la sarar

I don't think there is one. I've been using Huehnergard's Grammar anyway, but I started with Caplice. I don't think I've ever heard of the existence of a key to that. You might wanna double check with your instructor.

an irrelevant question: how much german do you need if you want to do a graduate degree in germany? I'm think of applying if all my US phd programs reject me, which, in my small field, is quite likely.

I think CVs and SOPs serve different purposes. For example, you will probably not include future plans in you CV, and in the SOP you would not want to mention everything that would appear on a CV, such as a small research project you did in the 2nd year of college. But you never whether it will attract some attention from the committee. So I think it is very helpful to have one and it's the professors' choice whether to read it or not. In any case, I've been told that they start with recommendations...

Thanks, Luciernaga, for sharing all this information. I'm an international student so sometimes I don't quite know how US professors value different things, like, whether coursework is better appreciated than tests/exams. But anyway, I agree that it can only help an applicant if he/she keeps working on German and French. Anyway, thank you for your wishes and I wish you best of luck this season!

I'm applying to PhD programs in Hebrew Bible/Ancient Near East/Religious Studies (in HB/Old Testament). I'm almost done with my applications actually. There is one last program (Brandeis) about which I'm rather hesitant. I emailed two professors in their program and asked to visit their campus but neither of them replied to my email (twice). I asked to meet at a national conference in vain, too. I got replies from all the other professors and I have met most of them (all but one) in person. Also, this is my second time to apply and last time the same professor at Brandeis answered my questions quite actively and for multiple times. I applied to the PhD program last time as well but got accepted into the master's program (I was a senior at college). For financial reasons I did not attend their program. It is sort of odd that the same person would ignore all my emails this time. I'm in Cambridge right now and Brandeis is just several miles away. Ironically it's the only program whose professors I have not met in person. I did a little research and found out that in the past 6 years at least 4 of their 6 new PhD students (they accept only one person per year) were internal applicants who were doing the MA at Brandeis. Is it why both of them ignored my emails (my adviser knows them well and told me they are friendly people)? I mean, is it possible that they already have a good fit from their own master's program so it is unnecessary to even answer my emails, as I'd have no chance at all? The deadline is the 17th. Should I even bother to submit my application?

I'm doing a master's at HDS...2013 Spring is going to be my last semester here.

Thank you so much for your answers! I guess it's a good idea to do some spoken German if I can continue to enroll in an academic program. Btw, are you studying HB at Duke?

Certainly I understand their importance and that the more one has, the better. But will one year (4-8 hours a week) coursework plus language qualifying exams at grad school seem insufficient? I've seen people with 4 semesters or even longer of French or German in the Classics section of this forum. And I'm wondering whether my experience seems not solid enough. I can read papers in these languages with the help of a dictionary, though in the case of German this could be a tiring experience with my current amount of vocabulary. Actually Hebrew is another problem for me. My undergrad major was Modern Hebrew and I had extensive training in that. Concerning Biblical Hebrew I have the "equivalent" of 6 semesters which in fact is 3 semesters, (1st half of beginning, 1st half of intermediate and 2nd half of advanced. I skipped some because 1. my undergrad institution offered only one semester of BH; 2. my current master program has complicated degree requirements with regard to courses, if I had taken 2nd of Intermediate I would have lost the chance to take a series of other required courses due to schedule conflicts, one triggered by another...). I think I'm quite comfortable reading the bible in the original though now and then I need the BDB and other tools, but I'm just not certain how professors will see this: OK? Not solid? Not serious enough?

I got 640 in 2009 but 640 is now 89%. Wondering why....perhaps because of the conversion to the 170 range.

Well, two years ago I applied to Hebrew Bible/Semitics/Ancient Near East programs directly from an international undergrad institution. I applied to 9 PhD programs and 4 masters. I got accepted by only one PhD (UT Austin) and was rejected by all the rest. Although Brandeis accepted me to their master's program with partial funding. Concerning the master programs I was accepted by Harvard Div., U of Chicago Div. School and Jewish Theological Seminary. Rejected by Notre Dame. I'm now enrolled in the Harvard MTS program and reapplying. It seems to me that one's chances don't get higher with a master's degree in hand, since so much depends on the candidates' pool of the year. I'm not even sure whether I'd get in UT Austin again if I applied to it again this time. Also, though I'm doing a master's at Harvard, I don't see any extra advantage when it comes to application. The worst thing with Religious Studies/Bible and the like is that each program accepts 0-3 students a year and they are OK with not accepting anyone into one specific program in a particular year (meaning no one was waitlisted, like Jewish Studies at Harvard, and HB at Brown last year if I recall correctly). So not that I'm being exceedingly pessimistic, but it is possible that if you are not among the top 5-8 candidates among all applicants applying to all major programs, you may end up not being able to get into any program. (If all the programs accept the same people and if some of them don't use a wait list, like what some professors told me when I emailed). So I'd say, give it a try to apply for PhD programs even if you don't have a master's. And accept the offer if you get lucky instead of reapplying, which feels much worse than the first time. Academically you can always take more courses while you already are in a PhD program so a master's is not necessary in that regard.