<p>i'm a prospective phd student in philosophy
BA in math and filosophee@NYU
GPA: 3.78; for my majors: 3.6 and 3.95, respectively.
GRE: 166 verbal ~ 700 on the old scale (according to magoosh.com); Math 167 ~ 800</p>
<p>i've completed a fair amount of relevant research; however, i feel as though i've had too few noteworthy non-academic pursuits (as my work experience hasn't been particularly exceptional).</p>
<p>do I stand a chance? anything i can reasonably improve on within a semester?</p>
<p>tl;dr: i may only have numbers; is that enough?</p>
<p>Nobody knows. “Chances” for graduate school are total nonsense.</p>
<p>“Non-academic pursuits” are generally irrelevant for graduate admissions - and that probably goes triple for philosophy programs. Your numbers are fine, beyond that it’s going to depend on your writing, your LoRs, the applicant pool… who knows. Total crapshoot.</p>
<p>For philosophy, 75% of your application is the writing sample and then the LORs. Yes, I admit I pulled those percentages out of my ***, but I know for a fact from my philosophy professors that went to Princeton and just know about graduate school in general since they admit kids into the program themselves that the make or break factor is the writing sample first (pick it wisely), then your LORs. That’s a fact. At least for philosophy. Good luck!</p>