Department of Philosophy

M.A. Placement Record

Summary

Since 1995, 95 students have graduated with an M.A. in philosophy from Virginia Tech. 91% of the students who have applied to Ph.D. programs (i.e., 52 out of 57) have been admitted with funding. We have placed students in a variety of leading Ph.D. programs, including Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Indiana, Duke, Texas, Brown, Notre Dame, Toronto, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, Southern California, Wisconsin, and Maryland, among many others.

Students who do not wish to study philosophy at a doctoral level have been successful in pursuing other careers, both in other academic disciplines (Anthropology and English, for instance) and outside the academy in the public and private sector (in computer-related fields, education, NGOs, etc.). We are proud of our placement record for both groups of students.

The average number of students graduating each year throughout the existence of the program is 6. In the last five years, this has risen to 9 students a year.

Placement

Year Thesis Title Applied
to Ph.D		 Ph.D. Program/
Employment
2009 Non-thesis option Yes Brown University, Ph.D.
2009 Non-thesis option No University of Virginia, Law School
2009 A Critique of Langton on Kantian Substance No Ph.D. plans deferred
2009 Supervaluationism, Penumbral Connections, and the Nature of Higher-Order Vagueness No Instructorship at VT
2009 Non-thesis option Yes Virginia Tech, ASPECT Ph.D.
2009 Non-thesis option Yes University of Oklahoma, Ph.D.
2009 Non-thesis option No George Masion University, Law School
2009 Inescapable Wrongdoing and the Coherence of Morality: An Examination of Moral Dilemmas No Instructorship at VT
2009 Non-thesis option Yes Declined Ph.D. acceptances in favor of 2010 law school.
2009 Non-thesis option Yes Private sector
2009 Non-thesis option No Private sector
2008 Non-thesis option Yes Indiana University, Ph.D.
2008 Non-thesis option Yes University of Southern California, Ph.D.
2008 Non-thesis option Yes University of California, San Diego, Ph.D.
2008 What Dolphins Want: Animal Intentionality and Tool-Use Yes Virginia Tech, STS Ph.D.
2008 Non-thesis option Yes Washington University, St. Louis, Ph.D.
2008 Non-thesis option Yes University of Virginia, Ph.D.
2008 Non-thesis option Yes Indiana University, HPS Ph.D.
2008 Non-thesis option No Cardozo Law School
2008 Non-thesis option No Private sector
2008 A Davidsonian Response to the Dead Metaphor Problem No Private sector
2008 Non-thesis option Yes Private sector
2007 A Modifier-Based Philosophy of Whole Number Yes Princeton University, Ph.D.
2007 Non-thesis option No UNC Chapel Hill, Medicine
2007 Non-thesis option Yes Michigan State, Ph.D.
2007 Between Hull and a Hard Core:  Varying Patterns in the Evolution of the Darwinian Research Tradition Yes University of Connecticut, Ph.D.
2007 Creating a Community of Equals: Luck Egalitarianism, Democratic Equality, and the Significance of the Choice/Circumstance Distinction Yes Instructorship at VT
2007 Non-thesis option No U.S. Military
2007 Non-thesis option No Private Sector
2007 Non-thesis option No Private Sector
2007 Non-thesis option No Private Sector
2006 Scientific Realism and the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements Yes Duke University, Ph.D.
2006 Non-thesis option Yes University of Wisconsin, Ph.D.
2006 Visiting Graduate Fellow Yes University of Toronto, Ph.D.
2006 On the Moral Legitimacy of States and the Morality of Killing in War No Private sector
2006 Non-thesis option No U.S. Military
2006 Non-thesis option No Virginia Tech, Veterinary Medicine
2006 Non-thesis option No Teaching at New River Community College
2006 Non-thesis option No Public sector
2005 Non-thesis option Yes University of Toronto, Ph.D.
2005 Non-thesis option Yes University of Washington, Ph.D.
2005 Non-thesis option Yes Teaching at Ulster County Community College
2005 Understanding Dead Languages No Private sector
2005 Non-thesis option No Public sector
