Placement

Since 1995, over 120 students have graduated with an M.A. in philosophy from Virginia Tech. Approximately 90% of the students who have applied to Ph.D. programs have been admitted with funding. We have placed students in a number of leading philosophy Ph.D. programs, including Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Indiana, Duke, Arizona, Brown, Notre Dame, Toronto, UC San Diego, University of California at Irvine, and Rutgers.

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

Acceptances are to Philosophy Ph.D. programs with funding unless noted. Beginning 2012 (and in some cases 2011), we record every program into which the applicant was admitted. Before that, we recorded only the program in which the applicant enrolled.

Students Who Applied to Philosophy Ph.D.
Students Who Did Not Apply to Philosophy Ph.D.

Graduation Year and Thesis Title	Subsequent Status
2018
Adaptive Preference Tradeoffs	Attending University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; accepted to the University of Pennsyvania, Cornell University, University of Virginia, Georgetown University, Syracuse University
Problems for the Evidential Insensitivity Approach to Phenomenal Dogmatism	Attending the University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Adjusting Credibility Excesses for Epistemic Justice	Attending the University of Washington, Seattle; on waitlist at the University of Virginia and the University of California, Davis
Philosophical Zombies Don't Share Our Epistemic Situation	Attending the University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Problems for Introspection as a Basis for Reasoning about the Self	Instructor, Virginia Tech Dept of Philosophy
2017
The Epistemic and Ontic Conceptions of Scientific Explanation	Attending University of California, Irvine, Logic and Philosophy of Science Program. Accepted at University of California, San Diego, University of Western Ontario, University of Washington, Seattle, and Boston University
(In)Justice in Nonideal Social Worlds	Attending University of Virginia, accepted University of Washington, Seattle and Syracuse University, waitlisted at University of Pennsylvania
The Theoretical Usefulness of Pluralistic Constitution Theory	Attending University of California, Santa Barbara; accepted at the University of Edinburgh; previously lecturer at Marist College.
Geometric Possibility, Ideological Parsimony, and Monistic Substantivalism	Attending University of Massachusetts, Amherst; accepted at University of Nottingham; waitlisted at the University of California at Berkeley, University of Virginia, and University of Miami
A Language-Game Justification for Narrative in Historical Explanation	Applied to programs in Europe only; now teaching at a secondary school in Europe.
2016
Acquaintance and the Formation of Negative Phenomenal Beliefs	Attending Cornell University; accepted at University of Arizona, University of Rochester with Slattery fellowship, University of Massachussetts, Amherst with Puryear fellowship, Syracuse University, University of Toronto, and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
How Morality Seems: A Cognitive Phenomenal Case for Moral Realism	Attending The Ohio State University with University Fellowship, also accepted at Rice University with Provost Prize, University of Massachussetts, Amherst with Puryear fellowship.
Beliefs in an Opaque Brain	Docente contratado, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.
The Substance of Ontological Disputes	Attending University of California, Santa Barbara; accepted at the University of Calgary.
2014
Kant's Negative Answer to Molyneux's Problem	University of Western Ontario.
Holistic Theories of Content and Instability	University of Maryland, College Park.
Moral Motivation and the Devil	University of Texas, Austin.
Atheism and Analogy: Aquinas Against the Atheists	Purdue University.
Non-thesis option	Teaching at St. Paul's Girls' School, London, England.
Testimony Without Belief	Indiana University at Urbana-Champaign
2013
On Distinguishing the Meaningless from the Meaningful	Attending University of California (Irvine) Logic and Philosophy of Science Department, also accepted University of California at San Diego, City University of New York Graduate Center, University of Notre Dame.
Non-thesis option	Attending University of Oklahoma, also accepted University of Notre Dame, Georgetown University, and Purdue University.
Non-thesis option	Attending University of Oklahoma, also accepted Purdue University.
Non-thesis option	Attending The Ohio State University, also waitlisted at MIT, University of Virginia, and Indiana University.
Morality in the Meat Machine	Attending City University of New York (CUNY). Also accepted Washington University Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology, Florida State, UC Santa Barbara, Arizona State, University of Cincinnati, and University of Minnesota.
On What We Confront in Perceptual Experience	Accepted at Boston University Philosophy Ph.D. program, attending Seattle University Psychology M.A. program.
Thesis option	Indiana University History and Philosophy of Science (without funding).
