Hi, I’m a freshman majoring in philosophy at William and Mary. This semester, I am taking my second and third courses in philosophy, and I’m worried about getting an A-minus in one or both of them. (I got all A’s last semester, including in my intro to philosophy course.) I realize this might be silly, but I’m legitimately worried that two A-minuses in my major could jeopardize my chances of getting into a good philosophy program, and right now I really want to keep that door open. Can someone either relieve my fears or help me develop realistic expectations of what these programs are looking for? Thank you for reading.
Here is my two cents on the issue. Is GPA an important factor? Absolutely but it doesn’t only depend on that. Some of my friends had 3.9+ GPAs but didn’t get into the grad programs they wanted to simply because they didn’t supplement their education as well as others and myself did.
Since this is your freshman year it is important that you learn how to keep your grades up and I believe with continued hard work you will succeed in upper divs where grades matter even more. However you should also begin making connections with professors and other classmates who share similar goals as you do. But in the meantime getting some work experience and doing some research will help in the long run as you will build up the skills you’ll need for grad school.
It’s early but it wouldn’t hurt to find a niche in your field of philosophy so you can begin really focusing your academic goals so you have a direction.
All the best!
One or two A- grades won’t significantly hamper your prospects as long as you do as @davisanonuser suggests. Start making connections with faculty members who will be able to write you strong letters of recommendation when you get around to applying. This means getting involved in scholarly activity, researching topic and writing papers outside those required for your classes.
^All of this. Most professors would actually rather have someone with around a 3.7 and scholarly experience in the field of interest than someone who has a 4.0 but no experience. So build up the rest of your CV by engaging in the things that help prepare you for a doctoral program.