Ubi charitas

I think it really just depends on the program and on the POI. It might be helpful for some programs, but I think that most don't really care about being contacted ahead of time (I'm only talking about US schools, here). I've had multiple professors tell me that, while they don't mind being contacted by potential students, it does nothing whatsoever to increase that person's chances of getting in. As others have mentioned, the most beneficial thing about contacting/meeting with POIs is that it will help you get a better idea of how to articulate your fit with the school when you write your SOP. If you're lucky, you might even get some advice about what to avoid saying or what you should emphasize in your SOP. Even if your POI likes you and wants you to get in, you have to remember that there are other people on the admissions committee, and you want to avoid saying anything in your SOP that might raise red flags in the eyes of other committee memers. But, again, this is all a crap shoot. It really is. I got in at my top choice without ever visiting or contacting a single person at the school. My SOP was very basic, and I never revised it or asked anyone to look at it. Granted, this particular program had a very strict word limit, thus I wrote a completely different SOP from my other applications. For the rest of my applications, I revised my SOP several times and got lots of feedback. So, my take is that my writing sample and letters carried the most weight. My point is that you can't stay awake all night wondering if you should/shouldn't visit a school, or if you should write a "broad" vs. "narrow" SOP, etc. Be as informed as you can be, but then at some point you just have to let it go. There's no way you can know all the "secrets" that you would need to know about getting into a specific program.

Yes, it's possible. A few people have done it at Duke. It's easier to switch from MTS to MDiv, but it can be done the other direction, too. You just have to make a really good case to the academic dean.

I'm headed to Notre Dame for a PhD in Moral Theology.

I'm finishing up an MDiv at Duke, and I won't dispute anything that jdmhotness said. Like indefiniteintegral, though, I was on the ordination track when I entered the program AND wanted to do a PhD. I just want to encourage you that it can be done. I was recently ordained (also in the Episcopal Church), and I'm heading to Notre Dame this fall for PhD work. I have no regrets about going to Duke, but it's true that there are a lot of requirements in the MDiv, and the core courses are very large (150ish). These include NT, OT (2 semesters), Theology, Ethics, 2 Church history courses, and American Christianity. You also have weekly "preceptorials" (aka discussion sections) led by PhD/ThD students, so, yes, it feels a lot like an undergrad class. The "extra year" of the MDiv program is made up of courses like Preaching, Black Church Studies, etc. As you pointed out, it's nice to have another year to work on things like languages. One word of advice if you do end up at Duke: Most people who have PhD aspirations re-work the course paradigm to their advantage. This usually means taking some serious seminars during your first and second years (so they'll be on your transcript when you apply to PhD programs, and you'll have better recommendation letters) and saving some of the other courses for you last year (most PhD admissions committees don't really care about your grade in preaching class, for example). Also, many people have received advanced placement for their core classes, which means they can take an advanced seminar in place of the intro class. This may not be an option for you, since you said you don't have much of a theology background, but it's definitely worth pursuing if you've done anything remotely related to the subject in undergrad.

I also turned down an offer from SMU (systematic theology) just now, so I hope that this opens up an opportunity for someone here. Bruce Marshall and William Abraham are very fine scholars.

In case this helps anyone here, I just turned down an offer from Baylor (in theology).

The former... it's subfield specific.

I got wait-listed, too. This is pretty devastating.

Same here. From what I've gathered, they haven't contacted anyone yet. The only exception would be that acceptance that was posted on the results page. Either they notified that person first since they were nominated for a presidential fellowship, or it's fake.

First acceptance just posted on the results page. Anyone want to claim it?

I received an acceptance to SMU in the mail today. My subfield is Systematic Theology.

Right. Sorry, it was my understanding that ND only interviews for their PhD program. I don't know about MTS. I do know that only PhD results will announced on Monday, not MTS.

I thought I'd start a thread for those who interviewed and are currently waiting to hear back from ND. The Final Judgment will be on Monday. We will receive a call from Prof. Wawrykow, who will inform us of acceptance, wait list, or (shudder...) rejection. Anyone else going crazy at the thought that the decisions have all been made (probably for a few days, now), but the graduate college won't let us know until Monday?

Never mind. I see it now. Anyone have any idea how many spots they offer?

How do you know? I haven't seen anything on the results page.

That was me. It's kind of a long story, but I just got the offer today.

Congratulations! Was that you who posted on the results page? I'm just trying to get a feel for how many people they've notified already.

Well, I finally got my rejection yesterday evening. It's still wierd that I didn't get it when everyone else did. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to contact the secretary, but I'm guessing you'll just some sort of vague answer, like, "We're still in the process of notifying applicants..." or something like that.

So, has anyone else who applied to Duke religion still not heard anything (i.e. no interview, no rejection, no waitlist)?

I did the same. I have three different transcripts with a total of 250+ credit hours. I made the last page of my CV a list of relevant courses, because I figured it would be much easier for committees to look over and get a better grasp of my academic background (rather than poring over multiple pages of transcripts containing much that is irrelevant to my application). And, as others mentioned, many of the courses on my transcripts are vaguely/unhelpfully titled with no instructor listed, so it's another way to remedy that problem. I also noticed that a couple of programs specifically recommend that applicants submit such a document.

I can confirm that nobody has been admitted to Duke ThD yet. That post on the results page prompted me to ask a professor about it, and he said that nobody has been admitted. The faculty have until the 31st to submit their recommendations, and the admissions committee hasn't even met yet. That posting is bogus.

They should be sending out notifications by mid-February. Duke ThD doesn't do interviews, thus the relatively quick turnaround.

and... Well, the invitation was signed by Joseph Wawrykow, but the actual email was sent by the administrative staff. It also felt very "form letter"-ish, and the wording definitely suggested that this was the prospective student weekend for the department. Now, as to whether they sent all the invites out at once (or any rejections), I have no idea. The first sentence stated, "The faculty in the Department of Theology has completed its initial review of applications to our doctoral program." It also stated that they're inviting twice as many people as can be offered admission to the program. Thanks for the congratulations. This is quite the pleasant surprise!

Just got an invite to Notre Dame's interview weekend!

Check out my reply to your other post on the thread "Duke Divinity Funding..."