gre scores philosophy phd

Department of Philosophy

• Graduate Program >

Admissions and Financial Support

Admission to the doctoral program is very selective. Recent applicant pools have averaged about 250 per year, with about 1 in 25 applicants being accepted for the program.

The main criteria for admission are:

• Quality of a philosophical paper submitted to the department.
• Previous academic background and record
• Letters of recommendation
• GRE scores (There is no automatic cut-off based on GRE scores, but average scores for students admitted recently are: 93rd percentile in verbal; 84th percentile in quantitative; and 87th percentile in analytic.) GRE scores are optional for applying. 
• Curriculum Vitae

How to Apply

Complete an online application . Learn more by reading frequently asked questions about graduate program applications. 

A complete application requires:

• Optional: Arrange for the submission of official Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test scores. The scores reported must result from a test taken within the last five years. To expedite the review process, you may also upload preliminary (unofficial) scores, if available. (GRE and TOEFL school code: 1841, GRE department code: 2801, TOEFL dept. code: 20)
• Submit unofficial transcripts from each post-secondary institution (upload through the online application).
• Submit a Curriculum Vita or resume through the online application system .
• Arrange for three letters of recommendation from persons able to evaluate the applicants philosophical ability and potential, to be submitted through the online recommendation system associated with the online application.
• Submit a sample (typically 10 - 15 typed pages in length) of the applicant's philosophical writing and attach it electronically to the online application through the Uploads section.
• Submit a statement of intent through the online application system (a brief, no more than two to three typed pages, statement of the applicant's motivations and goals in undertaking graduate study of philosophy).
• Submit the application fee by credit card, check, or money order using the payment system associated with the online application.

The deadline for admission is January 15 of the year for which admission is sought. All application materials must be submitted by this deadline.

Typically, only students planning to begin graduate work in the fall semester are considered for admission. In special circumstances, applications to begin work in the spring semester will be considered; but these must meet the same January 15th deadline as ordinary applications.

Applicants will be informed of the Department's decision on their applications by April 15.

Financial Support

All regular full-time students in good academic standing and in residence receive full tuition scholarships. In addition, students receive a stipend from the College of Arts and Letters for five years of graduate work.

During the term of the five-year stipend, students are expected to serve the Department as teaching assistants (TAs) in their third, fourth, and either fifth or sixth semesters. Students are expected to teach their own class once, typically in Spring of their fourth year. The remaining six semesters are designated for undistracted coursework, research and writing. In exceptional cases, a student may elect to teach a second class in his or her fifth year.

Students who complete their PhD by the end of their fifth year are automatically awarded a one year postdoctoral fellowship from the University, which comes with a stipend, minimal teaching, and a research budget. Learn more about the 5 Plus 1 Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at Notre Dame.

Fifth-year students making timely progress who are not scheduled to finish their dissertations but expect to do so by the end of their sixth year may apply to the College for a sixth year of stipend support. If a sixth year stipend is awarded, students are expected to serve as TAs both semesters.

Students in good standing beyond the fifth year and not supported by stipends are typically hired by the Department to teach courses each semester. At current adjunct rates, a reasonable income can be made by teaching 5 courses in an academic year.

Our students, with departmental support and outside funding, regularly visit distinguished philosophy departments both in the U.S. and abroad to undertake further study. Notre Dame graduate students have recently visited at Arizona, Brown, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio State, Rutgers, Cambridge, Oxford, Louvain, Göttingen, Münster, Halle and the Free University.

Graduate Admissions

Application.

Stanford’s  Online Application , information about requirements and instructions for applying are available through the  Grad Admissions website . The application opens each year in Fall quarter. 

The online application is due by the following deadlines:

PhD: Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Masters: Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Knight Hennessy: No later than December 1, 2023 (per Knight Hennessy program ) 

Coterminal Masters (internal Stanford students only): end of second week of Winter quarter,  Friday, January 19, 2024

Knight Hennessy:  No later than December 1, 2023

GRE scores will not be required in the 2023-24 admission round.

Please DO NOT mail paper transcripts at this time. E-transcripts are accepted.

Transcripts

• Please wait to mail official paper  transcripts  until we request them.
• Official e-transcripts can be sent directly by the school or clearinghouse to  philosophy [at] stanford.edu (philosophy[at]stanford[dot]edu)
• Please upload an unofficial transcript from each school you attended for a year or more with the application.
• NOTE: An official transcript is one that is received directly from the issuing institution (or CollegeNET CertiFile Service (CHESICC/Educational Perspectives) that bears the seal/signature representing its validity. To be considered official, paper transcripts must be sealed and unopened.
• Transcript information at  https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/applying/starting-your-application/required-application-documents/transcripts-academic-records-0

Writing Sample 

• Should be a recent writing sample on a philosophical topic
• We recommend you send an example of your  best work
• needs to be uploaded into the application
• Typically samples are around 20 pages or less
• If submitting a thesis or document longer than 20 pages, please include a note pointing to most important passages
• Secondary samples are allowed, please mark which sample is primary if including more than one

Letters of Recommendation 

• Please have your recommenders submit their  confidential  letter via the online application.
• Letters from recommenders are due by the deadline. Please have them in as soon as possible.
• The application requires a minimum of 3 recommendations.
• If a recommender is unable to submit their letter via the online application, please let us know. We can accept email letters directly from professors. 
• For emailed letters from professors, the applicant must also send us a note saying they waive the right to see the recommendation.
• Please check the grad admissions website for the latest updates about required tests: 
• https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/applying/starting-your-application/required-exams
• Grad admissions requires the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) for most applicants whose first language is not English. This includes US citizens as well as international students.
• Applicants who have received a Bachelors or higher degree from a U.S. school are usually exempted from the TOEFL.
• For test criteria, please see the international section of the  Grad Admissions  webpage.  TEST INFORMATION

GRE scores will not be required by Philosophy in the 2023-2024 admission round.

• The GRE general test has been required in the past for Philosophy applications.  If submitting them, GRE scores must be from within the last 5 years.

Check the status of your application (e.g., letters of recommendation received, official ETS scores, etc.,) by logging into your application account Activity Log.

Knight-Hennessy Scholars cultivates and supports a highly-engaged, multidisciplinary and multicultural community of graduate students from across Stanford University, and delivers a diverse collection of educational experiences, preparing graduates to address complex challenges facing the world. Each year, Knight-Hennessy Scholars selects up to 100 students who are newly enrolling in a graduate degree program in any of Stanford’s seven schools. Knight-Hennessy Scholars participate in an experiential leadership development program and receive funding for up to three years of graduate study at Stanford. Candidates of any country may apply. Candidates must submit two applications to be considered; one to Knight-Hennessy Scholars by early October and one to the graduate degree program by its deadline. Visit  https://knight-hennessy.stanford.edu/  to learn more. 

• Apply at  https://knight-hennessy.stanford.edu/
• The KH application deadline is October 11, 2023, 1:00pm Pacific Time.
• For more information on the Knight-Hennessy Scholars please see:  https://knight-hennessy.stanford.edu/
• Applicants also need to apply separately to the department where they wish to study. 
• The deadline for the application to the Philosophy department for consideration for the KH program is December 1, 2023.

Please do not mail paper transcripts at this time. We will request official transcripts at a later stage.

PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT Building 90 450 Jane Stanford Way STANFORD, CA 94305-2155 USA

• Email:  philosophy [at] stanford.edu (philosophy[at]stanford[dot]edu)  
• Phone to list for mailing address if needed: (650) 723-2547 (for fastest response, please email)
• For problems with the application website , please check the online help in the website.

For application fee waivers, apply through:

• Application Fee Waivers

For exam waivers, or general questons, please contact the Central University Grad Admissions office:

• https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/about#contact

For other questions, please contact the  Philosophy Graduate Administrator 

• Email:  philosophy [at] stanford.edu (philosophy[at]stanford[dot]edu)
• Phone: (650) 723-2548 (for fastest response, please email)

For a helpful  guide on getting into grad school  from the School of Humanities and Sciences, please check:

• https://humsci.stanford.edu/prospective-students/guide-getting-grad-school

The Department of Philosophy welcomes graduate applications from individuals with a broad range of life experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds who would contribute to our community of scholars. Review of applications is holistic and individualized, considering each applicant’s academic record and accomplishments, letters of recommendation, and admissions essays in order to understand how an applicant’s life experiences have shaped their past and potential contributions to their field.

The Philosophy Department recognizes that the Supreme Court issued a ruling in June 2023 about the consideration of certain types of demographic information as part of an admission review. All applications submitted during upcoming application cycles will be reviewed in conformance with that decision.

PhD Admissions

How to Apply

General admissions information.

There is only one application round for our PhD program in Philosophy each year; c ompleted PhD applications are due on Thursday, December 14 . The Application for Admission and Financial Aid, with instructions, deadlines, and department-specific information, is administered through the divisional Office of the Dean of Students and is available is available online .

Questions pertaining to admissions and aid should be directed to [email protected] or (773) 702-1552. All correspondence and materials sent in support of applications should be mailed to:

The University of Chicago Division of the Humanities Walker, Suite 111 1115 East 58th Street Chicago, IL 60637

Online Application

Application facts (selected).

• The Department of Philosophy receives around 200-250 graduate applications per year from highly qualified applicants.
• We offer admission with the same full fellowship support package to about 5-10 applicants per year. 
• All faculty are intensively involved in the selection process (a four-phase process involving an admission committee and a full faculty vetting of the 30-40 most qualified candidates).
• The Department of Philosophy does not admit students who seek only a master’s degree, but, like all humanities departments here, we customarily refer a select group of qualified applicants to the University's Master of Arts Program in the Humanities (MAPH). (See below in this section for details.)
• Applicants will be notified of the results of their application for admission, at the latest, in early March.

Eligibility for the PhD Program

• A bachelors degree (or equivalent) is required to matriculate in our PhD program, although students needn't have finished that degree at the time of application.
• Some applicants may already have (or are working toward) master’s degree in Philosophy; note, however, that this is neither an asset nor a liability in the application process.
• Some applicants may be (or may have been) undergraduate majors in Philosophy; other applicants who weren't officially Philosophy majors should have significant background in philosophy (evinced by having at least taken a number of philosophy courses).
• Overall, what we care about is the applicant's aptitude for philosophy and readiness for graduate-level work.
• Scholars with a PhD in Philosophy from another program are not eligible to apply.

The Required Elements of the Application

In addition to the standard Division of Humanities forms and application fee, a complete application to the Department of Philosophy will include:

• A one-page, single-spaced personal statement outlining your philosophical interests and goals, and your reasons for wanting to pursue them at the University of Chicago;
• Up-to-date transcripts of all your post-secondary school education;
• All applicants for whom English is not a primary language may be required to submit current scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Current scores are no more than two years old at the time of application submission. Here is a complete description of the English proficiency policy , and questions about the English proficiency requirement should be directed to [email protected] .
• Three or four confidential letters of recommendation from people who are in a position to comment on your philosophical background and ability;
• A recent sample of your philosophical written work; and
• Official Graduate Record Examination scores (verbal, quantitative, and analytic writing sent by ETS). NOTE: sending GRE scores is an optional part of the application.

