USUPhilosophy

To whom it may concern,

Forward to all interested (we wanted to get this up and running after fall break).

Announcing, in conjunction w/ The University of Utah Philosophy Club, the formation of an online writing sample review group for Utah undergraduates considering applying to grad school in philosophy in the near future (say, next 1-3 years).

Here’s the pitch:

Every philosophy graduate school application requires a writing sample. A writing sample is a 12-20pp. paper. It answers the request, “Can you write us a paper that shows that you have the potential to produce promising work in our program?” It is the most important part of the philosophy graduate school application. It is also the component of your application which, even if you plan to apply in just a few months, at this time you still can have a lot of influence over. Now, most people use a paper they have written for a class as the basis of their writing sample. But if you take the writing sample seriously (as you should), you could get on board right now (by the first deadline) and have workshopped a world-class paper ready for grad school applications by the beginning of December 2018, once the first wave of application deadlines arrives.

If you’re a Utah student wanting to go to grad school in philosophy, your existing pool of classmates you can peer review papers with is small. The formation of this writing sample review group is a way to basically get in touch with everyone in the state who might potentially be interested in forming an online-based peer review group. It is the 21st century: being productive on serious projects means using Google Drive, Discord, etc., so those are the platforms we’ll use. Whether you’re considering reviewing others’ papers (since you’re a few years out from applying yourself), or want help on yours…

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See attached flyer. Recommended as poster or as flyer to hand out in classes