JillUMASS

So today I received an email from Duke. Sadly, it wasn't the email I was hoping for but it was interesting. It said, "We've reviewed your application with great interest and are finalizing our admission decisions." In the meantime, they wanted to send out a letter outlining how their tuition waivers and costs add up. The reason I thought this is was interesting is because when I was rejected from them last year, they sent me no such email before hand. However, they would be offering $10,000 less than Wake Forest while their tuition costs $10,000 more. Seems like that would be a no brainer for me.

Yes, I would say you have a shot at both of them. You have a strong GPA with GRE scores that are terrible, they're actually better than mine. And yes, the minority status does help, especially with funding. There's lots of grants and scholarships out there aimed just at minorities.

Trip to visit Wake Forest the 18th to 20th - BOOKED!

I've already received a generous offer from Wake Forest. Boston University has rejected me (Art History program), and I'm still waiting on Duke, HDS, and Tufts (Art History).

I considered applying to YDS last year, but I didn't find anyone in their department to be that friendly. I emailed a few POIs and some of them never even responded...Now that I think of it, I remember the director never responded either! It really put me off since other schools were super friendly and helpful. However, I would have seriously loved the atmosphere of YDS, it's such a gorgeous campus.

Amen to that!

Got an emailed notice from Boston University today, it was a "no". Not all that upset about it though since they're notorious about not giving MA students much funding and their program has PhD students as well so I would have received less attention. I'm just happy a decision finally came through, 2 down, 3 to go!

Will you visit any other school that offered you admission before you accept? I'm visiting Wake Forest in mid March.

Congrats to those that have received news!! I checked my e-mail and application websites 50 times today and still nothing!! I wish they'd get on with it, even if it's a rejection lets go people!

Does anyone happen to know how BU sends out their admission offers/rejections? I haven't seen anything that tells me they do it online. And other than an email saying they got my application stuff, they don't send out regular email updates with the progress of your application like a lot of other religion programs do.

Yeah, 50% probably won't do it for me. However, I would definitely apply to them again when I go for my PhD.

I applied for the MA at Duke specifically to work with Professor David Morgan, even though he does American religious art. However, Duke wouldn't be my first choice since they also have PhD students and therefore, a larger program than schools that only offer a Masters, so I don't have the highest hopes that they would give me enough funding.

It adds up to 85%. Each year I'd have to pay $2,700ish per semester, which isn't bad but it's not ideal of course. Interestingly HDS is only about $28,000 a year while WFU is about $34,000. I was shocked that HDS wasn't the most expensive on my list, though with the cost of living in Boston you could easily max at $40,000 a year when you add tuition and cost of living and in Winston-Salem where WFU is, I'm finding entire 2 bedroom houses for only $450! If I get into a Boston area school it will be insanely hard to choose between that and WFU, I'm not thrilled about the possibility of moving but their director has put a lot of time and energy into my future.

I'm interested in the art and archaeology of Religion, mostly of the medieval period of Christianity and also also anything else before that.Basically I study religious material culture. I wish there was a major out there with the title of "art and archaeology of religion" but sadly no. Luckily, melding those studies together gives me a bit of flexibility with my choice of programs. I've applied to: Tufts University (Art History MA) Boston University (Art History MA) Harvard Divinity Duke University Wake Forest University - already accepted feb 12th with a $28,844 scholarship and the request that they get to counter offer if I receive a better offer from someone else. It's driving me crazy that WFU replied so quickly and everyone else is taking their sweet time! I was accepted to the University of South Florida last year but deferred their admission to give a second go at other schools, its paid off with only WFU since USF's department is just a mess! And they didn't offer me any financial support.