<p>I'm an undergraduate student at the University of Richmond majoring in Philosophy. I was wondering what I should be shooting for to have a decent shot at a top 10 philosophy PhD program.</p>
<p>I'm a hispanic male and am involved with leadership positions on campus in three different organizations. I'm also applying to the department's honors program, and so will hopefully graduate from the department with honors and some sort of original thesis. Assume a decent writing sample and good letters of recomendation (I'm personal friends with the dean and some professors). What overall GPA, departmental GPA, and GRE score would make me competitive for top tier schools: Princeton, Pittsburgh, Harvard, Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford, Michigan, Cornell, MIT, Brown, etc. </p>
<p>Any help is sincerely appreciated. If any other information is needed to provide an accurate response, let me know.</p>
<p>Any top 10 philosophy PhD program will be extremely competitive. You could have a 4.0 and a perfect GRE score and fail to be accepted to any of these schools. The students accepted to these schools probably do have, on average, something like a 3.9, but this is neither necessary nor sufficient for acceptance. You will need to have more than a “decent” writing sample: It must be great. The writing sample is, above all else, what will determine admission. Given a 3.5 and a reasonable GRE score, you’ll have a shot, but will need to have a powerful sample. As I understand it, higher “numbers” will not boost your chances very much, if at all, as long as the writing sample remains but “decent”. You only need to have, say, a 3.5 in order to make it past the initial “cut” of applications, when the school narrows the pool to a manageable size, if the school practices this. From that point, it is just because students with higher GPAs typically have better samples that the average GPA for accepted students is so high.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that those applying for PhDs in philosophy, especially to top programs, have usually worked hard and have great qualifications. Nonetheless, many of the top schools only admit fewer than 10% of the applicants. 15% would be a high acceptance rate, by my understanding.</p>
<p>I would say at least a 3.85 major gpa, with at least a 3.7 overall gpa. These are minimum scores for most top philosophy programs. Please keep in mind, though, when applying for a philosophy PhD, you need to find a good adviser match, and not necessarily a “school” match. Graduate programs are very different than undergraduate. So don’t look at just s school’s name prestige, as that will matter very little once you start applying for positions. </p>
<p>The above poster is correct; you need to have VERY good writing samples. Have you written any articles, or done any research? Evidence of original writing is very important.</p>
<p>What do philosophy grad students do during the day? What portion of the day is spent reading? Writing? Teaching? Do philosophy grad students go to conferences? Give seminars? Are there prelims and what would those consist of? Are there applications to non academic disciplines? I don’t really understand what it is all about but would be curious to find out.</p>
<p>I’ll describe it in the American field, since the European field of learning it is a little different (I am only knowledgeable of the two learning communities). Usually grad students are taking classes, unless they are done with their class portion and are writing dissertations. Some grad students are teaching assistants, which is usually part of their financial aid packet, although some schools decide those positions differently. They may go to conferences if they are relevant to their studies. They usually don’t teach seminars, but they do teach undergraduate lectures or lead discussion groups, as TAs. There are usual tests for their classes as well as their understanding of material. As for non-academic applications, I’m sure that there are some, but none that I am either interested in or aware of. I suppose, just generally, that philosophy requires a great deal of logic and critical thinking, so any field that utilizes these traits would be non-academic (or academic) disciplines.</p>
<p>To give you a heads up as you enter in your senior year. If you are ABSOLUTELY sure that you want to do grad school, drop your ECs. I mean it. Okay, just one or two that you enjoy. Why? Because grad schools don’t care about ECs or even your leadership position.</p>
<p>Instead, you should be focusing on your senior thesis, especially if you want to get a good portion done in time for grad admissions. Chances are, probably not. So you need to find another seminar paper that’s filled with original research and analysis to stand in for your writing sample.</p>
<p>DO you also have German or French? If not, get cracking on at least one of them.</p>
<p>As for LORs, choose professors who know you and your work very well. Your letter from the Dean doesn’t do anything unless he personally supervised your thesis.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for all the helpful advice. Let me make sure I’ve got a solid understanding. Its not so much about the scores as meeting a minimum, so as long as I break let’s say a 3.6 GPA mark and an equivalent GRE, from there it’s more about the LOR and SOP and WS. LOR should come from proffesors, since though deans and politicians are influential, they won’t be as helpful to grad school applications. WS and SOP are the most critical. I should have lots of people read them and revise them. My hispanic heritage is not going to give me more than a slight nudge over other applicants. And I should definately pursue the honors program and produce some sort of original thesis. Is this all correct? Thank you all again for helpful answers!</p>
