From the Mailbag

Dear Keith,

I am writing from the Philosophy Department at Western Michigan University to mention our terminal M.A. program; I hope that, as our deadline for applications approaches, you might recommend us to any of your promising students. The program has already received critical acclaim, but we think that our placement record into Ph.D. programs speaks for itself. While the last year for which we have official placement records is 2005, I should also mention that, last year, we had students admitted with funding to many top 20 programs.

The strengths of the program are ethics, history & philosophy of science, and epistemology, though we also offer broad analytic coverage. As intimated above, we focus on preparing students for Ph.D. work in philosophy, and do especially well preparing students who might not have otherwise been competitive for top programs coming straight out of their undergraduate studies. We offer strong support packages for our funded students. This support is usually earned through teaching, which also makes the students more attractive to Ph.D. programs. Even if you have students applying directly to Ph.D. programs now, I might encourage them to also apply to some of the top M.A. programs in case they are unsuccessful in their aspirations; we have ended up with many of these students and greatly improved their future prospects by completion of the M.A. (I also get the sense that more and more Ph.D. students at top programs are doing M.A. degrees first.)

If you have any students who you think might be a good fit for our program, I would certainly appreciate the recommendation. If I may answer any questions directly, please feel free to email me or to call me at the below number; I would also be more than willing to speak with students directly regarding their preparation, goals, or fit with the department. The deadline for applications to be considered for funding is February 1, so please keep this in mind. Thank you for your consideration!

Best wishes,
Fritz

Fritz Allhoff
Assistant Professor
Department of Philosophy
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5328