Philosophy applicants for 2012 entry!

I know it's early, but I figured there probably won't be very many philosophy applicants, so if I start a thread now we'll have longer to find each other :colondollar:

(Plus the fact I'm excited)

So, if there are any of you out there, what universities are you looking at?

Are you doing philosophy on its own or as part of a joint honours degree?

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Reply 1

fexysucker

I'll be applying to Philosophy (v500) in 2012. So far the only universities I'm certain I'll be applying to are:

Cambridge
KCL

The others I need to decide between to fill my three remaining choices include:

UEA
Bristol
Sheffield
Leeds
Manchester
UCL
York

Reply 2

laura94

I'm thinking about a few of those as well! At the moment I'm going to open days for KCL, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester and Nottingham. (I'm hoping for much better grades than predicted)

What subjects do you do at the moment?

Reply 3

fexysucker

I'm 20 so I'll be doing an Access course in September, its 'Humanities & Social Sciences" and I'll choose the options: English, History and Government & Politics.

With the open days, will you be going later this year, or sometime early next year, because I had always planned to leave it until after applying, but it seems other people visit before they choose. I guess I'm just certain enough to know where I want to go without actually needing to visit.

Also what have you read Philosophy wise outside your current studies? so far I've read a few introductions like Think by Simon Blackburn and Philosophy: The Basics by Nigel Warburton plus a couple logic intros. Also I'm trying to work chronologically through the core works by prominent Philosophers. So far I've read Plato's Republic and Descartes' Meditations, I'm now making my way through the empiricists; Berkeley, Hume, Mill etc.. All the while supplementing this with the weighty tome that is Russel's History of Western Philosophy. I'm gonna get my read on hardcore this summer.

Reply 4

laura94

I've booked in the ones I said for the open days in the next few weeks, because I have absolutely no idea where I want to go! Once I've got my results I'm going to book in for a few more and maybe apply without going to them, as at the moment I don't really know what sort of predicted grades I will get so I don't want to look at loads I don't have a chance of getting into! (My AS predicted grades are awful, I'm hoping to do a lot better!)

Well I started off reading most of Julian Baggini's books before going to college, though I don't think uni's will really appreciate that :P I've also read "Think", "Utilitarianism" (Mill), "Problems of philosophy" (Russell) and "Meditations" (Aurelius). I bought Plato's Republic and Descartes meditations the other day so need to make a start on those :smile:

I'm planning on reading as much as possible this summer, though I need the money to buy the books first because my library doesn't have very many!

Which Cambridge college are you applying to? I'd really love to apply, but I don't think my grades will be good enough :/ We'll see.

Reply 5

fexysucker

I'm actually reading through Baggini's 'The Pig that wants to be eaten and 99..' at the moment. I enjoy the paradoxes & thought experiments and there are some really interesting ones.

As for which Cambridge College, right now I'm pretty set on Wolfson College, which is a mature college. I'll be 21 at the start of the 2012 academic year so I'm classed as being a mature student. If you want to apply to Cambridge but have questions then email the relevant admissions people, from my experience they were quite helpful and friendly.

I forgot to ask before, what subjects are you studying at the moment?

Reply 6

laura94

Yep I read that one last summer it was good :smile:

I often go back to one of his books as a break from the more heavy going in depth books.
I will probably go to one of the last few open days if I get good enough grades, but yeah I'll ask them if I'm not sure, thanks :smile:

I have visited Cambridge a lot and I love the place itself, it would be amazing to study there!
At the moment I'm studying english lit, philosophy, maths, drama and theatre studies, critical thinking and general studies. (General is compulsory and a right bore!)

Reply 7

fabulouslybritishb

I'm 17 in the first year of 6th form and hoping to apply in 2012 to do philosophy at the University of Manchester as I love the place! Need to see what the results of my AS exams are though...xoxo

Reply 8

don'tyouremember?

I really love philosophy but i haven't decided between Philosophy and Law.
The grade requirements are lower for philosophy so i would be able to go to a better uni which is a definite plus for me. Argh, decisions, decisions!

Reply 9

Gillal

Sorry if this is a bit unconnected...but what A levels did you people take to get into philosophy? Does subject choice really matter that much for it as long as you have a good arts/science mix?

Reply 10

laura94

Original post by don'tyouremember?

Philosophy! You can still go into Law that way and it's more interesting :biggrin:

Reply 11

Mr Inquisitive

Applying for PPE, 2012 entry. What's everybody reading? :smile:

Reply 12

laura94

Original post by Gillal

Sorry if this is a bit unconnected...but what A levels did you people take to get into philosophy? Does subject choice really matter that much for it as long as you have a good arts/science mix?

Well hopefully I'm dropping english soon so I personally will be doing maths, philosophy, drama, CT and the epq.
However most (if not all) unis say that any subject combination is fine - and I know people that have got in with all sciences and people that have got in with all essay subjects. A mix could definitely be beneficial though!

Reply 13

laura94

Original post by Mr Inquisitive

Applying for PPE, 2012 entry. What's everybody reading? :smile:

at the moment I'm reading plato's republic and descartes meditations (started both at the start of this week!) my list of books I've already read are above :smile:

What books have you read? any recommendations?