All of the above should be in English, or accompanied by English translations. It is particularly important for non-native speakers to demonstrate their competence to read, write, and participate in class discussions in English. Your writing sample and personal statement must be written by you, in English.

In some years, a few of the final candidates for PhD admissions spots may have a brief, exploratory Skype interview with departmental faculty members.

Advice about the Required Elements of the Application

A. the writing sample.

All of the components of your application are important and will receive careful scrutiny by our graduate admissions committee. The single most important credential in your application, however, is your writing sample, for it provides the best direct indicator of your ability to do first-rate graduate work in philosophy. The rest of the application provides the broader context within which we evaluate the writing sample, but note that we are unlikely to admit an applicant if one of the other components of their application raises ground for concern regarding their ability to succeed in graduate school. Note: Please do not put any identifying information on your writing sample. At a later point in the admissions process, some of these essays are read "anonymously" by faculty.

Selecting a Writing Sample:

• Your writing sample should provide the best possible demonstration of your philosophical writing and reasoning abilities. In general, the more perspicuous the overall structure of your writing sample is—the more clearly it displays how each of its parts contributes to the argument of the whole—the better it will serve as a credential for admission to our graduate program.
• Most often, a writing sample is a term paper written for a philosophy course—one that reflects your interests, that you put a lot of work into, that you did well on, and, above all, that you're proud of. Nonetheless, you should also consider selecting a sample that is devoted to a topic that is not overly esoteric, for your writing sample must be understood and positively evaluated by a wide range of members of our faculty.
• As for the length of the writing sample, a paper of around 20 pages is plenty; we're interested in quality, not quantity. An 8-10 page paper, by contrast, is almost always too short to give much of an indication of how a person thinks. If you are excerpting a writing sample from a longer course term paper, you may want to add some paragraphs (1) at the beginning of the paper to provide an overview of the paper’s philosophical interest or (2) at the end of paper to explain clearly what you have accomplished and why it is original.
• Sometimes, students want to submit a senior thesis (or even a MA thesis) running 50 or more pages. And, if that's your best work, then that is what you should send. But you should then also give us some guidance as to what part or parts of it (totaling 20-25 pages, say) we should examine carefully (or, at least, look at first).  
• It may be that you have more than one major philosophical interest. If so, it might be appropriate to submit up to two writing samples along with a cover note providing some guidance to the readers.

B. Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation are important, but letters from faculty members who are not professors of philosophy will in general not be of much assistance to us in our efforts to assess your credentials as a candidate for our PhD program. Ideally, your application should contain at least three letters from professional philosophers. Any further letters from other teachers of yours included in your application dossier should therefore always be in addition to, not instead of, letters from philosophers. What we look for from the writers of your letters of recommendation is a candid and detailed evaluation of your philosophical abilities and accomplishments and an informed prognosis of your likelihood of succeeding in a top-notch philosophy PhD program. Far more important than the recommender’s professional stature or philosophical fame is the degree to which he or she knows you well and can provide a vivid portrait of your philosophical personality and a detailed account of your philosophical work to date.

C. The Personal Statement

The personal statement is not, strictly speaking, an admissions credential and it is not the place to cram in additional evidence of your philosophical ability. It should focus succinctly on facts about the philosophical work you have done to date, your primary philosophical interests and goals going forward in the future, and your reasons for thinking that the University of Chicago might be a good place to pursue them. In addition, if there is anything unusual about your philosophical trajectory or academic career that you think we should know, your personal statement is the place to provide that information. In particular, if there are significant portions of time during which you have not been enrolled as a student, we would appreciate a brief indication of what you were doing during those times.

D. Transcripts

We cannot enroll you without up-to-date transcripts of all your post-secondary school education: no such transcript may be omitted from your application. If you are applying from another country and you anticipate that we might have difficulty deciphering your transcript(s), then any additional guidance with which you, or especially your recommenders, can provide us in interpreting your transcript will be appreciated. Please contact Michael Beetley in the Humanities Dean of Students Office if you have any questions about transcripts.

E. GRE Exams and GPAs

Official documentation of your general Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores with your application are optional for the application. We do not require (or take into account) any subject tests. For those who have taken multiple GREs: our policy is to look at an applicant's best scores for each section of the test and to throw out the lower scores. Note to applicants: Over the years, we have found that undergraduate grades, especially those in philosophy courses, are a somewhat better indication of philosophical potential than GRE scores. The average GPA in philosophy for our recent admitted students has been about 3.9 (out of 4). The analogous GRE averages are 710 verbal, 740 quantitative, and 5.5 analytic writing.

F. TOEFL Exam

In evaluating the GRE scores of applicants, we make allowance that these examinations are more difficult for non-native speakers of English. For this reason, it is all the more imperative that non-native speakers of English take the TOEFL exam, if they are not in a position to supply us with academic transcripts from an English-language college or university located in an anglophone country. The University has information regarding what counts as acceptable TOEFL scores for consideration for admission in Philosophy (see Humanities Division standards) .

Hearing Back from Us about Your Application

While curiosity is natural, as a general rule, please do not inquire about admissions decisions in February. There are a number of reasons why we won't be able to let you know the decision prior to the second week in March, most of which are out of our control (please be patient!). Of course, if you have some special reason for concern about your application, please feel free to contact us.

Master of Arts Program in the Humanities (MAPH) Referrals

We refer some promising applicants who have genuine potential for success in graduate school but whom we are not able to admit to our PhD program to the  Masters of Arts Program in the Humanities (MAPH) , which is a standalone Masters in Humanities program run through the Division of Humanities here. So if you are not admitted to our PhD program, you may be contacted by MAPH about your possible interest in enrolling in that program. (Note: if you already have an MA or a PhD in Philosophy, then you are not eligible for this program.)

Enrolling in MAPH, taking numerous graduate philosophy courses, and concentrating on philosophical academic work is an excellent option for students who are not admitted to a prestigious philosophy PhD program in their first attempt. We look for students whose intellectual interests and future applications to PhD programs would benefit from the intensive and rigorous one-year MAPH program.

If you are admitted to the MAPH program, we strongly urge you to visit our campus in order to learn more about the opportunities for students in the MAPH program and to meet the MAPH administrators, the MAPH Philosophy preceptors, and selected departmental faculty members.

MAPH Program Website

Campus Visits

Prospective graduate students who have been notified that they have been admitted to our PhD program are strongly encouraged at that point to make a campus visit before they accept our offer of admission. A campus visit serves its real purpose best if you learn things about the department that you couldn’t find out reliably merely through word of mouth or simply by perusing the departmental website—things such as the real character of the intellectual atmosphere of the graduate program, the accessibility of the faculty, the nature and depth of philosophical discussion in seminars and workshops, the sort of quality and care which goes into dissertation supervision, and the extent to which graduate students in the program are excited by the education which they are receiving. Since these are not things that are easily gleaned in a brief and superficial visit, you should also consider being selective in the number of PhD programs you visit.

If you are admitted to the PhD program, we will contact you, possibly as soon as early February, to inform you of our offer of admission and the timing for our visiting week, which usually occurs during the first week of our Spring Quarter . For your visit at UChicago, we will (1) schedule individual appointments for you with numerous faculty members and (2) arrange a number of activities for you together with some of our current graduate students and other prospective students in your cohort. Finally, we will encourage you to attend some seminars and workshops. We will pay for (or heavily subsidize) your transportation to Chicago and arrange for you to stay with one of our current PhD students.

Note: Prospective students are also discouraged from making a campus visit prior to their having been officially admitted to our PhD program. It is simply not feasible for faculty to meet personally with the many individuals interested in our department. While your application is under consideration, you should feel free to peruse our detailed website and to contact one or more current PhD students whose interests overlap with yours to find out more about whether our graduate program fits your interests. Our students are happy to answer your questions.

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

Phd program admissions, admissions information.

The only way to apply for admission to the Philosophy PhD program is by filling out an online application.  The application can be accessed via the following linked website from The Graduate School at Northwestern:

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

The online application for matriculation in Fall 2024 is now available.  All application materials are submitted via the online application system, CollegeNet, at the above link.   Your application and all supplemental materials  must  be received by the application deadline of Friday, January 5, 2024.

Application Materials

The Department of Philosophy requires the following supplemental application materials :

• Transcripts  from each post-secondary institution attended. Students working toward a master's degree at another institution should submit transcripts of all undergraduate work as well as transcripts of all graduate work completed at the time of filing the application. The department accepts the uploading of unofficial transcripts when you apply. Once accepted into the program, The Graduate School will require the submission of official (bearing the registrar's signature and/or the institution's seal) transcripts.
• At least  three  letters of recommendation . The recommendation form is available as part of the online application and is sent directly to the letter writers through the online application system. Prior to requesting that your providers complete the recommendation online, be sure to check with them to ensure they have a personal email address and access to the internet.
• Academic Statement - This statement concerning your academic interests and goals should not exceed two single-spaced pages.
• Personal Statement - Please include in the personal statement a description of any particular challenges or hardships faced during your academic trajectory. The personal statement should not exceed one single-spaced page.
• Writing Sample -  10-20 pages, double-spaced.
• TOEFL Scores  are required for applicants who are not native English speakers, although this requirement will be waived for those who have completed four years as an undergraduate, or two years as an MA student, in an institution where all instruction is conducted in English. Official scores must be less than two years old and must come directly from the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The institutional code assigned to The Graduate School at Northwestern is 1565 . The minimum TOEFL score for admission is 577 for the paper-based test and 233 for the computer-based test. The minimum score required for the iBT TOEFL is 90. The Graduate School will accept the results of the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) as a substitute for the TOEFL, with a floor of 7.0. For information regarding the internet-based TOEFL exam and an explanation of the exam, please consult http://www.tgs.northwestern.edu/admission/requirements/test-scores/index.html .

The following supplemental materials are optional, but not required:

• A cluster statement expressing your interest in participating in an interdisciplinary graduate cluster. Please see Mellon Clusters in the Humanities and Qualitative Social Sciences: The Graduate School - Northwestern University for information about the themes and activities of the various clusters. 
• GRE Scores*  - Official scores must be less than five years old and must come directly from the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The institutional code assigned to The Graduate School at Northwestern is 1565 .

* The department provides a holistic review for each application.  For those applicants who choose to submit GRE scores, these count as simply one data point among many.  They are not used to filter out any applications.  The absence of GRE scores in an applicant's dossier has no negative impact; when GRE scores are not submitted, the applicant will be assessed entirely on the basis of the required materials.

If you have any questions about the graduate application process that cannot be answered by consulting the Frequently Asked Questions page, the Department of Philosophy website, or The Graduate School's Admissions website, please feel free to email the Philosophy Graduate Program Coordinator at:  [email protected]

How to Apply

The Department offers admission in the fall only for its Ph.D. program. (Please note that there is no separate M.A. program in philosophy.)

Application may be made online . Applicants must submit official transcripts, three letters of recommendation, and a sample of philosophical writing. Brown Philosophy Department  no longer requires  GRE scores to apply to its PhD program  (no advanced subject test is required either). The application deadline is 2 January.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY

Inquiries regarding graduate admissions should be directed to the Graduate School and not to the Director of Graduate Studies. This includes questions about waiver of the application fee . (See here for information.) The Director of Graduate Studies is responsible only for the Graduate Program and plays no role in the admissions process.

