In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, a reader writes:
I am an international student (ESL) currently completing an MA degree in a well-regarded terminal program in the US. I am reaching out to you for guidance and support as I recently received rejections from all 25 PhD programs I applied to, including some of the unranked ones. I am (well, I was) confident in my abilities as an aspiring philosopher, having consistently been a top-performing student, winning awards, and presenting at prestigious conferences. That's how I got into my current MA program, or at least that's what I used to believe. As far as my professors (who are v. experienced at getting people into PhD programs) could tell, my dossier had no red flags, and I should have received multiple offers, even from top programs. And again, my writing sample, which was the product of a year's research, received thorough feedback from my professors at every step of the writing process, and was polished to a really high standard, which was again confirmed by multiple people. However, I did not attend a Leiterrific undergraduate school nor did I have any publications, which I suspect are the only two apparent things that made me less favorable. In any case, I am beginning to think that the best explanation of getting 25 independent rejections is that I simply lack whatever kind of talent I needed to have, as it seems that, contrary to what anyone I know, including myself, thought, my application was not good enough. Based on my situation, do you think that reapplying would make sense at this point? Or should I explore other paths? I welcome any feedback or suggestions that you may have.
I'm sorry this reader is having to grapple with this, and I empathize. When I initially applied to PhD programs, I think I applied to some 20-odd programs and only got into two relatively low-ranked ones. This was several decades ago, when (or so it seems) competition to get into grad programs was less intense than it is today. So, I'm not at all sure that the OP should take their performance in admissions this year to be evidence of lack of talent. It could be many things. For example, did they only apply to top-25 programs? Is there something about their application materials that didn't come across well? Could some kind of bias against non-native English speakers have been at work? Obviously, it's hard to say without knowing more. But I guess what I would do, if I were them, is to try to figure out the answers--perhaps by getting some philosophers outside of their MA program to look over their materials, or perhaps even by asking for feedback from a few admissions committees that rejected them (though I don't know if this is feasible).
Anyway, these are just my thoughts. What are yours? Any tips, insights, or experiences of your own that you think the OP might find helpful?
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