Thesis option	University of Otago, New Zealand.
2012
Non-thesis option	University of Washington, Seattle.
Non-thesis option	Attending Cambridge University, fully funded graduate studentship without teaching duties. Also accepted Georgetown University.
2011
Non-thesis option	Research Coordinator, Social Clinical Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Virginia Tech. Attending Neuroscience Ph.D. program beginning Fall 2013.
Non-thesis option	Rutgers University.
A Veritable Jekyll and Hyde: Epistemic Circularity and Reliabilist Theories of Justification	Purdue University.
Non-thesis option	Attending the University of Massachussetts, Amherst, also accepted University of California at Irvine and The Ohio State University.
Non-thesis option	University of South Carolina.
Non-thesis option	Attending University of Toronto, also accepted University of Michigan, Cornell University, and University of Pittsburgh History and Philosophy of Science.
Non-thesis option	University of Virginia.
Non-thesis option	Rice University.
Non-thesis option	University of Arizona.
2010
Non-thesis option	The Ohio State University.
Non-thesis option	University of California, San Diego.
Non-thesis option	St. Louis University.
Non-thesis option	The Ohio State University.
Non-thesis option	University of Southern California.
Non-thesis option	University of Buffalo.
Non-thesis option	University of Arizona.
2009
Non-thesis option	Brown University.
Non-thesis option	University of Virginia, Law School
Non-thesis option	University of Oklahoma.
Non-thesis option	Declined Ph.D. acceptances in favor of law
Non-thesis option	Private sector
2008
Non-thesis option	Indiana University.
Non-thesis option	University of Southern California.
Non-thesis option	UC San Diego.
Non-thesis option	Washington University, St. Louis.
Non-thesis option	University of Virginia.
Non-thesis option	Indiana University, HPS Ph.D.
Non-thesis option	Private sector
2007
A Modifier-Based Philosophy of Whole Number	Princeton University.
Non-thesis option	Michigan State.
Between Hull and a Hard Core: Varying Patterns in the Evolution of the Darwinian Research Tradition	University of Connecticut.
Creating a Community of Equals: Luck Egalitarianism, Democratic Equality, and the Significance of the Choice/Circumstance Distinction	UNC Chapel Hill, Master of Library Science
2006
Scientific Realism and the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements	Duke University.
Non-thesis option	University of Wisconsin.
Visiting Graduate Fellow	University of Toronto.
2005
Non-thesis option	University of Toronto.
Non-thesis option	University of Washington.
Non-thesis option	Teaching at Ulster County Community College
Non-thesis option	University of British Columbia.
Experience and Pictoral Representation	Washington University, St. Louis.
2004
Animating the EPR-Experiment: The Case for Objectivity in the Search for Bell Violations	Columbia University.
Objectivity in Feminist Philosophy of Science	Duke University, Classics Ph.D.
Non-thesis option	Emory University.
2003
Non-thesis option	Cornell University.
Non-thesis option	University of California, Irvine.
Respecting Citizens, Protecting Capabilities: The Role of the State in a Liberal Society	University of Maryland, Education Policy Ph.D.
Non-thesis option	University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Educational Policy Ph.D.
2002
Non-thesis option	University of Texas.
Non-thesis option	University of California, San Diego.
Non-thesis option	University of Notre Dame.
Non-thesis option	CUNY Graduate Center.
Non-thesis option	STS Ph.D, Post-Doc at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
2001
Contractarianism and Moderate Morality	University of Maryland.
Rawls, Liberalism, and Leisure	University of Virginia.
The Ontology of Persistence	Syracuse University.
A Solution to "The Problem of Socrates" in Nietzsche's Thought: An Explanation of Nietzsche's Ambivalence Toward Socrates	DePaul University.
Nietzsche’s Notes, Nietzsche’s ‘Philosophy’	Private sector
2000
Sextus Empiricus and the Skeptic’s Beliefs	Ohio University, English Ph.D.
No Degree	University of Washington.
1999
Royce and Perry on Idealism and Realism	University of Utah.
1998
Situated Cognition, Dynamicism, and Explanation in Cognitive Science	Washington University, Ph.D.
Empirical Meaning and Incomplete Personhood	University of Illinois, Chicago, Anthropology Ph.D.
1997
Kant's Critical Attitude Towards The Only Possible Argument	Emory University.
Quality and Competence: An Analysis of the Role of Mill’s Qualitative Hedonism on his Conception of Representative Democracy	University of Virginia Law and Philosophy, J.D./Ph.D.
Non-thesis option	University of Kentucky.
1996
Meaning, Functions, and the Promise of Indicator Semantics	Declined acceptances in favor of the private sector.
Autonomy and Neutrality in Liberal Political Thought	University of Illinois, Chicago.
1995
Regarding Descartes' Meditations as Meditational	Purdue University.
Descartes and Tradition: the Miracle of the Eucharist	Virginia Tech, STS Ph.D.
Ludwik Fleck and his Concept of a Scientific Fact	Northwestern University.
The Role of Welfare in an Egalitarian Metric	University of Kentucky.

