About the Admission Process
Our admissions process is highly selective: we receive approximately 250 applications each year for 6-8 places in our program. We are interested in identifying candidates with very strong general academic backgrounds and particular talent or skill in philosophy whom we believe will thrive in the Cornell department. In our admissions process we give roughly equal weight to three parts of an applicant's file: academic record, letters of recommendation, and writing sample. The personal statement may also play a role in our decision process. The ratio of applicants to places means that we end up rejecting a large number of highly qualified applicants each year.
We normally expect applicants to have background in philosophy equivalent to an undergraduate major in the field, though in exceptional cases this may be waived. A sizable percentage of our applicants come from MA programs or have done some other sort of graduate work, though more than half come to us with only an undergraduate degree.Application Process
Application Deadlines
Applications for Fall 2007 admission are due by January 15th; admission for the Spring semester is not available. Application is to the PhD program only.
Application Materials
A complete application for PhD study includes the following items:Cornell Graduate School Application Form
The application form is available at the Cornell University Graduate School website and should be submitted in accordance with Cornell Graduate School instructions. Additional advice concerning the completion of this form can be found below.Two to Five Letters of Recommendation
Letters of Recommendation are submitted as part of the Graduate School Application, and may be submitted on-line, or sent directly by your recommenders to the Philosophy Department at 218 Goldwin-Smith Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3201 . Additional information about Letters of Recommendation appears below.Personal Statement
The Personal Statement is submitted as part of the Graduate School Application, and may be submitted on-line, or sent directly to the Philosophy Department at 218 Goldwin-Smith Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3201. Additional information about the Personal Statement appears below. Please make sure that your name appears on each page of your Personal Statement.Writing Sample
Applicants for the Philosophy PhD are expected to submit a sample of their philosophical writing: 10-20 pages is generally optimal. If an applicant has received help from an advisor in preparing the writing sample, we expect this to be indicated in an acknowledgement. The Writing Sample should be submitted directly to the Philosophy Department at 218 Goldwin-Smith Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3201 . Please make sure that your name appears on each page of the Sample.Copies of Official Transcripts
Copies of transcripts from all post-secondary institutions you have attended should be sent directly to the Philosophy Department at 218 Goldwin-Smith Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3201 . Please make sure that your name appears on each page of each transcript.Application Fee
A $70 application fee should be submitted in accordance with Cornell Graduate School application instructions. Detailed information is available once an account has been created with the Cornell Graduate School online application system.
Completing the Application Form
In completing the Cornell University Graduate School online application form, please note the following:
- Page 1: Please be sure to list an accurate e-mail address, as we will use this as our main mode of correspondence with you.
- Page 2: You do not need to list a Concentration within Philosophy.
- Page 3: We do not require any standardized test scores (GRE, GMAT, etc.) for admission. We do require native-level fluency in spoken and written English, and non-native speakers will need to provide a TOEFL score to the Graduate School unless they have studied full-time for two or more years at an English-language college or university located in a country where English is the native language.
- Page 4: We typically expect two to three letters of recommendation, though we readily accept up to five or six. It is best if these letters are written by people who are in a position to provide a concrete and detailed assessment of your philosophical work and potential. Letters from philosophers or philosophy instructors are generally most helpful in allowing the admissions committee to evaluate your application appropriately.
- Page 5: All students who are admitted to Cornell’s Philosophy PhD program receive merit-based support for at least five years, including five years of full tuition in the Graduate School, a living stipend for each academic year, summer fellowships for four summers, and student health insurance. Typical support packages include two years of (non-teaching) Fellowship support, and three years of support as a Teaching Assistant. We strongly encourage applicants to apply for outside funding through foundations and other organizations.
- Page 6: One to three paragraphs is generally sufficient for the personal statement. It is helpful if the statement gives us some sense of your general intellectual character and interests as well as some indication of how your abilities and interests fit with our program. We do not expect applicants to have a detailed sense of the project they expect to pursue as a dissertation topic, though many of our successful applicants enter with a sense of the general area they wish to study (e.g. ethics, metaphysics, logic, ancient philosophy).
- Page 7: We encourage those students who are eligible and interested to apply for one of Cornell’s Diversity Fellowships.
Additional questions concerning the application process should be directed to: philosophy@cornell.edu