The Department is not able to schedule individual meetings with prospective applicants. There are simply too many prospective applicants for that to be practical. This website, and faculty member's individual websites (see here ), should answer most questions about the PhD program, faculty research interests, and the like. Admitted students will be invited to visit the department in late March or early April, expenses being paid by the University (except in the case of some international students).

Application Advice

Students who are interested in applying to graduate school are often puzzled by the application process. This page is intended to provide some guidance. 

The best guidance will, however, be provided by a student's own undergraduate advisors and mentors. Almost every professor you have was once an undergraduate nervous about applying to graduate school, and most of them are happy to talk about their experience.

(Alex Guerrero, from Rutgers, also has some advice for prospective applicants.)

The Application Process

Application deadlines are typically in mid-January, but some departments, including Brown's, have deadlines at the beginning of January. It is really best to think, then, in terms of 1 January and, with the holidays being just before that, in terms of mid-December.  

Philosophy Department deadline for Fall 2023 Admission will be  January 2, 2023  before 12 midnight.

Application Documents

Departments make their admissions decisions based on all of the information available to them. It is very important that applicants have solid grades, and not just in philosophy. Most programs expect a student to have exposed themselves to other areas of learning, especially when those other areas are relevant to the areas of philosophy in which they are interested. Thus, for example, students interested in political philosophy should strongly consider taking some courses in political science; those interested in philosophy of language, in linguistics; in the history of philosophy, in relevant areas of history or history of science; and so on.

It is also important that students take a wide range of philosophy courses. It is natural to 'specialize' and take a large number of courses in a specific area of central interest. But it is equally important to have a solid undergraduate education in philosophy generally and particularly, for our program, in contemporary analytic philosophy, both on the 'metaphysics and epistemology' side and on the 'value theory' side, as well as in the history of philosophy. (Breadth is as important as depth, here as elsewhere.) That one has satisfied the requirements for a concentration (or 'major') in philosophy does  not  guarantee that they have such a broad education: There are different ways one can satisfy those requirements, and some ways of doing so will leave gaping holes. Students interested in pursuing graduate study should therefore consult with the undergraduate advisor, or some other mentor, no later than the second semester of the junior year regarding selection of courses.

The 'statement of purpose' is intended to give the admissions committee some general information about why a particular applicant wants to go to graduate school and what they intend to do once they get there. Do  not  tell a long story beginning, "Ever since my childhood, I've wondered about my dreams", although, if there are specific life-experiences which have sparked or sustained an interest in philosophy, these may be worth mentioning.

It is  not  expected that applicants will be able to commit themselves to some very specific project for their dissertation. Indeed, many students find that, when they get to graduate school and are exposed to a wider range of philosophical thought than they were previously, their interests change quite dramatically. Many programs will be suspicious of applicants who seem not to be interested in  philosophy  but only in some very small fragment of it.

What you  should  do in your statement of purpose is explain, as clearly and ( nota bene ) concisely as you are able, what it is about philosophy has so gripped you that you are considering graduate study. It is an odd way to spend one's life. What is it about philosophy that makes you want to spend the next six or so years of your life studying it? To spend at least three years writing a dissertation on one, small topic? And to spend the rest of your life pursuing research, teaching philosophy to unsuspecting teenagers, and so on and so forth? Your statement should include a serious explanation of your interests, as you now find them to be. And it is worth also including a reasonable assessment of what you hope to accomplish when you enroll in graduate school: Are there specific areas of philosophy about which you would like to learn more? Are there specific areas which bear upon your main areas of interest which you think you need to know more about?

Note that it's best to be detailed. Don't just say you're interested in meta-ethics. What questions interest you? What have you done to pursue these interests?

The statement of purpose is also the one chance the admissions committee has to get to know you a bit as a person. Graduate school is hard, and, while the love of philosophy will take you some distance, there are other intellectual and personal virtues that are important as well, such as persistence and an ability to respond well to (constructive) criticism. Departments are also communities of scholars, who work and learn together, and an ability to 'play well with others' is important. Most departments also value a diversity of perspectives. So, if there are particular life experiences that speak to these aspects of your personality, you should feel free to discuss them.

The letters of recommendation are one of the two most important parts of the application. It is typically these on which admission to the committee's shortlist will turn, and admission itself depends heavily upon the contents of these letters. Remember that the admissions committee has very little information available to it. It is therefore happy to rely upon colleagues who, presumably, have access to more information.

Because the letters are so important, anyone who thinks they even  might  be interested in graduate study must work to develop close professional relationships with at least two members of the faculty  before the senior year . The reason for this is that, given the large enrollment of most courses, it is difficult for any faculty member to get to know all of the students in any particular such course. And it is, as should be clear, impossible for a faculty member to write a cogent, informed letter for a student if they know of that student only as one among many members of one large lecture course. The best letters of recommendation are detailed, speaking honestly and convincingly about both the student's strengths and weaknesses, and good letters say something interesting, and equally convincing, about the applicant's potential for further growth and development.

How can one develop such relationships? Most obviously, by attending professors' office hours to discuss the material from lecture. Do not feel as though you have to have a question fully worked out before going to office hours. It's fine simply to want to talk about something you don't quite understand or something from the reading that is bothering you. Office hours are for just such things. (You would perhaps be surprised how often some faculty sit in their office hours wishing a student would come talk to them.)

Ideally, applicants will have three letters from philosophers who know them well. Letters from non-philosophers usually carry less weight. Such people may be able to speak to your general abilities as a student and scholar, but often they do not know much about philosophy and so cannot speak specifically to your potential as a philosopher. (Of course, there are exceptions: professors in other departments who are philosophically sophisticated.) It is also better to have letters from faculty than from graduate TAs, simply because the former have more experience than the latter. But, at the same time, a letter from someone who knows you really well is better than one from someone who can only speak in generalities. So this can be a balancing act. Talk with your mentors about whom you should ask for letters.

The writing sample is perhaps the single most important part of the application. Almost always, it is what will decide an application's fate. An application with a poor writing sample, but stellar letters and grades, will gain acceptance almost nowhere, since the poor quality of the writing tends to undermine one's confidence in the letters; but one with middling letters and an excellent writing sample might still stand a chance. (Strong grades are just assumed here: The writing sample won't get read if the grades are mediocre.) It is, therefore,  not  a good idea simply to select some paper that got an 'A' and submit it unchanged. You should, rather, look upon the task of producing a writing sample as if it were an additional course and plan to devote a fair amount of time just to this task.

It is, for this reason, also rarely a good idea to submit a paper one is writing for a course taught in the fall of the senior year (if that is when one is preparing the application). There is just not enough time to polish such a piece for inclusion as a writing sample. A better idea is to use a successful paper written in the junior year as the  foundation  for your writing sample, and then to work on it further, doing additional reading, polishing the arguments, getting feedback on drafts, and so on and so forth. You can begin this process by discussing the comments you received on the paper with your instructor. Note that this is also a good way to strengthen your relationship with that instructor and so to give them a solid basis for a letter of recommendation.

A good writing sample addresses a substantial philosophical problem, whether it amounts to a critical evaluation of an argument or a serious attempt to interpret difficult philosophical texts. Mere reports of what some philosopher or other thinks—or mere 'compare and contrast' efforts—are not likely to impress. Do not, however, think that you have to make an original contribution to the area about which you are writing to produce a solid writing sample. Very few undergraduates are capable of writing such a paper. Still, though, you should be thinking for yourself: We want to see that you are able to do philosophy, not just talk about it.

Mostly, admissions committees are looking for two things: promise and a solid basis from which a student can start learning to do original philosophical work. What the writing sample should demonstrate, then, is that you have acquired the basic skills needed for the serious study of philosophy: An ability to read and write philosophy and to think critically and creatively about philosophical problems.

The writing sample needs, as was said, to be a substantial piece of work. It should therefore be at least 12–15 pages long, as it is hard to do anything serious in less space. It should not be excessively long: The members of admissions committees, being human, have been known to get annoyed by overly long writing samples; they simply do not have the time to read 40 pages from every applicant. Rarely will there be any reason to go over 20 pages, and 25 pages is probably an absolute maximum. Generally speaking, it's not a good idea, either, to submit a longer piece of work, such as a senior thesis, even if you indicate to the committee that there is some portion of it that you would really like them to read. It is far better to re-work the relevant material so that you can be sure it is self-contained.

It is permissible to submit more than one sample of writing, but you should not do so unless you have some  very  good reason. (An example of a good reason: You have serious interests both in the philosophy of language and in Aristotle.) If you do submit more than one sample of work, you should indicate which of the pieces you intend as primary and which as supplemental, in case the committee deems itself unable to read everything (as is likely).

You should be  absolutely certain  to proofread thoroughly: Do  not  trust spell-checkers and the like to do this for you. It is a good idea, too, to have friends read through the paper and comment upon your style, grammar, and so forth. The paper needs to be well-written: Being able to write well is an absolutely fundamental prerequisite for graduate study. (You will learn to write better as a graduate student, but you need to have a solid foundation already.) Make sure, too, that your citations are in good order, that quotations and footnotes are properly formatted, and so on and so forth: You want your paper to look as if you've spent real time with it—and as if you are proud of it.

Finally, the writing sample does  not  have to be connected, in any way, with the area or areas you think you most want to pursue in graduate school. So long as your record shows a sufficient foundation to pursue those areas, a writing sample in some other area might even impress the committee as a demonstration of your philosophical breadth. Your faculty advisers can help you choose a paper that would be appropriate for a writing sample.

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The online application is usually available starting in early September. But there's no strategic advantage to applying early; we review all our applications at the same time. Just make sure all your materials get to us by January 7 if you are applying for the PhD program.

The application is accessible online. The deadline for PhD admissions is January 7 (or the first business day after that), and the application must be submitted online . There is an application fee . (Some students in special circumstances are eligible for a fee waiver .)

One part of your application is the online form. In addition to the form, you will also submit several kinds of supporting material. 

You will be asked to provide:

A 1-2 page statement of academic purpose, describing past and present work as it relates to your intended field of study, and anything unusual we should know when evaluating your application.

The application will also prompt you to submit an optional personal history statement. The personal history statement is truly optional. If you do feel that there is information relevant to your application, a brief paragraph will normally suffice. It will not be held against you if you choose not to include a personal history statement.

A CV or resume

A writing sample

This should be an example of polished, substantive philosophical writing. It should display your philosophical abilities at their strongest, and will need to manifest analytical skills on a par with students already in our program. It may be the most important part of your application. A reasonable length for this is 20-25 double-spaced pages. Some applicants submit more than one writing sample; this is alright if, for example, they display very different aspects of your philosophical capacities (for example, a paper in philosophical logic and one in ancient philosophy). If they don't, we'll most likely only look at one of the papers submitted. Short 10-page papers of the sort written for a class or a tutorial rarely show us enough of a candidate's ability to be successful, and sending several of these is no better. Applications to our PhD program are intensely competitive. You're best off taking extra time to select your best philosophical work and develop it into a mature, interesting piece of writing.