2005 Non-thesis option Yes University of British Columbia, Ph.D.
2005 Experience and Pictoral Representation Yes Washington University, St. Louis, Ph.D.
2005 Non-thesis option No Public sector
2005 Non-thesis option Yes Virginia Tech, ASPECT Ph.D.
2004 Animating the EPR-Experiment: The Case for Objectivity in the Search for Bell Violations Yes Columbia University, Ph.D.
2004 Objectivity in Feminist Philosophy of Science Yes Duke University, Classics Ph.D.
2004 Non-thesis option Yes Emory University, Ph.D.
2004 Non-thesis option Yes Virginia Tech, STS Ph.D.
2004 Pragmatic Epistemology, Community, and the Problem of Solipsism No University of Indiana Law
2004 Non-thesis option No University of Kansas, Law School
2004 Non-thesis option No U.S. Military
2004 Non-thesis option No Private sector
2003 Non-thesis option Yes Cornell University, Ph.D.
2003 Non-thesis option Yes University of California, Irvine, Ph.D.
2003 Respecting Citizens, Protecting Capabilities: The Role of the State in a Liberal Society Yes University of Maryland, Education Policy Ph.D.
2003 Non-thesis option No Private sector
2003 Non-thesis option Yes University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Educational Policy Ph.D.
2002 Non-thesis option Yes University of Texas, Ph.D.
2002 Non-thesis option Yes University of California, San Diego, Ph.D.
2002 Non-thesis option Yes University of Notre Dame, Ph.D.
2002 Non-thesis option Yes CUNY Graduate Center, Ph.D.
2002 The Argument from Species Overlap No Private sector
2002 The Moral Status of Non-Human Animals No Private sector
2002 Non-thesis option Yes STS Ph.D, Post-Doc at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
2002 Non-thesis option No Ethics Faculty, West Point
2001 Contractarianism and Moderate Morality Yes University of Maryland, Ph.D.
2001 Rawls, Liberalism, and Leisure Yes University of Virginia, Ph.D.
2001 Non-thesis option No Private sector
2001 The Ontology of Persistence Yes Syracuse University, Ph.D.
2001 A Solution to "The Problem of Socrates" in Nietzsche's Thought: An Explanation of Nietzsche's Ambivalence Toward Socrates Yes DePaul University, Ph.D.
2001 Nietzsche’s Notes, Nietzsche’s ‘Philosophy’ Yes Private sector
2000 Sextus Empiricus and the Skeptic’s Beliefs Yes Ohio University, English Ph.D.
2000 No Degree Yes Uniiversity of Washington, Ph.D.
1999 The Tension Between Falsificationism and Realism No Private sector
1999 Socrates' Conception of Knowledge and the Priority of Definition No Cato Institute/George Mason University, Economics Ph.D.
1999 Explanations of the Success of Science No Private sector
1999 Royce and Perry on Idealism and Realism Yes University of Utah, Ph.D.
1999 Kant's Doctrine of Schemata No Virginia Tech, MPA
1998 Situated Cognition, Dynamicism, and Explanation in Cognitive Science Yes Washington University, Ph.D.
1998 Soldiers, Self-Defense, and Killing in War No Ethics Faculty, West Point
1998 Empirical Meaning and Incomplete Personhood Yes University of Illinois, Chicago, Anthropology Ph.D.
1997 Non-thesis option No Private sector
1997 Kant's Critical Attitude Towards The Only Possible Argument Yes Emory University, Ph.D.
1997 Quality and Competence: An Analysis of the Role of Mill’s Qualitative Hedonism on his Conception of Representative Democracy Yes University of Virginia Law and Philosophy, J.D./Ph.D.
1997 Non-thesis option Yes University of Kentucky, Ph.D.
1997 Hyperadaptation: Another Missing Term in the Science of Form No Private sector
1996 Meaning, Functions, and the Promise of Indicator Semantics Yes Declined acceptances in favor of the private sector.
1996 Autonomy and Neutrality in Liberal Political Thought Yes University of Illinois, Chicago, Ph.D.
1995 Regarding Descartes' Meditations as Meditational Yes Purdue University, Ph.D.
1995 Descartes and Tradition: the Miracle of the Eucharist Yes Virginia Tech, STS Ph.D.
1995 Ludwik Fleck and his Concept of a Scientific Fact Yes Northwestern University, Ph.D.
1995 The Role of Welfare in an Egalitarian Metric Yes University of Kentucky, Ph.D.