(In the future, we might put a screencast recording of the info session here.)
“Grad school” can mean several different things besides a PhD: law school, med school, journalism school (these are called “professional” degrees); or getting an academic master’s degree but pursuing a career outside academia.
This page is a detailed timeline of the steps to apply for a PhD program. If you’re going for a PhD in another field of humanities or social science — or just a master’s — it’ll be pretty similar. Natural sciences and professional programs can be quite different.
A grad school application timeline
This timeline is based on a page at the State University of New York (SUNY) Oswego Philosophy department. It assumes you’re interested in going directly from undergrad to grad school. (I recommend taking a year off before grad school!) To do that, you’ll need to start working on your application in your junior year.
Where you’re headed
Applications for master’s and PhD programs are usually due in December or January. Applications usually require
- a writing sample, usually about 10 pages long and carefully refined from a class paper;
- a personal statement, explaining your interest in pursuing a graduate degree;
- 3 letters of recommendation, usually by philosophy faculty;
- an official transcript; and
- an application fee.
Some but not all programs will require GRE scores (Graduate Record Examination). This is like the SAT for PhD programs.
Putting all this together is a lot of work, so it’s best to start in the spring before you plan to apply.
Junior year, fall and winter
Research experience isn’t necessary, but grad school applications are competitive and research experience certainly looks good. UROC has at least two programs open to humanities majors that provide funding for summer research. It looks like the applications are due in the fall and winter. Some faculty may have their own funding to support an Undergraduate Student Researcher (USR).
You can also arrange to do an independent study without any research funds. You’ll need to find a way to pay the bills, which will place extra demands on your time.
You might also look into summer programs such as PIKSI. These are usually an intensive seminar/classroom experience, rather than research. But they give you an opportunity to meet philosophy students and faculty from other schools and get some depth in a specific corner of philosophy. Often, though not always, your room and board will be provided.
Junior year, March
Meet with at least three instructors from your philosophy classes. Talk about your potential research interests, your philosophy grades, and some especially good writing you’ve done in your philosophy classes. Talk with them about the pros and cons of grad school and pursuing an academic career, and whether grad school might be a good option for you. If the conversation has been positive, then ask if they’d be willing to write a letter of recommendation for you. Make sure this is explicit: “Will you write a letter of recommendation for me?”
Begin to think about your writing sample. Think about the classes you’ve taken recently, and the ones you’re taking now. What was the strongest paper you wrote? What was the paper you most enjoyed writing? Usually your writing sample will start with an especially strong class paper. You can start from scratch, but that will make the summer even busier.
I’ll usually run an info session on grad school in March.
If you don’t already have summer plans, now’s the time to work on that.
Junior year, May
Find at least one philosophy faculty member to mentor you through the grad school application process.
Ask you mentor to recommend some additional reading that you might want to incorporate into your writing sample. And make plans to get at least two rounds of feedback as you work on revisions. Optionally, you can register for a few credits of PHIL 195: Upper Division Undergraduate Research or PHIL 199: Upper Division Individual Study.
You should also talk with your mentor about how to research potential PhD programs, and whether they would recommend any particular programs that might be a good fit for you and your interests. If you haven’t talked with family members about grad school and an academic career, do that soon!
Summer between Junior and Senior years
You have four major things to accomplish over the summer:
- Study for the GRE
- Write your writing sample
- Maintain your mental health
- Figure out where to apply
GRE
Early in the summer, figure out whether you might be applying to programs that will require the GRE. Many schools have dropped it, but ETS — the company behind the SAT, GRE, and other high-stakes standardized exams — continues to defend it. You might plan to take it just in case. Consider taking a practice GRE in May, so you know where you’re starting from.
It’s been more than 20 years since I took the GRE, so I don’t know what’s considered a “good score” anymore. According to the SUNY Oswego page,
You want to score at least 650 on the verbal and math sections, and generally higher than 650 on at least one of those sections. You’ll also want to get at least a 5 on the writing section.
Plan to take additional practice tests throughout the summer, then take the real exam in August-September, before Fall semester gets too busy.
Writing sample
Your writing sample is probably the most important part of your application. Revise, revise, get feedback, revise, and do it all again. This may be your first experience intensively revising a piece of writing. You will get completely sick of it and you won’t want to stop writing. You will feel like it’s absolutely brilliant one day, and a worthless piece of crap the next. Some days you will be excited to write, with the ideas effortlessly flowing out of you. And some days it’ll be a struggle to get one mediocre sentence.
Your mentor is intimately familiar with all of these feelings. Talk with them about it.
More generally, schedule a check-in with your mentor at least once a month over the summer. Send them your latest draft several days in advance so they can give you detailed feedback.