<p>I strongly recommend having at least a 3.8, not 3.6. Evidence of original thought and writing is paramount. You should write articles (even if they aren’t published) with original thought and new ideas and angles. If your thesis will not be done until your senior year, then that may be too late. Work with professors early and often. Other than that, you seem to be on the right track.</p>
<p>White Rabbit’s link is an excellent read, I second the thanks. </p>
<p>I’m intrigued by what the prof says about putting off graduation for a semester and applying the next fall in order to have a stronger body of work to present in applications, and allow plenty of free time to visit several prospective schools after being accepted.</p>
<p>Anybody have thoughts on the pros and cons of it?</p>
<p>I imagine it really depends on the student and the institution. At my school, it seems that each year a handful of students have very strong writing samples and a clear direction of where they want to go and who they want to work with. However, we have a very strong philosophy department, and the students benefit greatly from the opportunities that it provides. But I can see how an extra period of time would be very, very helpful.</p>
<p>p.s I’m a rising sophomore who is interested in graduate level philosophy training.</p>
<p>I’m actually a rising sophomore too White Rabbit. Trying to get an understanding early on of what’s expected so that I can prepare myself if this is the route I officially decide to take. All the responses have been really helpful so far. </p>
<p>Honestly, not that I want to only get in for being a minority, but I’m surprised it doesn’t seem to have as much as an impact as everyone else seems to depict, especially with so many Universities scouring to find minority professors. </p>
<p>I’m really interested in political/economic theory, metaphysics, ethics, and basically most major disciplines within philosophy. Of course, even though I am truly interested and enjoy discussing the subject, I’m concerned (I think, appropriately) that this is a risky career path to take. I feel like I have the patience and work ethic to finish a doctorate program, but I’m sure a lot of other students who dropped out of a PhD program also said that. Can anyone give any specific pointers on how to know if this really what I want to do with my life? I know that seems like a question without a helpful answer, but with all the warnings I’ve seen about how dangerously competitive PhD programs are, it seems to me that it would be a mistake to pursue something without thinking of the possible outcomes. Can any current PhD students speak to this? Are you finding yourselves content with your decision and involved in an interesting and enjoyable academic environment with people whose company you enjoy? Or do you feel like you’ve just signed yourself up for a really stressful few years and can’t wait for it all to be over?</p>
<p>I can tell you that unless you write your dissertation, and are interested, in a very specific type of philosophy, and that type is unique in the field (ex. Morality and Human Rights) then it will be difficult finding a university that will be interested in you, as a new graduate.</p>
<p>You know grad school is absolutely for you if you can’t shut up about your topic and couldn’t care less about the fact that people around you are staring at you and trying to comprehend what you just said.</p>
<p>No, really, everyone has their own epiphanies… usually when they realize and say, “Oh my god, I’m sitting here, reading these old documents, and enjoying this! Does anybody care??” For many serious students, it happens when they are in middle of a research project in their junior year at the earliest.</p>
<p>Calosea: if you really do have a passion for intensive study of philosophy and a strong work ethic, I’d say go for it.</p>
<p>I’m just getting started as an undergrad as well, and I think it’s important for us to seek out all the information we can – but between blissful ignorance and cowed surrender, there’s a fine line of well-informed self-confidence to be walked. Take the negative info to heart, and think well about whether your passion and skills measure up, but don’t undersell yourself simply because others have failed.</p>
<p>I’d been pretty confident in my abilities and advance preparation in my field, but after reading into these boards and other sources, all the talk about scratching and clawing to present an application that would even be considered in uber-competitive admissions, and doing the same again to start a career, had a part of my mind thinking like yours: “what am I getting myself into?” After reading discussions on the apparently tremendous difficulty of scoring 700+ on the verbal GRE, and seeing that ETS’s PowerPrep software was considered the best indicator of actual GRE score, I thought it’d be interesting to see how my independent studies measured up (before I ever set foot in a college classroom). I scored 800 without a problem, and no longer worry about it.</p>
<p>If you work hard enough, you can get where you want to go, and a head start on preparation can only help. Learning where others went wrong is very helpful, but don’t let the naysayers or doom-and-gloom atmosphere of some of these discussions scare you off.</p>
<p>During the graduate application process I realized I was doing an hour or so of research on the professional aspects of philosophy. This research I now post on a Blog ([Philosorapt[E]rs](<a href=“http://philosorapters.blogspot.com%5DPhilosorapt%5BE%5Drs%5B/url%5D”>http://philosorapters.blogspot.com)</a>). Although it primarily follows my research into the profession it also keeps you updated on opportunities in philosophy, current movements, funding, publishing and much more. </p>
<p>As a recent grad applicant, I did some research on what can make an application look better. I put together much of my research into graduate applications into a blog post. Thought this might help some of the undergraduates here. I Also put together a Graduate application time line which would have been extremely helpful to me during the application process. </p>
<p>Tips for Creating A EXCEPTIONAL Graduate Application in Philosophy:</p>