Sometimes students send us sections of longer pieces of writing; this is ok in principle but what you submit should be self-contained and should be enough on its own for us to reliably evaluate you.

To enable anonymous review, author's name and other identifying information should not be included in the writing sample.

Transcripts

You are strongly encouraged to scan and submit these electronically when you submit your application (with English translations, if needed). Unofficial transcripts are acceptable but if you are admitted, you will have to submit final and official paper copies of your transcripts later.

If your school is in the US, and your GPA is not shown on the transcript, you'll need to calculate it and supply it in the application.

Here are further instructions and FAQs about transcripts.

We ask that you include all of these documents as part of your online application. 

The GRE general test is optional for the upcoming 2023-2024 cycle only. We will consider GRE test scores if they are submitted.

Either the TOEFL or the IELTS is required of all applicants who are not native English speakers or who do not have a bachelor's or master's degree from an institution where the language of instruction is English.

Finally, you'll need to ask several faculty who know you well to submit letters of recommendation to us. We ask for three letters; you can provide up to five if there are special reasons for doing so. Here are further details about letters.

In accordance with GSAS policy, we do not accept letters of recommendation from credentials services, such as Interfolio. Please have your references upload their letters directly to the online application. Additionally, we do not accept any other documents through Interfolio and other services. The statement of academic purpose should be included in your online application and not sent through them. Transcripts and translations should be uploaded to your online application, as well.

Weaker GREs or grades do not decisively exclude a candidate. Coming from a lesser-known school is not much of a handicap, if other parts of the application are strong. Letters from philosophers (or faculty in affiliated departments) are much more useful to us than any other sort of letter. Finally, the writing sample is what you have most control over.

As a matter of policy, we cannot go into further details about what makes an application successful, or how to improve your application.

In order to enroll in the Graduate School of Arts & Science (GSAS), you must have received a bachelor's degree or its equivalent from a college or university of acceptable standing. (In some countries, the equivalent degree is there called a "masters" degree.) It is not formally required that your bachelor's degree have been in philosophy. However, your application won't be successful unless we can see you have a comparable level of preparation.

There is no requirement to have done (what in the US we call) a master's degree—in some places, these are called "MPhil" or "BPhil" or "MLitt" degrees—before applying to our PhD program. You can apply directly to the PhD, and many of our applicants do. However many others, especially those with thinner undergraduate backgrounds in philosophy, have done some master's work.

If you think your background and preparation in philosophy aren't strong enough yet to get you into a competitive PhD program, doing a masters degree can help strengthen your application for the PhD. Not because we're impressed you've done the extra degree, but because it puts you in a position to give us a stronger writing sample, and gives more faculty the opportunity to see you doing advanced work, and write more useful letters of recommendation.

Some students without much formal training in philosophy have been extraordinarily talented at it and have been able to demonstrate this to admissions committees: for example, by writing papers of publishable quality. However, the overwhelming majority of untrained students aren't yet ready to enter competitive PhD programs.

Not at all. We often encourage our own students to do just this. It often gives people better lives, and makes them more ready for grad school when they get to it. At the same time, though, when you do apply we'll want to see that you've actively and recently been doing work of the sort our grad students do. If you've been outside of academia for a while, you'll need to find other ways to do that.

No, I'm sorry, we can't make specific such judgments until we formally review your application. And even if we could, we can't give feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of individual applications.

For these and other international student questions, view the FAQs for international student applicants .

The TOEFL or IELTS test is required of all applicants who are not native English speakers. The TOEFL/IELTS requirement is waived if you will have completed a bachelor or master's degree at an institution where the language of instruction is English. You don't need to do anything to inform the grad school that you're eligible for this waiver; they can determine that from your regular application materials.

For further details, review the GSAS Application Instructions  and the GSAS Testing Requirements FAQs .

The graduate school requires official test scores, sent to them directly from the GRE, TOEFL, or IELTS programs. Have them sent to New York University—GSAS, code 2596. The TOEFL requires you to list a department code; you should select the code that is most appropriate for your field of study. You may also use code 99. However, do not use code 00—we will not receive your test scores if you report 00 as the TOEFL department code. Also, do not leave the field blank. If you do, it will become code 00 and we will not receive your test scores. For IELTS scores, they must be sent directly to New York University, Graduate School of Arts and Science, New York ,NY. No code is needed for IELTS.

Often there are constraints on when you'll be able to take the GRE and TOEFL tests. You should schedule them early in the fall. Every year, some students end up scheduling them too late and then email us frantically asking what exceptions we can make for them. There's little we can do. If your test scores won't reach us until (shortly) after the application deadline, then self-report the scores on your application, or email them to us as soon as they are available. However, we may have already set your application aside as incomplete; and we make no promises to go back and reconsider it. Also, the grad school must receive your official test scores by the time we make our final decisions, or we won't be permitted to make you an offer.

We see all of your scores.

Please don't do this. It turns out to be a huge amount of work for us and for the grad school. These are things that DON'T justify sending us any update or new material:

• you accidentally sent us the statement of academic purpose that was addressed to Columbia
• your paper which was under consideration for ... has now been accepted, and you want to update your CV
• you have a newer draft of your writing sample, or you accidentally sent one that left out a few changes

If you have some more compelling reason to update your application, then you can email [email protected] .

GES gets applications to us, and we begin reviewing them, in mid-January. We make no promises whatsoever to include materials submitted late in our review.

Please review your Application Status Page which has a checklist of the various parts of the application and whether we have received them or not.

Philosophy gets over 300 PhD applications each year, and are typically permitted to make fewer than 10 first-round offers, plus a small number of second-round offers, aiming to get an entering class of 4-8 students. This means we accept around 3% or fewer of our applicants. For comparison, Yale Law School's acceptance rate is around 7%, and Harvard Law School's acceptance rate is around 11%.

We aim to make all our admissions decisions by the end of the second full week of March.  Our admissions decision must be finalized with the Graduate School before applicants are informed whether their application was successful, a process which may take up to another week after the decisions have been made.  Graduate School policy does not permit us to answer individual queries about decisions.

If you're worried that an announcement hasn't reached you, the best thing you can do is make sure you update us with changes to your email address. Do so by writing  [email protected] .

There are websites where applicants say what schools they've heard decisions from. Sometimes there are phony reports of NYU decisions on these sites. I don't know why. We will attempt to get our real decisions to you as soon as we can. Decisions are not available by phone.

As stated above, we get many excellent applications and can only extend offers to a small handful of them. Many strong applications are unsuccessful. As a matter of policy, we are not permitted to discuss details regarding individual decisions.

No. The application and all materials submitted to the Graduate School become the property of NYU and will not be returned under any circumstances.

Only your GRE scores (retained for five years) and TOEFL/IELTS scores (retained for two years). Review the FAQ for Re-applying for Admission .

If you are applying for the dual-degree JD/PhD program, you need to apply separately to both NYU Philosophy and NYU Law School. Each program's decisions are made independently, on the basis of their usual standards, and they do not share application materials. The cooperative nature of the program consists in your being able to use certain coursework to satisfy some requirements simultaneously. (Here are more details .) If you're accepted to both programs, we'll gladly discuss this all further, and put you in touch with some other students who have pursued this dual-degree program. As stated above, LSAT scores cannot be substituted for the graduate school's GRE requirement.

Admission to a dual-degree program is contingent on acceptance by both programs. If one does not accept you, the other may at its discretion consider you for admission to that individual program.

Apart from dual-degree programs, GSAS policy permits students to apply for only a single program and degree in a given year. Review the policy around multiple applications .

Exceptions: Students who apply to the Philosophy PhD program and are unsuccessful can ask to be considered for the MA programs in  Bioethics , or the interdisciplinary Center for Experimental Humanities . To arrange this, let Graduate Enrollment Services (GES, they are GSAS's admissions office) know as soon as possible after getting the PhD decision. They will instruct you how to proceed.

You are allowed to apply simultaneously to multiple programs at NYU if they are in different schools, such as GSAS and Steinhardt.

Students tend to take from 5 to 7 years.

All our PhD offers come with the same standard financial aid package. No separate application is required. We will discuss the details with you when we extend an offer.

If you've won an external fellowship, be sure to let us know; this will affect the details of your financial aid.

Typically our students are able to support themselves in modest shared housing on the fellowships we offer. They don't need to take out educational loans. Opportunities for teaching are available and compensation is in addition to the fellowship offer. The terms of the fellowship (as well as student visas for international students) severely constrain your eligibility for other employment.

The university has a subsidized student housing program for first-year PhD students. Details about this will be supplied in your offer letter.

Most US graduate programs, including NYU, have signed the Council of Graduate Schools Resolution.

This promises that admitted students with financial aid offers aren't required to accept the offer before April 15 (or a later date if specified in your offer letter). However, if you're able to make a decision earlier, you are encouraged to do so. This helps students on our waiting list, and helps us better create the incoming class. But it is your privilege to take until the deadline, if you need to.

If you do accept an offer before April 15, you are allowed to cancel the acceptance at any time until April 15.

After April 15, you cannot accept an offer from another school (school #2), without first obtaining a written release from the school you originally accepted (school #1). And school #2 cannot offer you financial aid except conditional on your supplying that written release from school #1.

You can notify us by email of your decision to accept or decline our offer, but you must also follow the instructions in your offer letter, and (if you're accepting) submit a tuition deposit. The details will be spelled out in your offer letter.

In some circumstances this is possible. You have to petition for it, and your reasons for deferring should be academic.

Here are the departmental rules .

We are willing to consider applications from students seeking to transfer from other PhD programs. However, we make offers only to the most exceptional of these; our expectations are much higher than for beginning students.

Our PhD students can get some course credit for graduate-level work done previously (whether in a degree program or not). Generally this will be for up to two courses, and will be subject to approval by the Director of Graduate Studies. Please wait until we've made our admissions offers before asking us to pronounce about your individual circumstances.

Even if you don't get course credit for work done previously, you are welcome to use that work as a seed for work you'd submit here, either for a seminar or for an independent study you arrange with a member of our faculty.

Other local philosophy departments: sure! Sometimes, someone at NYU will have to nominally oversee your participation in the outside course, and approve the grade. But in practice, this doesn't make much difference.

Other departments at NYU: sure, if it's relevant to your philosophical studies. (Otherwise, your fellowship doesn't pay the tuition, and we wouldn't count it towards your degree.) In recent years, our students have attended courses in the Law School, and the linguistics, psychology, math, and physics departments. There are also some programs for language study, in NY or abroad; though this also has to be relevant to your studies, and in practice our students don't have to satisfy a separate language requirement.

One of the requirements of our PhD program is that 9 out of the 11 required courses be taken in the NYU Philosophy department (courses cross-listed in other departments count for these purposes). It's common to audit courses at other departments, even when one doesn't take them for credit.

Our PhD students do coursework for two years and only decide on their dissertation topic during their third year. A dissertation committee is formed at that time. We assign supervisors during your first years in the program, but this is just someone who talks to you about program requirements, problems you're having, and so on. There's no reason for it to be someone who's directly related to your research interests.

