diazalon

@y00nsk FYI Dale Martin retired, Yale hasn’t taken an NT student the past two years.

Congrats @hswg! Let me know if you have any questions, or want to get in touch with subfield students while you make your decision.

You should not foot the bill for a PhD program. If you are set on going the PhD route, it is a much better idea to spend an extra year or two at a top masters program where you have a chance of getting funding, and then applying to a PhD program that is going to offer you tuition + stipend.

@_PATRISTICS_ All Princeton U decisions have been made at the department level and are at the graduate school for approval. Sit tight.

Princeton University offers have been out for a couple of weeks.

Have someone do a practice interview for you also on Skype. Doesn't matter if they are in the next room. Have responses ready for questions you know they are going to ask, and practice them. Make sure you have good lighting and a fast connection - you don't want to have to apologize for the quality. You need to be polished in a skype interview even more than an in-person interview, because you won't have time to make another impression, while waiting before or after. Look at the camera. Be confident. Practice.

Glad to hear it. I remember the feeling, and how antsy it can make you. Just remember: you've done all you can do. You put everything you can into your application, and it's almost never the little things - an extra email here, a candle lit there - that make the difference between an acceptance and a rejection. There is a process, and committees are looking for three things: preparation, fit, and opportunity. The last one is key. Many (most) programs would bring in a dozen students, all similarly qualified, if they could. But often departmental and administrative logistics get in the way. Even the most well-funded programs in the world have to be more selective than they'd prefer due to of institutional realities. And to prove to you that it can be the case, I'll leave you with this: I was accepted to my absolute top choice program after what was supposed to be the "drop-dead date," because money was freed up to bring in a student. It happens, I promise. Sit tight, don't do anything rash, and put your head in a book until April. And stop checking GradCafe.

Almost never a good idea to email a POI this early - they have your application, and they know who you are. They aren't going to speed up the process on your account, and you run the risk of putting yourself in a bad light, seeming pushy. If it were early April, then sure. But its not even February, so my very best advice is: stop checking GradCafe. It will make you stress more than is necessary.

For which degree? If Masters, probably not. If PhD, email the professor you are interested in working with, and try to set up a meeting.

Sure, if you have a specific question that Sean McAvoy can't answer, shoot an email to a faculty member. Generally they are quite obliging to prospective students, though don't expect a novel in response.

I can't give you an answer about what you should do, but I can tell you what I did with similar interests during my time at YDS. The bible concentration requires a fair amount of specific coursework, and requires you to take courses in areas that may not jive with your specific interests. The History of Christianity track, on the other hand, only has two firm requirements, and gives you access to all of the courses both at YDS and at the College, should you want to explore the academic environment downtown. For me, the flexibility of History of Christianity, over against Bible, meant that I could spend time studying overseas, and time at Yale taking classes that made me attractive for the type of program I had my eyes set on. (For instance, the Bible concentration requires you to take classes in theology, which may be your interest, but certainly was not mine.) I'd spend some time on the website looking at the concentration worksheets - that will help you make the decision that is right for how you see your two years at Yale going. http://divinity.yale.edu/academic-affairs-students Also, for what it's worth, if you can stomach it, the MARc at Yale is only two years of funding, while the M.Div guarantees 3.

What level of degree are you pursuing, and in what specialty?

Apply. You never know what the applicant pool will look like, and where you came from has less to do with your admission than you might think. Students from conservative theological seminaries get into top programs every year, and some schools (like Yale, Baylor, Emory) are known for accepting evangelicals who want to do historically oriented work. What is relevant at even the most "secular" schools is not your theological background, but the quality of your work. They're gonna give you a fair shake, so do your best with the application and don't limit where you apply because you think they're going to judge your previous institution adversely. Regarding your writing sample - it is not a "research paper," where you are showing that you can read widely, but instead an opportunity to show that you are doing original research and moving the scholarly conversation forward. Interacting widely is important, but do not lose sight of the goal - making a contribution to the field, and creating new knowledge. The undergraduate GPA, however, is a factor at some schools. If you failed a course during your undergraduate, or otherwise underperformed, it can hurt your chances significantly. There is a lot of discussion about whether this should matter at institutions like Yale, for instance, and some professors disagree, but I can tell you one thing: it does.

Could be. My perspective comes only from the New Testament students (given the original poster's question), and when I was around those parts a couple of years ago. The monetary point stands. YDS (where I went) and HDS have quite generous funding for students who did well in their undergraduate program (60-80%), which will leave the original poster with quite a bit less debt, something I find eminently relevant to most students' concerns. Your mileage may vary.

A couple things to be aware of regarding Duke's MA in Religious Studies: funding is generally capped at 50%, which means that you are on the hook for about $25k in tuition, plus the cost of living, over the course of the two years. Additionally, the MA program's placement into PhD programs in the last few years has been, for whatever reason, disappointing. If you can stand to go to a solid divinity school like Yale Div, Harvard Div, Chicago Div, or Duke Div, then you will have a much, much better chance of getting closer to full funding, which would leave you on the hook just for living costs. The ND Masters in Early Christian Studies is exceptionally competitive, and unlikely to accept anyone without language training.

Are you sure that the PhD cohort doesn't include ThD? My impression was that they are just changing the name of all the ThDs, for all intents and purposes, and keeping the CSR cohort size, which would mean that there are just as many spots.

Don't pad your CV, especially with irrelevant information. It is nice that you were in a choir, but the committee will see that and think "s/he is grasping at straws here" instead of "oh how nice, s/he can sing." Everyone knows what padding looks like, so its better just to leave it off and give only relevant information. Similarly, if your previous written work is non-academic, I would leave it off. It doesn't help, and could definitely hurt.

I don't think this is the policy - generally you are considered for the track for which you apply. Definitely ask when you visit (and definitely visit. It bodes well). B+ GPA at a flagship state university, Greek and German, a handful of doctoral seminars during my time as an undergraduate, honors thesis in the concentration, recommendation from chair of the department. I can't say what the comparison with the comprehensive is, but I think generally comprehensive students tend to be more 'well rounded,' so to speak, and needn't have worked in earnest already on religious studies or theology.

Recent YDS grad here, throwing my recommendation behind what has already been said. There are not a lot of students in the MAR comprehensive, and I do not know a single one who foresees moving on to doctoral work. Generally it is for students who are interested in a Masters in Religion as a matter of course, but not in moving on in the academic study of religion. Students can, and do switch from the comprehensive to the concentrated, but it requires approval of your advisor, the dean of academics, and your proposed new advisor (who will want to have you in class before she/he takes you on as a student). If you know what you want to do, don't apply for the comprehensive.

Thrilled to have just accepted an offer to start a PhD at Princeton University!

If you're intending to work in theological studies and write at all about theological implications of New Testament passages, then showing practical facility with both the Greek language and also original language exegesis will be a strength in your application.

No, returning for a third year of my Masters there.

Well, after stalling out on the wait list at Princeton and Harvard, it looks increasingly likely that I'll be heading back to New Haven in the Fall for another year. It was fun chatting with you all for the past six months - best of luck to all!

I will speak from my own experience: Yale gets one admit per year. In the last three years, Yale has admitted students to the New Testament program every year from evangelical seminaries - the last two coming from Gordon-Conwell and Dallas Theological. To assume that getting into a top New Testament program requires a second masters degree from a "public university of mainline divinity school" is not only elitist, it is demonstrably false.