round two, fight!

So I'm starting to make final decisions on which universities to apply to this year. The decisions involved aren't easy, for many different reasons. For one thing, I've been trying to find out about schools that have good philosophy programs but which aren't as well-known as more famous schools, so by definition looking for schools which are difficult to find. Also, I've been trying to consider schools which match my shifting interests, which, in that they aren't really nailed down yet, is also quite a difficult task. Finally, since I'm not picking top-tier schools anyway, I'm trying to factor location in more than before, which opens up a whole 'nother can of worms.

All that being said, the so-far, tentative, currently-too-long list is:

University of Oregon
UC Davis
Michigan State University
SUNY Albany
SUNY Rochester
Northweswtern University
UConn, Storr
UBC Vancouver

As I said, I think this list is too long, since each application requires work on my part and increases the difficulty of getting letters of recommendation from some of my recommenders. Ahem.

The two on the chopping block, of which I might eliminate either, both, or just say "screw it" and eliminate neither, are Northwestern and UBC. UBC is on the list in the first place because it's in the Pacific Northwest, which I like, and is at least on the West Coast of North America, even if it isn't close to my family per se, and is fairly close to friends in Seattle. The downside is that it's in Canada. No, seriously. It leads to a lot of difficulties, such as finding legal work for E, not wanting to put down roots permanently so living in some apartment again, and not really even being close enough to my friends south of there who have a reputation of not putting the work in to seeing people at a distance*.

Northwestern, on the other hand, is on the list because it's a pretty good school, and has a bit of a reputation for being friendly to students who don't come to a PhD in philosophy via the traditional 4.0-average-undergrad-major route. On the other hand, it's fairly highly rated, which makes it less desirable in this round of applications, and, while it is quite good in the fields that hold my interest, it doesn't have anything really special in those areas like many of the others do. Also it's in Illinois. I mean, what's there?**

I'll have a bit more of a think about it, and then start the applications and try to get it to a point asap where I only need letters of recommendation and my essay. Then I'll ask my recommenders while I'm in the process of writing, rather than waiting until I finish my essay, which is what I stupidly did last time. Involved in there somewhere is a) finding out if I need to re-take the GRE, and b) if not, decide if i want to retake it anyway and try to increase my score.

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All this brings up the larger question of why I want to get a PhD at all. The situation I'm in now is pretty good, all things considered: I have a job which pays, not well exactly but at least more than I'd be making as a TA in grade school, as does E, who'd also have to quit her job presumably (and there'd be no promise of significantly more money down the road than there is now); We're living in a house in Pt. Reyes, which is fantastic; we have a garden which is doing fairly well for the first year and which will only increase in the next; and if I weren't worrying about things like PhD applications I'd have enough time to write what I want, either fiction or things for a philosophical journal.

These are all great things to console me in the event I do not get accepted anywhere, but why not use them as an argument to not go in the first place?

There are a few reasons that I'm aware of (As well as the presumable ones of which I am ignorant). First of all, it's a chance to have conversations and be introduced to new ideas which I would not have the opportunity to encounter otherwise, even with a lot of reading at home, which tends to be self-directed, and therefore unlikely to address too many things different from what I already think.

Also, my hope is that in addition to being able to be exposed to an intellectually stimulating environment, just having some years to think would be worthwhile. Get thoughts in order, write them out, talk to others about them. The life of the mind, as they say.

Finally, there's a non-zero chance that having the PhD will make it easier for me to get my ideas in front of others, in the form of journal articles, books, lectures, etc. Since this is really the point of the whole thing, it makes sense to get whatever credibility and audience I can for my screeds and ramblings.

Anyway, we'll see how it all goes. Thoughts?











*Full Disclosure, some might say the same of me.

**Other than Chicago, obviously.