There is no general language requirement for the Ph.D. Language proficiency may be required for specialized research in particular areas (e.g., ancient philosophy) or topics (e.g., Kant).

See our placement record .

See our course listings .

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The Department of Philosophy typically receives over 400 applications each year. We ordinarily matriculate an entering class of five to six doctoral students. Although the number of qualified applicants exceeds the number of offers the department can make, we invite all who would like to study Philosophy at Harvard to apply.

Note regarding GRE scores:   The Philosophy Department does not require applicants to submit GRE scores. Submission of scores is permitted, and, when submitted, GRE scores are taken into account in the admissions process. But those who do not submit such scores will not be penalized.

Note regarding application fee waivers : Applicants can determine eligibility for a fee waiver by completing a series of questions in the Application Fee section of the application. Once these questions have been completed, the application system will provide an immediate response regarding fee waiver eligibility. Please consult the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences admissions pages for further information or email them at [email protected] .

Note regarding JD/PhD program:  Students seeking admission to the joint JD/PhD program must apply to and be separately admitted to both the Law School and the Department of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

Note regarding non-discrimination:  Harvard does not discriminate against applicants or students on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry or any other protected classification.

Student Qualifications

Background in Philosophy:  The Department requires that applicants have the equivalent of a solid undergraduate background in philosophy, so that they have a good grounding in the history of philosophy, as well as familiarity with contemporary work in ethics, epistemology and metaphysics, and logic.

Scholarly Potential:  The Admissions Committee looks for evidence of outstanding potential in the field of philosophy as shown in the applicant's academic record, letters of recommendation, and Statement of Purpose on the application form.

Questions?  Please contact the  Director of Graduate Admissions .

For more information on deadlines and application procedures, please click here:

Apply to the Ph.D. Program

Fall Admission Deadline: January 2

How to Apply

To apply, you must complete the  University of Arizona Graduate College online application . Follow these steps:

• Create a GradApp account.
• Complete your GradApp profile under "My Account."
• Select "Apply to a Program" from the sidebar.
• Choose "Degree Seeking" under application type and "Philosophy (PhD)" under program of study.
• Choose the semester during which you wish to enter the program.
• Your application should now be initiated under "My Active Applications."

Admission Requirements

Students admitted to the philosophy Ph.D. program are normally expected to have completed an undergraduate major in philosophy or its equivalent, i.e., 30 units of course work in philosophy. However, students with less undergraduate work in philosophy may be admitted (sometimes with deficiencies, i.e., with course work to be taken without graduate credit).

All admissions to the program are on a competitive basis. Offers of admission are usually accompanied by financial aid in the form of teaching assistantships.

The application due date for Fall is January 2. The Philosophy Department offers no Spring admissions. We will begin evaluating files on December 15 so we encourage early applicants. If you are not able to complete your application material by the deadline or have any other problems or concerns, please contact the department.

Unfortunately the department is unable to provide application fee waivers, however applicants may qualify for waivers through these sponsored programs .

Application Checklist

Statement of purpose.

Provide a Statement of Purpose indicating the academic and professional goals you hope to achieve in pursuit of this program of study. Statements are generally one page single-spaced.

Letters of Recommendation

You'll need three letters of recommendation (preferably from philosophy professors). Enter contact information for your referees in the online application. Your referees will be contacted directly by the University of Arizona.

Transcripts

Transcripts from all colleges and universities you have attended or are currently attending must be provided. Unofficial transcripts may be uploaded  be uploaded with your application. You must submit official transcripts , later on, before you can be officially admitted by the Graduate College.

An outline of your education, scholarship, employment, and academic achievements is optional.

Writing Sample

Submit a sample of your philosophical written work. There is no page limit; upload your best work.

GRE Scores encouraged

We do not require GRE scores for a completed application for admission to our PhD program. We do encourage including GRE scores (upload referencing UArizona code: 4832). Our committee's policy is to treat especially strong scores as favorable evidence but not to treat lower scores as weighing against an applicant's overall case for admission. 

English Language Proficiency (International Applicants)

See Graduate College requirements for international students .

For more information contact  Sandra Kimball , or  Michael McKenna , Director of Graduate Admissions.

Application Deadline

Admission Application Deadline is January 1, 2024. Submit the application materials by January 1, 2024 to the Graduate and International Admissions Center:

REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION

GRE scores are OPTIONAL this coming cycle 2023-2024.  Official GRE scores may be reported by ETS (the Education Testing Agency) to the Graduate and International Admissions Center, ETS code for The University of Texas at Austin is  6882. 

The Philosophy PhD program admits new students for a fall start; we do not have spring admission.

In assessing candidates for the graduate program, we consider a variety of factors, including GRE scores, grades in undergraduate and any previous graduate coursework, letters of recommendation, writing samples, and personal statements. Admission to our program is highly competitive. Only about one applicant in fifteen is admitted. The median GRE score (verbal + quantitative) for admitted applicants for fall 2022 was 329 ; the median GPA, 3.69.

You don't need to have majored in philosophy in order to be admitted, nor do we require that you have an MA, but successful applicants typically have an undergraduate degree in philosophy, or a comparable level of preparation. We do not admit for a terminal master’s degree. You should have had some coursework in philosophy, preferably, in logic and in the history of philosophy.

Visit the  My Status  website to check on the status of your application to our program.  Information will be updated regularly.

• Application - The University of Texas requires that you apply electronically, through  ApplyTexas website . The online application includes the statement of purpose and electronic letters of reference.
• Three letters of reference  (from teachers who know your work in philosophy or a related field).  Letters of recommendation MUST be requested and submitted ONLINE. This is a part of the online application.
• Transcripts  You must upload one copy of the official academic transcript from every senior college you have attended. Transcripts are not required from junior colleges and community colleges.  information sheet on uploading transcripts .
• GRE scores are OPTIONAL for the coming cycle 2023-2024.  Official  GRE scores   may  be reported by ETS (The Educational Testing Agency) to the Graduate and International Admissions Center. (ETS code for the University of Texas at Austin is  6882 ).  Writing Sample , a sample of written work in philosophy, such as a brief term paper,  roughly  4,000 to 6,000 words in length.  After you have completed the online application, you can upload your writing sample via the  My Status  website.
• International applicants will be required to submit official TOEFL or IELTS scores.  The report is submitted by the testing agency to the  Office of  Graduate Admissions .  See their web site for further instructions.
• Office of Graduate Admissions The University of Texas at Austin P.O. Box 302048 Austin, TX 78703

Admitted students always receive financial aid, usually in the form of a TA-ship, and this gives them a monthly stipend, tuition assistance and pays for health insurance. 

Teaching Assistants and Assistant Instructors in Philosophy earn a monthly stipend for nine months, receive tuition assistance, they receive health insurance, and their dependents are eligible for health insurance benefits. If an applicant is admitted with financial aid, the department commits to continue aid for 5 years, provided they remain in good standing and meet minimum requirements.

In-state tuition for a graduate student taking a normal course-load of nine hours will total approximately $4,464 per semester. AIs, TAs, and Readers receive the in-state tuition rate plus  tuition assistance  that covers about 100% of the cost of tuition. 

We also award a modest number of competitive fellowships. In both cases, tuition and medical benefits are covered. Students also receive additional stipends for study, research, and academic travel; a limited number of summer assistantships are also available.

Students who meet certain criteria of personal and family financial need are eligible for various other awards administered directly by the University-wide Student Financial Aid Office-scholarships, long- term loans, and work-study awards.

Contact  Sally A. Jackman , Graduate Program Coordinator

Florida State University

FSU | Department of Philosophy

Department of Philosophy

Graduate (ma/phd) admissions, ready to apply.

Click the appropriate link below to find instructions for the application procedure:

• Domestic Applicants
• International Applicants
• Readmission Applicant (enrolled as a degree-seeking graduate student at FSU in the past seven years)

Frequently Asked Questions

Once you submit your application, you will receive an e-mail with a link to your application status page.  The status page contains the modules for uploading your supporting documents and entering the contact information for your letter writers.

We ask that you submit three letters of recommendation, a resume/curriculum vitae, a statement of purpose, copies of your test scores and transcripts, and a writing sample that does not exceed 20 double-spaced, typed pages.  Applicants must submit official test scores and transcripts to the Office of Admissions.

GRE scores are now an optional component of applications to our MA and PhD programs. The department reviews each application holistically, so, for those applicants who choose to submit GRE scores, these are merely one data point among several; they are not used to filter out any applications. And their absence has no negative impact. When GRE scores are not submitted, the applicant will be assessed entirely on the basis of the required materials as far as admission to the graduate program, and departmental funding, are concerned. However, GRE scores may have an impact on funding decisions outside the department’s influence, such as university-wide fellowships.

No, but you do need a background in Philosophy (or the equivalent of a minor in Philosophy, i.e., at least 12 credit hours)

The deadline to ensure full consideration of your application for admission and funding is  January 2nd . However, applications will be accepted until the final application deadline of March 31st.

PhD applicants who wish to be considered for the MA program if not accepted to the PhD program should indicate such interest at the end of their statement of purpose.

All applicants are automatically considered for a teaching assistantship by the department, and any student admitted to the program (either MA or PhD) is typically offered one. A teaching assistantship is a funding award that includes a stipend, a tuition waiver, and health insurance, and requires that the student work as a teaching assistant. In addition, there are some departmental fellowships available, which are offered to exceptional PhD applicants by the department. University fellowships are special financial awards offered by the university. They are competitive, with only a few being offered each year across all disciplines within the university. For a complete list of university fellowships and their requirements, please consult the FSU graduate school fellowships and grants page.

Neither the department nor the university has a minimum score requirement, but a competitive applicant to the PhD program will usually have scores at or above the 90 th percentile (162) on the verbal section and the 65 th percentile (156) on the quantitative. However, the department evaluates applicants using several additional criteria that may outweigh lower GRE scores.

Florida State University's institution code is 5219.

The university requires a minimum GPA of 3.0. Successful applicants will typically have a very strong background in Philosophy, with a GPA of 3.8 or higher

You may send them in one large envelope as long as you have each of your letter-writers seal the envelopes and sign across the seal before you collect the letters. Otherwise, the recommenders should mail their letters separately.

We ask that you do not submit more than three. You can help us keep the application process fair and efficient by submitting the requested number of letters.

We ask that you submit only one writing sample for the same reason we ask you to submit only three letters of recommendation: it helps preserve the fairness and efficiency of the application process.

Please submit only the materials requested, and only in the numbers requested. The Graduate Admissions Committee considers the materials requested to be those most relevant to making admissions decisions.

Yes. University Admissions will not consider your application to be complete until they receive official transcripts from all of your previous institutions.

You should contact [email protected] .

Sometimes your application is complete with the Department of Philosophy, but incomplete with University Admissions. This situation can occur because the Department of Philosophy considers your file complete once we have the information required to make an admissions decision. University Admissions, however, will consider your application incomplete until they have received and processed your application fee and official copies of your transcripts and GRE scores. We cannot officially admit you until your file is complete with University Admissions.