Graduation Year and Thesis Title	Subsequent Status
2018
Non thesis option	Entered the private sector
Its Distinctness and Significance	Unknown
What Does Theism Add to Ethical Naturalism?	ASPECT Ph.D. Program, Virginia Tech
2017
Kant on the Progression of Representation	Teaching in the United States
Non-thesis	No results known
2016
Kantianism and its Commitment to Non-Naturalism	Director for Identity and Inclusion, Bellarmine University
2015
Non-thesis	ASPECT Ph.D., Virginia Tech.
Non-thesis	ASPECT Ph.D., Virginia Tech.
Non-thesis option	Instructor, Philosophy, Waubonsee Community College.
Thomas Aquinas on the Nature of Singular Thought	Private sector.
The Utility of Mathematical Symbols	Private sector.
Non-thesis option	Private sector.
2014
Non-thesis option	University of Virginia Law School.
Contextual Knowledge Ascriptions and Non-Contextual Knowledge	ASPECT Ph.D., Virginia Tech.
Toward Error-Statistical Principles of Evidence in Statistical Inference	Changed fields to statistics education.
Implications of a Universal Healthcare System in the United States: Why individual health is now of national concern	Ethicist, Institutional Review Board, University of Minnesota.
2013
Non-thesis option	Virginia Tech Center for Public Administration and Policy.
Non-thesis option	Private sector.
Non-thesis option	Private sector.
Non-thesis option	Private sector.
2012
Non-thesis option	Teaching Philosophy and English at Avon Old Farms School, Avon, Connecticut.
Examining the 'Adam Smith Problem'	Instructor, Lynchburg College.
Non-thesis option	M.A. program in Philosophy of Biology at Exeter University.
Non-thesis option	Private sector.
Non-thesis option	Private sector.
Non-thesis option	Private sector.
2011
Non-thesis option	University of Chicago, Public Policy, MPP.
Non-thesis option	Instructorship at University of Toledo
Non-thesis option	Virginia Tech, STS Ph.D.
2010
Non-thesis option	Virginia Tech, Planning Governance and Globalization Ph.D.
Non-thesis option	University of California at Irvine, Biology Ph.D.
Non-thesis option	University of Nevada, Reno, Mathematics MA.
Non-thesis option	--
Non-thesis option	--
2009
A Critique of Langton on Kantian Substance	Ph.D. plans deferred
Supervaluationism, Penumbral Connections, and the Nature of Higher-Order Vagueness	Instructorship at VT
Non-thesis option	George Mason University, Law School
Inescapable Wrongdoing and the Coherence of Morality: An Examination of Moral Dilemmas	Instructorship at VT
Non-thesis option	Private sector
Non-thesis option	Virginia Tech, ASPECT Ph.D.
2008
What Dolphins Want: Animal Intentionality and Tool-Use	Virginia Tech, STS Ph.D.
Non-thesis option	Cardozo Law School
Non-thesis option	Private sector
A Davidsonian Response to the Dead Metaphor Problem	Private sector
2007
Non-thesis option	UNC Chapel Hill, Medicine
Non-thesis option	U.S. Military
Non-thesis option	Private Sector
Non-thesis option	Private Sector
Non-thesis option	Private Sector
2006
On the Moral Legitimacy of States and the Morality of Killing in War	Private sector
Non-thesis option	U.S. Military
Non-thesis option	Virginia Tech, Veterinary Medicine
Non-thesis option	Teaching at New River Community College
Non-thesis option	Public sector
2005
Understanding Dead Languages	Private sector
Non-thesis option	Public sector
Non-thesis option	Public sector
Non-thesis option	Virginia Tech, ASPECT Ph.D.
2004
Non-thesis option	Virginia Tech, STS Ph.D.
Pragmatic Epistemology, Community, and the Problem of Solipsism	University of Indiana Law
Non-thesis option	University of Kansas, Law School
Non-thesis option	U.S. Military
Non-thesis option	Private sector
2003
Non-thesis option	Private sector
2002
The Argument from Species Overlap	Private sector
The Moral Status of Non-Human Animals	Private sector
Non-thesis option	Ethics Faculty, West Point
2001
Non-thesis option	Private sector
2000
1999
The Tension Between Falsificationism and Realism	Private sector
Socrates' Conception of Knowledge and the Priority of Definition	Cato Institute/George Mason University, Economics Ph.D.
Explanations of the Success of Science	Private sector
Kant's Doctrine of Schemata	Virginia Tech, MPA
1998
Soldiers, Self-Defense, and Killing in War	Ethics Faculty, West Point
1997
Non-thesis option	Private sector
Hyperadaptation: Another Missing Term in the Science of Form	Private sector