Philosophy Grad School Questions

Graduate School
1

<p>1) What is the most useful language to take in undergrad as preparation? It's my understanding that German, French, Greek, and Latin are all desired by graduate departments. Instinct tells me that it depends on what era of philosophy is one's primary study interest, but I figured I would ask regardless. </p>

<p>2) How important is university name in all of this? I'm double-majoring in Computer Science and Philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. I've heard that Pitt has a good name in Philosophy, but I don't know the specifics about that.</p>

<p>3) I know that 'serious' students in the sciences often take lab courses as prep. Is there an equivalent for undergraduate philosophy majors?</p>

<p>4) I've heard that top departments generally discard an application if the GRE verbal is under 700. Is this true?</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>1) Think really, really why you want to study philosophy in graduate school. What do you want to get out of the degree?</p>

<p>2) Do a google search for an academic blog on philosophy graduate admissions by a professor at UC Riverside. It’s fantastic.</p>

<p>3) Think again about philosophy and graduate school.</p>

<p>Now to your questions:</p>

<p>1) German. A number of German philosophers’ works have been translated badly so it’s worthwhile to learn the language so you can read these works in original and do your own translation. But again, of course, it depends whether you want to do ancient or modern philosophy. But I still suggest German.</p>

<p>2) Ask your department about their graduates- were they able to get into philosophy graduate programs?</p>

<p>3) Honors thesis.</p>

<p>4) It’s not exactly hard and fast rule but if the rest of your application is solid, it’s one factor. But it should certianly be as high as possible.</p>

3

<p>1) That entirely depends on what/who you want to study. Most top programs require you to read philosophers in their original language IF you’re writing your dissertation on that philosopher (so if you take a class on, say, Wittgenstein, you don’t need to know German for that class)</p>

<p>If you are doing new, original philosophical work, knowing another language is far less important. Many top philosophy programs still require you to learn a language if this is your path, but many also don’t (MIT and NYU, for example). Some schools also accept knowledge of formal logic as a “language” (as they should).</p>

<p>2) Most departments say that your school doesn’t matter, as long as it’s a respected institution. Pitt is constantly ranked among the top 10 philosophy programs in the world, so I think you’re okay.</p>

<p>3) Working on an honors thesis will help a lot, especially if it’s original philosophical work (rather than just commentary on a philosopher, though this is fine too as long as it’s not generic/obvious). Departments expect a ~25 page paper, and they don’t want you to simply turn in an essay on a philosopher that you wrote for an introductory class. If you are especially proud of an essay you wrote for such a class, spend time revising it, perfecting it, and expanding it. If you manage to get a paper published in a respectable journal, this will boost up your chances tremendously, but I don’t think most accepted students manage to do this as undergrads. </p>

<p>Basically, think about it like this: the history of philosophy is undeniably important, but these departments don’t want to see a historical paper (unless you specifically want to become a “Philosopher X” scholar). These departments are the core of contemporary philosophy, and for them philosophy is an activity. They want to see evidence of your ability to participate in that activity, so your essay should reflect that.</p>

<p>4) The scores should be high, but this isn’t true at all. The most important part of the application is your scholarly work, your recommendations, and your transcript.</p>

4

<p>As for the why/the end result: I would like to teach college and write books, and of course, I have my intellectual curiosities and my desire to share them with similar-minded people (and those who may not be similar-minded but are willing to listen and consider). I used to be a Psychology student, and was a part of a Psych lab, too… discovered that many of my ideas were ultimately questions for Philosophy (my prof considered me an ethicist).</p>

<p>I must admit that my language leaning has been Latin. I would absolutely love to do an Honors thesis and have a fair share of ideas. I do have some academic history in Philosophy and have written lengthy term papers before and have had little problem doing the research and supporting my own arguments.</p>

5

<p>As a general rule in the humanities, the better your language preparation, the better chance you have at admission, given an otherwise excellent application. Students who already have more than one language tend to stand out. (Note: I’m talking about reading knowledge, not speaking, and there are often specific courses that concentrate on this skill.) So, if you have both Latin and, say, German, that’s great. But if you have Latin, German, and French (or three languages that pertain to your research interests) that’s generally considered excellent.</p>

<p>I don’t know how this applies to philosophy, however. The above is just general information for the humanities.</p>

6

<p>It doesn’t apply to philosophy. Most top programs require you to be able to read a language by your second-or-so year, but the languages you’ve studied in college don’t affect admission.</p>

<p>They’re concerned solely with your philosophical work. The language aspect is important, but only after you’ve been accepted.</p>

7

<p>Looks like I’ve got all the info I need now. Thanks.</p>

8

<p>Yay philosophy!</p>

9

<p>Yes, indeed.</p>