We endeavor to make admissions decisions as early as possible in the calendar year, so we hope to inform applicants about their status by the end of February. We adhere to the Council of Graduate Schools Resolution concerning offers of funding, which sets an April 15 deadline for the acceptance of funding offers.

If you do not find your question or concern answered here, please contact Dr. James "Jack" Justus, Director of Graduate Studies, by e-mail at [email protected] or by completing the inquiry form below.

151 Dodd Hall Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306-1500

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PrepScholar GRE Prep

Gre prep online guides and tips, average gre scores by major: what scores do you need.

You’ve probably heard of GRE percentiles , and perhaps you’re familiar with what the current average GRE scores are. But what about average GRE scores by major? Do engineering majors really score higher on Quant than arts and humanities majors? More importantly, what are the average GRE scores for the schools and majors you’re interested in?

Follow along as we analyze the average GRE scores by major. We’ll also show you how to figure out the average GRE scores for your programs and explain what these scores mean for you.

Average GRE Scores by Overarching Discipline

Instead of jumping straight into specific majors, let’s first take a look at the average GRE scores by overarching discipline . By doing so, we’ll get a rough idea as to how (and possibly why) different fields produce different averages on the GRE.

But first, a brief refresher. The GRE is divided into three sections: Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytical Writing (AW). Both the Verbal and Quant sections are scored in 1-point increments on a scale of 130-170, while the AW section is scored in half-point increments on a scale of 0-6.

According to ETS data , the current average GRE scores for each section   are as follows:

• Verbal: 149.97
• Quant: 152.57

Now, onto disciplines. Below is a chart depicting the average Verbal, Quant, and AW scores by overarching discipline:

Source: ETS GRE Distribution Table 4

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*Remember, the AW section is scored on a half-point basis, so the exact numbers in the AW column are just a result of averaging. You can’t actually score 3.3, 3.8, 4.1, etc.

According to this table, the average score ranges for each section  are as follows:

• Verbal: 149-156
• Quant: 149-159
• AW: 3.3-4.1

These averages noticeably differ from the overall averages for Verbal, Quant, and AW (as described above). Looking at the table again, we see that  some of these GRE averages by discipline are below the overall averages, some are the same, and some are higher . For example, the Verbal average for social and behavioral sciences majors is 153, or about 3 points higher than the overall Verbal average, whereas the Quant average for education majors is only 149.

Ultimately, however, these averages illustrate how even if your GRE score is below the overall average, such a score might be sufficient for your specific discipline  (and therefore for your specific program, too — but we’ll get more into that later).

So what other patterns are there? Using this table, we can see that  applicants tend to score higher on the GRE sections more relevant to their disciplines . Because arts and humanities majors focus mostly on reading and writing, these applicants scored the highest Verbal (156) and AW (4.1) averages. Similarly, those entering the math-heavy fields of engineering and the physical sciences produced the highest Quant averages (159 and 158, respectively).

On the opposite side,  applicants also tend to score lower on the GRE sections less relevant to their disciplines . So, naturally, engineering majors scored significantly lower on AW (3.3) than arts and humanities majors (4.1) did, whereas arts and humanities majors scored significantly lower on Quant (150) than engineering majors (159) did.

Furthermore, this data emphasizes how certain GRE scores — i.e., those on the section more relevant to your discipline — are considerably more important than the scores on your less relevant section . Say you’re interested in the arts and humanities for your graduate major. Because the average Verbal and AW scores for the arts and humanities are quite high and the Quant score is somewhat low, it’s OK to focus more on Verbal and AW than on Quant.

Let’s look at a real-life example. The  English literature Ph.D. program at UC Davis states, “Most of our successful applicants have verbal and analytic GRE scores in the upper 90th percentiles.” As you can see, the program doesn’t even bother to mention Quant but expects fairly high Verbal and AW scores, which are clearly more relevant to the program’s field. Basically, if you’re applying to this English Ph.D. program, focus on Verbal and AW, and a lower Quant score likely won’t affect your chance of admission.

These are some of the important patterns of average GRE scores by overarching discipline. Now, let’s break up this data into even smaller pieces and look at average GRE scores by major .

Average GRE Scores by Major

The following tables showcase each of the above discipline’s most common majors and their average Verbal, Quant, and AW GRE scores .  Find your intended graduate major to see how its average GRE scores stack up against both the averages for its overarching discipline and the overall GRE averages.

A couple of things to note, though. The following GRE scores are the average scores of all test takers, not admitted applicants.  In other words, we don’t know if these scores were in fact high enough for test takers to get into the programs of their choice. So while it can be helpful to compare the average GRE scores of test takers in your discipline, these scores ultimately can’t tell you what scores are good enough for the specific programs you’re applying to.

All of the following data is taken from ETS .

Life Sciences

Physical sciences, engineering, social and behavioral sciences, arts and humanities, other fields.

As I previously mentioned, although these tables are useful, we can’t use this data to determine the exact GRE scores or score ranges specific programs are looking for. When it comes down to it, is average really good enough to get into a grad program? Or is it way too low?

Let’s take a look at the types of GRE scores various programs look for in applicants.

Are Average GRE Scores Good Enough?

The short answer is, yes and no. What GRE scores you aim for depends not only on your intended graduate major but also on the programs you’re applying to.

Depending on the program and field, the average GRE scores of incoming students for a particular program might be higher than, the same as, or lower than the field’s averages . Generally, more competitive programs expect higher GRE scores — that is, scores above whatever the field’s averages are. Similarly, average GRE scores for a less competitive program are usually the same as or lower than its corresponding field’s averages.

For instance,  Columbia’s sequential M.A./M.Phil./Ph.D. program in English and comparative literature has “no fixed minimum GRE score, but successful applicants trained in the U.S. will almost always have a GRE verbal score in the 95th percentile or better.” As expected, the program, being in the arts and humanities field, doesn’t focus on Quant scores. But its average Verbal score is extremely competitive — at least 164-165 — which is significantly higher than the English language and literature average of 157.

Another example is  UCLA’s Ph.D. program in economics , whose incoming class averaged Verbal, Quant, and AW scores of 158, 168, and 5.0. All of these scores are markedly higher than the average GRE scores for economics majors (which are 154, 160, and 3.8, respectively).

Likewise, less competitive programs are more likely to welcome applicants with average or below-average GRE scores for their fields of study. Take the  University of Georgia’s Master of Social Work program , which suggests a Verbal score of 146 and an AW score of 3.5, both of which are lower than the averages for social work majors.

As you can see, the average (or target) GRE scores for a single program can differ just a little or a lot from the averages of its field .

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But how do you find the average GRE scores for the programs you’re applying to? And how can this info help you personally?

How to Find Average GRE Scores by Program

Let’s summarize what we’ve learned so far. Looking at GRE score averages by major can give you a rough idea of a baseline score to aim for on each section of the test. But your programs’ average GRE scores clarify more precisely the exact scores you’ll need in order to be a competitive applicant .

So how do you look for average GRE scores by school and major? Follow the steps below.

#1: Search for Average GRE Scores Online

One of the simplest ways to search for GRE score info online is by Googling “[Your School] [Your Program] average GRE scores.” Another option is to browse your programs’ official webpages while using the search function on your computer (ctrl + F) to look for anything along the lines of “GRE” or “score.” It’s best to peruse FAQ and admission requirements pages.

Some schools lay out average GRE scores very clearly. The  Penn Graduate School of Education , for example, offers a chart listing the average GRE scores of incoming students for its master’s, Ed.D, and Ph.D. programs.

But other schools might report GRE score info in a slightly different format. The University of Washington doctoral program in immunology provides average GRE score ranges instead of individual scores. Similarly, NYU’s M.A. program in cultural reporting and criticism  advises applicants to get a minimum 160 Verbal score. This isn’t an average score, but we can assume that the average is close to 160 — probably a little higher.

Which brings me to my next point: if only a single section’s average score is reported, concentrate on that section more than on any other.  Remember, some programs won’t even cast a glance at your Verbal or Quant scores if they’re totally irrelevant to your field. Still, don’t think it’s OK to bomb your less relevant section. If you can’t find the other section’s average score, use the discipline’s average score as a baseline (just refer to the tables above).

If you manage to find average GRE scores for all of your programs, congrats! You’re all set. Now, add 2 points to your programs’ averages to get your goal scores (round up and add a half-point to get your AW goal score). Hitting your goal scores increases your chance of admission because your scores will be better than your programs’ averages. Read our guide to learn more about how to set a goal score based on your program’s average GRE scores .

But what if you can’t find average GRE score info online? Read on for what to do next.

#2: Call Your Programs

Not all programs publish average GRE scores online, and many are hesitant to divulge any GRE score info whatsoever. The next step, then, is to call your programs . Ask directly for the average GRE scores of incoming students (or even of students from previous years). If they can’t or won’t answer your question, see whether they’re willing to tell you what constitutes a low or high GRE score for the program.

Couldn’t get any info out of them over the phone? Or hate making calls (like me)? Then move on to step 3.

#3: Gauge the Competitiveness of Your Programs

You couldn’t find any GRE info online and the phone call just didn’t work out. Bummer. Your last and final step is to get back online and familiarize yourself with the overall competitiveness of your programs and see how they compare to similar programs at other schools. A good website to use for rankings is  U.S. News .

Here’s what you should know as you search: the more competitive a program is, the higher GRE scores it’ll expect, especially in the section more relevant to its field. For less competitive programs, a score equivalent to, or a couple of points above, your field’s average is usually sufficient.

Generally, incoming students to the most competitive programs average GRE scores in or higher than the 90th percentile for relevant GRE sections.  Note that you should still score fairly high for less relevant sections — at least in the 75th or 80th percentiles, depending on the program.

If you discover a different program you’re not applying to that’s just about as competitive as the program you are applying to, try searching for that other program’s average GRE scores instead. Most likely, they’ll be similar to the ones for the program you’re applying to.

Summary: Understanding GRE Score Averages by Major

Average GRE scores for Verbal, Quant, and AW vary considerably depending on the major and program. Here are the  overall GRE average scores:

And here are the average GRE score ranges by discipline:

Generally, applicants score higher on the sections more relevant to their intended field of study. For example, arts and humanities majors scored the highest averages for Verbal and AW, whereas engineering majors scored the highest average for Quant.

But a field’s average isn’t usually identical to a program’s average GRE scores. To figure out average GRE scores by major and school (and to help you determine the scores you should be aiming for), follow these three steps:

• Search online for your programs’ average GRE scores.  Pay attention to admission requirements and FAQ pages in particular.
• Call your programs if you couldn’t find anything online.
• Research the competitiveness of your programs if steps 1 and 2 don’t work out.

Once you find your programs’ averages, add 2 points to the highest average Verbal and Quant scores (round up and add a half-point to the highest average AW score) to get your goal scores for all three GRE sections.

What’s Next?

You know the average GRE scores by major — but what about the average GRE scores by schoo l ? Our guide shows you how to find average GRE scores for specific grad programs.

Want to learn more about average GRE scores in general ?  Get info on current GRE score data to find out what your GRE score means for you.

Wondering what a good GRE score is overall ?  Read our guide to learn what constitutes a good GRE score. You can also check out our guides on how to get a good Verbal score and a good Quant score .

