GusterT

You should check out Georgetown's Theology PhD. https://theology.georgetown.edu/graduate I'm a PhD student there, and the department specializes in religious pluralism, comparative work, and cross-disciplinary studies. A number of students in the program have seminary backgrounds, and there are a few who do Buddhism and Christianity. PM me if you have any questions about the program.

I'll just chime in here to vote for the "focus on other things and remind yourself" option, here, Barth-Man. A 168 V is a fantastic score, and I'd seriously doubt that a Ph.D. Program is going to take much of a look at your Quantitative score. Especially in systematic theology. If you were going to do a lot of statistical analysis, maybe, but systematics, not so much. Focus on your SoPs and writing samples. I think your major and graduate GPA prove you're a strong student. The most important piece is "fit," so connect with your professors of interest and work at making your SoPs clear and compelling. Save your money and time and focus your attention on the pieces that matter. That's my two cents...

I'm starting a PhD there this fall in Theological and Religious Studies, but my wife and I aren't really looking for roommates. Best of luck with the search though. The DC housing market is super-competitive from what I've seen so far... What's your focus in Islamic studies?

I was accepted into this program, and I just went over the weekend to check it out. It's fantastic! 1) It's small (they accept 4 a year), so there's a real collaborative/communal feel to it. The students seem to really like each other. 2) The program is designed to be comparative in terms of the traditions you study. You major in one religious tradition and minor in another and work on comparing them to each other. Most people in the program are working on Islam and Christianity (which makes sense because of Georgetown's academic resources). 3) You can draw on other programs at Georgetown for your coursework, so there are a lot of courses you can take for credit in, say, Arabic and Islamic studies. The program is pretty young (I believe it was founded in 2005), but it's Georgetown! After visiting, I was more than convinced, and I'll be starting there in the fall.