Reply 14

Xæthon

I'll be applying for Philosophy, definitely Manchester. If I get an offer from there it is definitely my firm choice.

Going to apply to Durham as well, if I get an offer from there I'll be stuck between which to put as my firm xD

Went to the Manchester open day on Friday, looked at Law in the morning and Philosophy in the afternoon. Law wants 3 A's at A Level (and 5 A's at GCSE). That I cannot meet, however Philosophy is AAB-ABB, which I can definitely make. I'm sure with a good personal statement, ABB might just get me in...of course trying to get the best grades as possible ;D

Reply 15

dancinginrainbows

I'll be applying for PP/PPE but my main interest is philosophy. Thinking of:
PPE: Oxford, York, Durham, Warwick
PP: LSE, York, Bristol

I'm going to be applying with my grades though, so if I don't get AAA it'll be Bristol, Manchester and Lancaster (or retaking modules).

Reccomendations for what to read would be appreciated! I've just done Philosophy A Level and have a gap year to go as deep as possible into as many subjects as possible!

Reply 16

fexysucker

Original post by dancinginrainbows

I'll be applying for PP/PPE but my main interest is philosophy. Thinking of:
PPE: Oxford, York, Durham, Warwick
PP: LSE, York, Bristol

I'm going to be applying with my grades though, so if I don't get AAA it'll be Bristol, Manchester and Lancaster (or retaking modules).

Recommendations for what to read would be appreciated! I've just done Philosophy A Level and have a gap year to go as deep as possible into as many subjects as possible!

Hey, I'm a straight Philosophy applicant myself but I did a little research on PPE degrees, they seem pretty interesting, mainly because it's an almost perfect preparatory course on the workings and intricacies of the British sociopolitical establishment, which for me is; a) very interesting to learn about, and b) would provide me with the groundwork for what I think I want to do as a career, which is to write about contentious political issues.

My main interest is Philosophy though and I don't wish to be restricted on what I can learn about that subject, which is why I'm not going the PPE (or PP) route. For instance, if I were asked to choose between studying macroeconomics or metaphysics, it would be very easy to make that choice. Although I'll perhaps miss out on some interesting Politics modules, I'll make sure to compensate for that in my spare time.

As for reading, I've read a couple introductory books:

Think - Simon Blackburn
Philosophy: The Basics - Nigel Warburton (definitely recommend this one, great book)

After those I have, in chronological order, been working through the core texts of some the great western philosophers, so that would be:

Plato - The Republic
Descartes - Mediations
Hobbes - Leviathan
Locke - An essay concerning human understanding
Berkeley - Principles of human knowledge
Hume - An enquiry concerning human understanding
Mill - On Liberty

Aside from those, whilst not necessarily thought of as strictly philosophical works, they are important enough to western political thought to warrant being read. They are:

Paine - Rights of man
Rousseau - The social contract

Also I would strongly recommend Bertrand Russel's History of Western Philosophy to supplement all this with, it provides a great overview for most prominent philosophers from the past three millennia.

The thing to remember about studying Philosophy at a UK university is that the anglosphere generally follows the analytic tradition of Philosophy. I've read on here that people go in to interviews, or write on their personal statements about people like Nietzsche or Hegel, or Sartre, without knowing that you study very little of these figures and their philosophies, and universities want to know whether you'll be a fit for their specific courses, so make sure you're not putting all your eggs in a continental basket so to speak.

A final note, I don't know if you've already made your mind up about it, but if you haven't checked it out, I'd recommend taking a look at UEA and their PP/PPE courses. I see that you've put York as a potential uni and UEA is around the same calibre as York no problem, with the added benefit of being located in Norwich, which is a great city (I go to college here). Also, I don't know how much this will resonate with you, but UEA consistently comes very near the top of student satisfaction surveys.

Reply 17

D.R.E

Grades allowing, I'll be applying to read PPE this year. I'm not going to read through the massive 'treatise' as that seems like a rather big waste of time; I'm going to read Simon Blackburn's Think, Bertrand Russell's The Problems of Philosophy, and attempt to tackle logic in AC Grayling's An Introduction to Philosophical Logic.

I've already read Hobbes, Nietzsche and Republic and must stress what a complete waste of time that is, it's much more useful to get into a 'summary' like Think first and basing your research from there because you'll get a better understanding of the issues at hand, and possibly be able to discuss them better if you decide to use them in your personal statement or for an interview.

Reply 18

fexysucker

Original post by D.R.E

I've already read Hobbes, Nietzsche and Republic and must stress what a complete waste of time that is

are you sure you want to do philosophy? :confused:

Reply 19

D.R.E

Original post by fexysucker

are you sure you want to do philosophy? :confused:

I'm sure that's what I said in the earlier post... But to answer what I think is your question, it's not so much that I dislike reading philosophy books, but I don't feel that trolling through these books would be particularly productive at this level. And, more importantly, you don't actually need to go through the entire text to get to the main points.

Republic is particularly awful since it's a translation from Greek and they are always quite heavy and annoying reading. But it's up to you I suppose.