Ready to improve your GRE score by 7 points?

Author: Hannah Muniz

Hannah graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern California with a bachelor’s degree in English and East Asian languages and cultures. After graduation, she taught English in Japan for two years via the JET Program. She is passionate about education, writing, and travel. View all posts by Hannah Muniz

Graduate Admissions FAQ

Application-related questions, what is the application deadline.

January 6 (before midnight Eastern USA time) for the following fall semester, which generally begins in August.  We do not admit for the spring semester.  Note that you are applying to Cornell’s Graduate School, to the graduate field of Philosophy.

When will I be notified if I have been admitted?

No later than March 15.

Where do I submit my application materials?

Submit the following to the Graduate School via the online application :

• Biographical information
• Academic information
• A PDF copy of academic transcripts (official or unofficial)
• Writing sample in philosophy (typically 15 but no more than 30 pages long)
• If applicable, TOEFL or IELTS scores (more details following)
• You may submit GRE scores, but they are not required.
• Three letters of recommendation (only three are required, but up to five may be submitted online)
• Financial support information (for international applicants)
• Statement of Purpose
• Application fee (some waivers are available, see the Graduate School website)

Is a GRE Score required?  If I supply a GRE score, will it be taken into consideration?

The Sage School of Philosophy does not require GRE scores.  If they are submitted, we may look at them, but they typically do not play a significant role in our admissions decisions.

How long should the writing sample be?

We look for a substantial, polished piece of writing that shows the applicant’s philosophical abilities and skills. Typically a term-paper length paper (about 15 pages) is appropriate. Writing samples longer than 30 pages are unlikely to be read in their entirety. Something written for an upper-level philosophy course would typically be more appropriate than something written for an introductory course.

I wish to include more than the required three letters of recommendation.  How should I proceed?

List up to five (5) recommenders in the appropriate place in the application.  More than five letters are unlikely to be read.

May I forward my recommendation letters to you along with other supporting materials?

We will also accept letters of recommendation from you if the recommender has placed them in a signed sealed envelope, but prefer application materials to be submitted online.

Do I need to take the TOEFL exam?  If so, where do I send the scores?

Either the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) Academic exam or TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam are accepted by Cornell’s Graduate School.   Please note that the Graduate School, not the field of Philosophy, requires these scores. For requirements on these exams, including specifics for having them sent to Cornell, and any possible exceptions for admission, visit the Graduate School website:

http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/admissions/english-language-proficiency-requirement

Can I get a printed version of the application?

No.  The Graduate School requires you fill out the application online at:

http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/admissions/apply

On the application, what do you expect from the statement of purpose?

We seek insight into the fit between the applicant’s interests, approach to philosophy, and academic background and our program – both what we would contribute to the applicant’s development and what the applicant would contribute to our intellectual community.

Program-Related Questions

How selective are admissions  what makes a candidate competitive.

Our admissions process is highly selective:  we receive approximately 200 - 250 applications each year for 4-6 places in our program.   As a result, we look for students with outstanding potential for graduate work in philosophy.  Academic record, letters of recommendation, and the writing sample all play major roles in this assessment.   We also pay careful attention to the personal statement.   We do not use any particular numerical criteria (no minimum grade point average, for example).  We are interested in identifying candidates with very strong general academic backgrounds and special skill or talent for philosophy in particular.

I have not studied philosophy in an educational institution, but am instead a self-taught philosopher.  Does your program consider such applicants?

While we consider such applicants, this background makes it hard for us to form the confident judgment of specifically philosophical ability that admission requires.  In principle, the writing sample and letters, combined with overall academic excellence, might overcome this obstacle, but this is unlikely in practice.   Work in a Philosophy masters of arts program elsewhere, prior to applying, is the most promising way of making the transition.

What help can you give for on-campus visits?

Everyone admitted to the program is urged and helped to come and visit.   Help includes a substantial travel subsidy and organized contact with faculty and graduate students. 

I see your program is a PhD program, but is it possible just to get an MA?

We do not offer a terminal Master’s degree.

I wish to apply to your JD/PhD program, how should I go about doing that?

The combining of these two programs is still underway.  Please contact the department at [email protected] for more information.

Let your curiosity lead the way:

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Graduate Admissions

How to apply.

For deadlines and other information, please visit the Arts & Sciences Office of Graduate Studies Admissions page.

WUSTL GRADUATE APPLICATION

Be sure to include:

• a statement of purpose of around 600-1,200 words , and
• a writing sample of around 3,000-5,000 words (exclusive of footnotes and references) that demonstrates philosophical ability.

Frequently Asked Questions about Admissions

What are the most important parts of my application.

The most important parts of your application are the writing sample and the statement of purpose.  The writing sample is our best evidence as to your philosophical abilities. The area of philosophy that you write about is much less important than that you demonstrate the ability to think clearly and rigorously.  Your statement of purpose should explain your academic interests and why you think that they would best be served by our philosophy department.

Is the GRE required?

GRE scores are optional.  We know that there are people who do not perform well on such tests, for various reasons, and who would still make excellent philosophers. Nevertheless, good GRE scores may be taken into consideration.

Is there a minimum TOEFL or IELTS score?

The College of Arts & Sciences requires a TOEFL score of at least 90 or IELTS of at least 6.5 . 

We expect that students be fluent in English when they arrive, to get the most out of the program.  In assessing an applicant's English ability, we take into consideration test scores, writing samples, statements of purpose, and recommendaton letters.

Is the support of a research supervisor required for admission?

No.  The support of individual faculty members is neither necessary nor sufficient for admission.  Admissions decisions for the Philosophy and PNP PhD programs are made by an admissions committee.  Applicants do not need to contact individual faculty members in advance of applying to secure their support. 

Can additional reommendation letters be submitted with an application?

Yes. Three letters of recommendation may be submitted through the online application. Additional letters of recommendation can be added by the department; please  email the Philosophy department administrator all the contact information listed for recommenders on the online application and then have your recommender email  their letter to the Philosophy department administrator.

Can the application fee be waived?

Yes.  Fee waiver requests should be addressed to the Arts & Sciences Office of Graduate Studies at [email protected] .

Are official transcripts required?

No. You can submit unofficial transcripts when you apply.  If admission is offered, we then require the official versions of all transcripts.

I did not become interested in philosophy until late in my undergraduate career. Is this a problem?

Not necessarily. We look primarily for philosophical aptitude. Most applicants who have a stronger background in philosophy have an easier time giving evidence of their philosophical aptitude, and we do advise those who have not studied much philosophy to look into terminal master's programs. But we welcome applications from a wide range of backgrounds, and we have accepted students who show great promise in philosophy despite a relatively weak background in the field.

Does admission to the PNP program require undergraduate training in philosophy?

No.  However,  applicants must demonstrate a strong competence in and aptitude for philosophy.  Students with strong backgrounds in any academic discipline are invited to apply.

I have been offered a place in the Philosophy or PNP PhD program. Can I come to campus to look around?

In March of each year, we invite all applicants to whom we have made offers to campus. Of course, we cover the travel, housing, and dining expenses.

Frequently Asked Questions about Our Programs

What is the relationship between the philosophy phd program and the pnp phd program.

Both programs are administered by the Philosophy Department and students in both programs are members of the Philosophy Department.  Philosophy students are welcome to take PNP courses and participate in PNP events.  All philosophy faculty, whether they are appointed in PNP or not, can serve as dissertation advisors and as dissertation committee members for Philosophy and PNP students.

Are students fully funded?

Yes. All students admitted to our programs are offered an Arts & Sciences Fellowship that provides a stipend, tuition remission, and subsidized health insurance. 

We also provide some funds for travel to conferences.

WashU offers several special fellowships for qualified graduate students, and because these awards bring with them additional funding and opportunities, all applicants are encouraged to consider their eligibility.

• The Olin-Chancellor's Fellowships
• The McDonnell International Scholars Academy

Do you offer a terminal MA?

No.  However, our PhD students can earn an MA after completing certain requirements.

Can PhD students transfer credits from another institution?

No.  However, waivers of course requirements may be granted in certain cases. 

I want to pursue a second degree (MD, JD, MA, PhD), in addition to the PhD in Philosophy or PNP. Is this possible?

We do not participate in any formal dual or joint degree program.  It is possible to pursue multiple graduate degrees at WashU by applying (not necessarily simultaneously) to multiple graduate programs.

In general, students who pursue multiple graduate degrees with us do not work full-time on both degrees simultaneously, but rather are (say) enrolled in one program for one academic year and then enrolled in the other program the following year, and so on.

Our PhD students can take courses in other disciplines, including Classics; Law; Political Science, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.  These courses may count both toward both the Philosophy or PNP PhD and toward another program's requirements for a graduate certificate (which does not require separately applying) or a degree (which does).

I am a student in another graduate program at WashU. Can I earn an MA or PhD in Philosophy or PNP?

To receive a degree in Philosophy or PNP, you have to apply to one of our PhD programs and be admitted.

However, students in other WashU programs are welcome to take graduate courses in Philosophy, subject to the published prerequisites. 

Further Questions

If you have a question about applying to our program that is not addressed here, please contact us at [email protected] or at 314-935-6670.

The Department of Philosophy

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Prospective Students

The Philosophy department at UCLA admits graduate students for the PhD program only, entering in Fall Quarter. Students who do not have an MA in Philosophy may earn one on the way to the PhD. The Department restricts admission to students whose records and credentials give evidence of capacity and resolve to do superior work in philosophy at the graduate level. A substantial background in philosophy is desirable, though we recognize that many students acquire their interest in graduate study in philosophy without having completed the equivalent of an undergraduate major in the field; exceptionally promising students with such a background may be admitted, subject to the condition of strengthening their preparation in the deficient area as soon as possible. Applications from women and members of minority groups are strongly encouraged.

For applicants interested in the joint JD/PhD program, see the JD/PhD page for further instructions. Find information on department financial support practices here . For a list of frequently asked questions  click here .

The Fall 2025 admissions deadline is January 3, 2025 . We accept applications for the Fall term only.

Steps for Applying

Step 1 : Submit an online application and fee to the Graduate Division. (Application fees may be waived in some cases. Please see https://grad.ucla.edu/admissions/faqs/ or please contact the department’s admission director)

Upload the following materials:

• A 1-2 page statement of purpose. A separate personal history statement is not required.
• A sample of written work, in English. Please remove your name and any other identifying information from the writing sample.
• Name and contact information for three recommenders.
• If you are applying for the Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship , in addition to submitting the fellowship application, please also be sure to upload a CV in the “Resume/CV” section of the application.
• Transcripts: Unofficial transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate work must be uploaded into the Graduate Division online application system. (To read more about the parameters that define an acceptable unofficial transcript for the purposes of application review,  click here ). Admitted students will be required to provide official, sealed transcripts directly to the Philosophy department (see address below) at a later date. NOTE: Transcripts from community colleges and short-term study abroad programs are not necessary, as the coursework will be reflected on your undergraduate transcript.

Step 2 : Send official GRE scores to UCLA. The advanced test in philosophy is not required. The GRE should be taken no later than the second week in December in order to meet the application deadline. We will not accept GRE scores older than 5 years.