Mental health
Hopefully you’ll have a friend or two who’s also applying to grad school. It’s okay if they’re applying to a different field or a professional program: they will also be grinding away on their writing sample and freaking out about the GRE (or other standardized test). Plan some “co-working” sessions, where you eat lots of carbs and talk about how things are going. Building a mutual support network will be an essential skill in grad school and beyond.
Where to apply
Meanwhile, work on a longlist of programs where you’d like to apply. Think about what constraints and desiderata you might have. If you need to stay in California, or want to avoid a state that might restrict your access to gender affirming care, get clear on those things right now.
Along with PhD programs, your list should include a few MA programs. These can be great stepping stones if you’re not admitted to any PhD programs on your first try. (Also if you’re admitted without funding. Do not go to a PhD program if the admission offer doesn’t include at least 4 years of guaranteed funding.) Funded MA programs are uncommon, but there are a few. Check out the Cal States on that list: Long Beach, LA, SF, and San José. I often recommend the MA program at George Washington University in DC. Since resources can fluctuate, email the graduate director/graduate chair at each MA program on your longlist, asking about funding.
Senior year, August
By the first day of classes in the Fall, you should have the heavy lifting done: your writing sample should be ready to go, and if you haven’t taken the GRE yet that should happen in the next week or two. Consider scheduling a second chance at the GRE around the beginning of November, just in case your first time doesn’t go well.
Talk with your mentor about the programs on your longlist, and work on narrowing things down to a shortlist (maybe 12 at the most). Optionally, you can email grad students at the programs on your longlist, asking what they think of the program, the university, and the location more generally. If you have specific questions, you can also email faculty members. (Though be sure to do this politely, and keep in mind they might be too busy to reply.)
Personal statement
Once your writing sample is finalized, start drafting your personal statement. Here’s a useful Bluesky thread on these. My version:
Think of your statement as having three “acts,” each 1-2 paragraphs long. Act 1 explains your research interests. It’s okay — even good — if these are a bit broad. The first few years of philosophy PhD programs are designed to help you figure out exactly what you want to do.
Act 2 describes the experience and background you have that enables you to carry out graduate work. Be concrete. Definitely highlight things like research experience or your capstone paper (if you’ve already done that). You can also describe relevant class projects and extracurricular activities.
Act 3 matches your interests to specific faculty members at the program. You’ll modify this for each application, so keep it short, the very last paragraph. Try following this pattern: “At UC Merced, I’d be especially interested in working with Prof. Hanna Gunn on the ethics of using large language models.” Some light flattery is okay: “We read her paper on expertise in Prof. Xavier’s ‘Expertise and Democracy’ class and I was fascinating by her argument that squirrels can count as experts.” But don’t come off as obsequious or make it seem like you only want to work with one faculty member.
Senior year, November 1
No later than November 1, send each of your letter writers an email with the following:
- your writing sample
- an unofficial transcript
- your personal statement (penultimate draft is okay)
- your shortlist of programs
- the earliest deadline from your shortlist
- 3-5 talking points: things that the letter writer is in an especially good position to highlight about you
Set up a way to track application deadlines and whether you’ve submitted. I’d recommend a spreadsheet, with columns for the program name, program website, notes (for special application requirements or instructions), submission website, deadline, and the date you submitted your application.
Senior year, December-January
Applications will be due. Beyond the documents, when you apply you’ll provide contact information for your letter writers. Usually the application system just needs names and emails, but occasionally you’ll need phone numbers as well.
The application system should send you a confirmation email after you submit. Save these, along with updating your spreadsheet.
Senior year, winter-spring
Try to relax! Or at least distract yourself. There will be websites and discussion threads where people share news about admission offers. I recommend avoiding these. They’re not necessarily accurate and will just aggravate any feelings of stress and anxiety.
Every program uses its own process to review grad applications. Some programs will do interviews, and some fly out prospective students who get the first round of admission offers. But not all. If you’re waitlisted, you might not hear anything until close to the national acceptance deadline, which is April 15 every year.
If it’s been several months and you haven’t heard anything, remember that you only need one. When I applied to philosophy PhD programs, I didn’t get any admission offers my first time. The second time, I got exactly one admission offer, and that was about a week before April 15. Obviously I had just barely gotten off the waistlist. But I got my PhD, it was a great school for what I wanted to do, and today I’m a professional philosopher.
Check in with your mentor, even if it’s just an email every two weeks to say you haven’t heard anything yet. They’ll be super excited to share any good news with the rest of the department, and can help you make a final decision if you’re fortunate enough to get multiple offers.
