5

BTW, you are a Linux guy and looking for philosophy? Why not Computer Engineering or CS?

6

@ThaliO haha I love Linux, but I prefer it as a hobby