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zhartley

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  • Application Season
    2015 Fall
  • Program
    NELC

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  1. Well, I applied to the NELC PhD in Hebrew Bible/Near Eastern Civ., but I had no expectations of getting in (I was assuming I'd end up doing an MA at Brandeis or Toronto). Luckily this new Ancient CMES MA seems to be pretty ideal for preparing for a PhD in ANE studies, especially since the funding is pretty generous for an MA. But yeah, my focus would be on Israel's religious history. As far as my current interests, I wanted to look at the changes in Israel's religious beliefs over time and how they interacted with the religious ideas of the cultures around them, especially under Babylonian hegemony. As an undergrad at a school that didn't put much emphasis on research... (LOVED my school, but they just weren't about that life) I was completely in the dark when I wrote my statement of purpose. So, what I rattled off as far as a potential dissertation topic was "using modern theories of intertextuality (understanding "texts" broadly to refer to any cultural feature) to model Israel's religious change during the Exile." Pretty much just the most pretentious way imaginable of saying, "how religions change." Figured with Chicago's obsession with theory it might go over well. But yeah, all primarily with the end goal of exegesis in the book of Ezekiel and the Pentateuch. I'm assuming your language will be Middle Egyptian? No chance you'd be taking.... Akkadian? Also, have you met any other CMES students? Any idea how big the cohort is? What they're like? I'm currently pretty ill-informed about everything so far because I've been up to other things...
  2. MA in (Ancient) Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago! Anyone else?
  3. So looking back at my undergraduate years I can think of a lot of things I would have done differently/things I would have been more diligent about to prepare for grad school. I am currently about to begin an MA in Middle Eastern studies with the hope of working toward a PhD afterward. I also just am beginning to realize that although it's a two year MA, I'll need to begin worrying about grad school applications in only a year and a half all over again. What this means is that most of what I'll be able to put on my applications will only be from the first year of my MA. For current PhD applicants and students, what advice can you give to us who are just beginning our MAs? What would you have done differently to better prepare yourself for PhD applications? Regarding writing samples, although a thesis isn't due until my last semester, does it make sense to try to try to knock it out in the Summer break? Or should I just try to go above and beyond on term papers and use one of those? I've also been curious as to how to obtain letters of recommendation from MA professors. In my undergrad I had 3 years to get close to professors, take multiple classes with them, and allow them to become familiar with my abilities. In my MA I'll only have 1 year, and since the school I'm attending for my MA is much bigger than my BA it's not nearly as likely I'll have the same professor multiple times. Any advice is much appreciated!
  4. Hi all! New to the forums. So I also was accepted to the MA in Middle Eastern studies at UChicago with a half tuition scholarship. Long-term goal is a PhD in ANE/Hebrew Bible. Currently finishing my undergraduate degree at a small, private, not well-known school. So I'll be coming out of my undergrad debt-free and don't actually have any formal background in Near Eastern studies. I realize that the typical advice is "if you have to pay for grad school, don't go." But I was wondering if that really applied to my situation? I only have a bachelor's degree (or will in 2 months) and I haven't actually "gotten my feet wet" in ANE studies (undergrad is in a related field however). It's pretty unrealistic to expect a PhD offer with my current academic background. Is it wise for me to go ahead and accept the offer to Chicago? I figure if I end up with just a bachelor's and master's degree from Chicago with some debt, that can't be all bad? And at the same time I THINK (correct me if I'm wrong) that there aren't many better schools than Chicago that one can attend to make them a competitive PhD applicant in ANE studies? Also, to others who were accepted to the MA in Middle Eastern Studies at Chicago: on the site they mention that many students receive full-tuition scholarships for the second year. Does anyone know how frequent this is, or if this is the typical and generic "scholarships are available!" empty promise that schools use to reel in first year students? Look forward to (hopefully) studying with some of you!
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