<p>Hi! I'm looking to apply to philosophy PhD programs in the Fall and I was wondering what my chances are anywhere in the top 50 (as ranked in the Philosophical Gourmet). Here are some overarching stats: </p>
<p>3.5-3.6 GPA
Graduating with honors and an original thesis
Double major: philosophy and criminology
Graduating from a top tier undergraduate institution
Speak Spanish, Arabic, and am going to take Ancient Greek
Involved in leadership positions
Was a Research Intern for the White House
1 essay and 1 article published
3 solid LORs
A banging WS and personal statement
Oh....and alright GRE scores</p>
<p>Your GPA’s quite low. You’d have to give your institution, and the people you’re getting letter’s of recommendation from to give you an adequate recommendation (it’s not uncommon for some people to get accepted into grad programs purely based on who wrote their letters.</p>
<p>It depends mostly on your sample work and letters of recommendation. GPA is then considered and then test scores (if the school you’re applying to even takes the GRE). </p>
<p>That GPA may hinder you, but by no means bars you from getting in anywhere.</p>
<p>Sure, writing sample is the most important. But one of the professors informed me that their process is like:</p>
<p>GPA & GRE: (cut half of all applicants) → Letters of Rec → (cut half more of all applicants) → Writing Sample (Make 6-8 offers)</p>
<p>He also said he expected the process at other universities to be similar. (And if you look at it, this doesn’t seem implausible. Perhaps letters of rec. might replace GPA/GRE in certain schools, but i doubt it.)</p>
<p>Also, shouldn’t have said that people get in purely on letters. But the letter is what made the difference, and if they lacked it they wouldn’t have gotten into the program of their choice.</p>
<p>I know for a fact NYU does not put much, if any, emphasis on the GRE. MIT doesn’t require one, nor does Brown. NYU has said, at least to me, “the GRE in no way states anything about one’s ability to do well in a philosophy graduate program”. </p>
<p>I also know that NYU considers the writing sample to be most important. Supposedly the same is true of Princeton, MIT and Brown - but you could always look on their websites to find out. </p>
<p>Apparently UCLA does things a bit differently than NYU.</p>
<p>The writing sample is considered the most important thing at UCLA as well, which is why it’s the final test. It’s what ultimately determines whether you get into the program or not. However, i find it hard to believe that NYU’s faculty is going through perhaps hundreds of writing samples. I imagine they have some way of cutting the applicants down, which are either by GPA/institution, letters, or a combination of both if they don’t put much embasis on the GRE. (which then begs the question, in the colloquial usage, of why on earth they require one to begin with?)</p>
<p>Spouse of philosophy prof (with a grad program) here, agreeing that letters of rec plus writing sample are most important. Focus is on whether a student will contribute to research in the discipline. LOR should be from, preferably, faculty who are active researchers themselves. Writing sample must demonstrate ability to do original work, not simply talk about what other people have said. Use Brian Leiter’s Philosophical Gourmet website to identify programs with strengths in your area of interest.</p>
<p>You do know that the job market stinks, right, and that it is not uncommon for Philosophy Ph.Ds to switch out and go to law school (where the market also stinks).</p>
<p>Going back to the original topic, your chances are hard to estimate. Even at UCR, which is ranked 30, one of the professors on their faculty noted that most of their admits hadn’t received any Bs in their senior year, and some attended there with 4.0s. i assume, however, that they went to either unprestigious institutions, which might mean they might have had unchallenging classes, bad letters of rec, or bad writing samples. Which is why i imagine they went to UCR </p>
<p>Personally, the lowest ranked schools i’d apply to are Nortre Dame and Duke which are ranked at 18 and 24 respectively. Outside of those two, i wouldn’t apply to anything out of the top 15.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the help! I’ve heard dropping all extra curriculars senior year helps with raising your GPA (especially considering I’m taking anywhere between 18-21 credits in the Fall). I forgot to mention I will be graduating with two majors in 3.5 years and have taken 15+ credits a semester. Not sure if this helps or makes me look more competitive but I doubt it will hurt me. </p>