Students who wish to apply for our graduate program for Fall 2024 admission are not required to take the GRE or submit a GRE score report as part of their application package. GRE scores will not be considered in the admissions process if submitted.

Step 3 : If English is not your native language, send TOEFL or IELTS scores to UCLA. Exceptions: (1) Students who have completed a bachelor’s degree or higher at a university where English is the language of instruction and the primary language of daily life, or (2) students who have completed at least two years of full-time study at such institution, do not need to submit TOEFL or IELTS scores. We require a minimum TOEFL score of 560 on the paper and pencil test or 87 on the internet-based test, or a minimum IELTS Overall Band Score of 7.0 .

Admitted applicants who have not met  UCLA’s English language requirement must, upon arrival at UCLA, take the English as a Second Language Placement Examination (ESLPE), an English diagnostic test. Depending on the results of the ESLPE, you may be required to complete English as a Second Language courses beginning in your first term at UCLA. If English courses are required, you should anticipate spending a longer period of time at the University.

To be eligible for a teaching assistantship upon admission to UCLA, applicants whose first language is not English must take the Test of Oral Proficiency (TOP) and pass it with a score of 7.1. TOP is an examination designed for screening the spoken English skills of international students before their appointment as teaching assistants. Additional information for foreign applicants can be found  here .

Step 4 : We strongly encourage you to apply for extramural funding. The Graduate Division has a website featuring links to fellowship databases and other useful information.

The mailing address for transcripts is:

UCLA Department of Philosophy ATTN: Graduate Advisor 321 Dodd Hall 405 Hilgard Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90095

If your institution supports electronic transmission of transcripts, these should be sent directly to [email protected] .

Offers of admission to international students cannot be finalized until official transcripts have been received. Non-international students must submit official transcripts before the start of Fall term. Unsealed transcripts handled by a student are no longer considered official.

For students who attended universities outside of the United States, see here for transcript requirements.

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Department of Linguistics and Philosophy

Graduate admissions, requirements.

To enter the doctoral program , students must have done well in their previous academic work and must be formally accepted as candidates for the Ph.D. degree by the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. Furthermore, an applicant must have received a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent from a college or university of acceptable standing.

Although there are no formal requirements for admission, successful applicants typically have an undergraduate major in philosophy, or a comparable level of preparation.

The Application

A complete application includes the MIT application form, an academic transcript from each college/university attended, and three letters of recommendation.

In addition to the application, all applicants should submit a writing sample in philosophy, ideally of 15-25 pages in length. The writing sample should allow us to assess the applicant’s understanding of a philosophical problem, and ability to evaluate philosophical arguments. This assessment is usually easier if the writing sample explicitly engages with some of the contemporary philosophical literature.

Students are only admitted into the program in the fall. The application deadline is January 2nd for the following September. Decisions are communicated to applicants by early March.

GRE scores are optional : they are  not required for admission to the doctoral program. The reporting codes are:

Institute code: 3514 Department code: 2804

MIT requires international applicants whose native language is not English to submit the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

TOEFL: Minimum score required: 577 (PBT) 90 (IBT) TOEFL Department codes: 20 (Philosophy) Institute code: 3514 (MIT)

IELTS: Minimum score required: 6.5 Electronic scores send to: MIT Graduate Admissions

However, the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy does grant waivers. In general, we grant waivers to students who have received a degree from an American or English-speaking university, or who show an extensive background in English. We ask that students who request a TOEFL or IELTS waiver have their recommenders comment in depth on their English speaking, reading and writing skills as a part of the recommendation. We also strongly suggest that they submit a writing sample in English. Applicants may request a waiver in the application.

Accessing the Application Form

To apply, please visit: https://gradapply.mit.edu/phil

The statement of purpose, letters of recommendation and writing sample are submitted on-line. Scanned copies of transcripts are submitted on-line for review purposes but are considered unofficial. Applicants who are admitted will be required to send an official transcript in a university sealed envelope.

The application fee is $75.00 in US funds. Major credit cards are the accepted form of payment. MIT offers fee waivers to students who meet relevant criteria. For criteria and more information, please visit:  https://oge.mit.edu/graduate-admissions/applications/application-fee-waiver/ .  If you attended PIKSI or another  Undergraduate Diversity Institute in Philosophy , please contact  [email protected]  regarding a fee waiver.

Questions regarding the application process can be sent to  [email protected] .

In response to the challenges of teaching, learning, and assessing academic performance during the global COVID-19 pandemic, MIT has adopted the following principle: MIT’s admissions committees and offices for graduate and professional schools will take the significant disruptions of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 into account when reviewing students’ transcripts and other admissions materials as part of their regular practice of performing individualized, holistic reviews of each applicant.

In particular, as we review applications now and in the future, we will respect decisions regarding the adoption of Pass/No Record (or Credit/No Credit or Pass/Fail) and other grading options during the unprecedented period of COVID-19 disruptions, whether those decisions were made by institutions or by individual students. We also expect that the individual experiences of applicants will richly inform applications and, as such, they will be considered with the entirety of a student’s record.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have a masters program.

No. The philosophy graduate program is a doctoral program only. In the Boston area, Tufts University offers a masters degree in philosophy.

How long is the Ph.D. program?

Five years.

Is a master’s degree required to apply to the PhD program?

A master’s degree is not required. Prospective students may apply to the PhD program direct from their undergraduate studies.

Can I earn a doctoral degree through distance learning?

No. You can give our   MOOCs a try, though.

Do students get financial support from MIT?

Yes. Currently, we can support five entering students each year with tuition plus a 12-month stipend. We can also support graduating fifth-years with a one-year post-doc if they are unable to secure a position elsewhere. In special cases, we are able to support sixth year students with tuition plus a 9-month stipend in place of a post-doc.

Although MIT regulations prohibit us from guaranteeing funding for more than any one year, we fully expect to be able to support students in good standing throughout the entire five-year period of the doctoral program. However, the Department has limited funds for financial aid to graduate students, so we encourage you to apply for  graduate fellowships  from government agencies and foundations.

I am an international applicant. Am I still eligible for financial support from MIT?

Yes. All admitted students, whether or not they are US citizens, are eligible for support.

Does the Ph.D. program have a language requirement?

Where’s information about mit’s placement record, retention data, etc., i uploaded a transcript to the application system. do i have to mail an official transcript.

No, only admitted applicants are required to mail official transcripts.

Can students take classes at Harvard?

Yes. There is also an annual Harvard/MIT graduate philosophy conference. Often Harvard students attend MIT reading groups and vice versa.

Can philosophy Ph.D. students take linguistics classes?

Yes. We also offer a minor in linguistics.

Can you evaluate my chances of admission before I apply?

We do not offer pre-application screening.

Can I visit MIT before I apply, and talk with faculty and students?

Of course. Send an email to any faculty member , who will be happy to arrange some appointments.

The Department of Linguistics and Philosophy — what’s the story?

Classes in linguistics were originally given within the Department of Modern Languages, and a Ph.D. in linguistics was first offered by that Department in 1961-62. In 1965 the Department of Modern Languages became the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics and, in 1969, the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics. Prior to 1964 philosophy was taught in the Department of Humanities. The Philosophy Department was formed when a Ph.D. program in philosophy was established in July 1971. In 1976 the curriculum in foreign languages and literatures became part of the responsibility of the Department of Humanities while the curriculum in linguistics became part of the Department of Philosophy to form the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy.

What are you looking for?

Suggested search, apply to usc philosophy.

Applications to the Graduate School of the University of Southern California are coordinated through the WebAdMIT application system. The Application Deadline is January 6th.

The online graduate admission application system is available here . The system will prompt you to create a user account, and instructions will walk you through the process. It is important to note that you need not complete your application at one sitting; your application will not be complete until you hit “submit”.

If you have difficulties with the online graduate admission application system or have further questions about what is needed for a philosophy application, please contact the department at [email protected] . 

Application Elements

To be complete, your application must contain the components listed below.

NOTE:  The online graduate admission application will say that certain materials must be submitted “directly to the school, academic department or program to which you are applying.” You can and should submit all required items through the online system , however, for example under the heading “Supporting Documents.”

An applicant for admission normally has an undergraduate major in philosophy, but programs may be arranged for promising students who do not. You must submit transcripts for each of your previous academic institutions; these are required by the Graduate School in order to process your enrollment. Your transcript will play some role, but not the most important role, in the admissions decision. The instructions for the online graduate admission application will walk you through this process.

Your personal statement is the primary opportunity that you have in your application to give us a picture of who you are, what motivates you, and what philosophical questions interest you. It is not a request for you to propose a research program, but don’t be afraid of telling us what you find interesting about the philosophical questions which currently interest you most. It should be under two pages in length. Personal statements should be uploaded in connection with your online graduate admission application under the heading of “Supporting Documents.”

All applicants are required to submit a sample of philosophical written work, which should normally be between 12-20 pages in length. It should represent your very best work to date. This is the most important part of your application, so make sure to put your best foot forward. Writing samples should be uploaded in connection with your online graduate admission application under the heading of “Supporting Documents.”

The online graduate admission application contains instructions for requesting letters of recommendation (to be submitted online) from at least three, and no more than six, recommenders who can vouch for your academic and specifically philosophical promise. If for some reason your recommenders prefer to submit their letters on paper, the online graduate admission application contains instructions for how to arrange that, as well. Follow up with your recommenders to make sure that all letters have been submitted by December 31st at the latest.

USC Philosophy does not consider GRE scores as a part of graduate admissions, and so applicants are requested to not submit these scores. And although USC Philosophy does not require the TOEFL in order to consider non-native speakers of English for the program, USC Graduate Admissions requires the TOEFL in order to enroll in the university. USC’s code for the TOEFL is 4852.

Fee Waiver Requests

The Office of Graduate Admissions provides a Fee Waiver request process to assist those in specific categories. Please access the link  here , and note that fee waiver requests must be finalized BEFORE you can submit your application. The Office of Graduate Admissions is closed for the University Holiday from December 19 – January 2. You must allow 3-4 business days for the request to be processed, so our recommendation is that you complete the process no later than December 12th to guarantee that you receive your waiver code prior to the holiday. Late fee requests will not be granted after an application has been submitted.

The Office of Graduate Admissions does not provide fee waivers for international applicants. Please note that the USC School of Philosophy also cannot cover or waive application fees for our international applicants and we can no longer review requests to do so at this time.

Mailing Address USC School of Philosophy Mudd Hall of Philosophy (MHP) Room 113 3709 Trousdale Parkway Los Angeles, CA 90089-0451

Phone  213-740-4084 Fax 213-740-5174 Email [email protected]

Chair  Ralph Wedgwood [email protected]

Vice Chair Alexis Wellwood [email protected]

Director of Graduate Studies Jeff Russell [email protected]

Graduate Admissions Mark Schroeder [email protected] 

Director of Undergraduate Studies Shieva Kleinschmidt [email protected]

Administrators

Academic Program Administrator Natalie Schaad  [email protected]

Office Administrative Assistant Donna Lugo   [email protected]

Office Administrative Assistant Brian Eckert [email protected]