Professional Resources

Professional Development

The American Philosophical Association

The APA website is a great place to stay on top of news and events in Philosophy. With extensive resources for undergraduates, a guide to graduate programs in Philosophy, links to a variety of Undergraduate Diversity Institutes, and a comprehensive list of philosophy-related events, the APA is your one-stop-shop for everything philosophical.

Publishing and Presenting Your Work

It's never too early to start publishing and presenting your own work, especially if you're thinking about grad school. If you're interested in presenting at a conference, Philevents.org has an up-to-date list of calls to submit papers to, or attend, undergraduate conferences around the world. Meanwhile, Lehigh University's Philosophy Department has a comprehensive list of opportunities to publish in an undergraduate journal.

Phi Sigma Tau International Honors Society

Phi Sigma Tau is an international philosophical honors society whose mission is to recognize and promote student scholarship and interest in philosophy, to provide opportunities for publication of student papers through its journal Dialogue, and to increase interest in philosophy among the academic community. Requirements for membership include a GPA above 3.4 and superior performance in at least 4 non-introductory philosophy classes. Students do not have to be majors or minors to join. Please speak with any faculty advisor for more information.

Advice about Graduate School in Philosophy

Eric Schwitzgebel's Advice about Applying to Graduate School

Schwitzgebel has written a comprehensive series of posts with excellent advice about whether and how to apply to graduate school in philosophy. Above is the main link about applying to PhD programs. Here are all of the follow-up posts he's made on related topics, including good information about how applying to MA programs is different.

The APA Guide to Graduate Programs in Philosophy

This guide contains up-to-date information about many of the MA and PhD programs in philosophy in the United States, including information about the demographics of faculty and students, funding packages, and placement records. The guide is not totally complete, as some schools have not provided data, but it is better than any comparable resource.

The Philosophical Gourmet Report

The Philosophical Gourmet Report (PGR) is a reputation ranking of some of the PhD programs in philosophy in the English-Speaking world. It is created by surveying philosophers about the quality of the research done by the professors at each school. The PGR has a big influence on perceptions of the quality of PhD programs, and so it is important to know about it. But the PGR is also controversial; many philosophers have criticized its methodology, and some have argued that the PGR is biased toward certain kinds of philosophy. So it should be approached with some skepticism. To better understand some problems with the ranking, you may want to look at the philosopher Richard Heck's criticisms of the report and his collection of links to other criticisms.

The Pluralists' Guide: A Philosopher's Guide to Graduate Programs

The Pluralist's Guide is a resource for advice about applying to graduate school. Among other virtues, it balances out several of the weakness of the PGR and offers advice about studying parts of philosophy that aren't well covered by the PGR.

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