xypathos

It's hard to say. What degree did you apply for? MAR and STM applicants are viewed through a different lens than MDiv applicants. Someone coming in with a master's degree gets viewed in a different light than someone without, especially if the MA is in theology or a related field. Did the admissions team tell you what the issues were with your application? If so, and you want feedback, feel free to send me a private message. I don't think your chances at Yale are "dead" but that depends on what your "issues" are as defined by Chicago. M.Div applicants get a far more holistic review than those pursuing traditionally academic degrees like the MAR, which are meant to feed into PhD programs. As such, they want to see that you've already given very serious thought to your research areas and that your background is suitable to begin that work.

Pretty sure Yale Div releases all decisions on March 15th. Not sure on interviews, I wasn't interviewed but was accepted. Granted, that was more than ten years ago at this point. Chicago Div's non-MDiv programs are extremely competitive. Their MAPH program is one of their cash cows that they accept a large percentage of applicants to with next to no funding for any student. I think their most generous offer is about 1/3 off of tuition. I don't think you need to worry about the MAPH acceptance, most turn it down unless they're desperate.

Over the last ten years or so of this sub, it seems Chicago notifies rejections in early March and then acceptances begin coming out shortly after and through mid-March.

It makes sense, they've been struggling to place students into TT positions. There's a strong rumor mill going at AAR that BU is aiming to completely shut down the PhD program.

The best way is to simply get them published or accepted for presentation. That shows that you're on the right track. What country are you residing in? That info can help focus you on conferences to present at, while publication can be done anywhere.

Reputable PhD programs in the US will provide full funding, even for international students. I've come across a lot of international students, especially in education, who received funding from the Open Society Foundation so check them out. If you're now wanting to engage Christianity, in a say interreligious dialogue with Islam - Georgetown would be hard to beat. They require you to already be quite familiar with one religious tradition and then you use your doctoral time to develop proficiency in the other. When my wife was doing her PhD at Syracuse (Education), we had a number of friends also working on collaborative PhDs across departments. There were students doing PhDs in Education and utilizing resources in their Religion Department, International Relations, History, Philosophy, etc.

It's going to be a tough market no matter what you do. Schools like Harvard and Yale are struggling to place graduates in tenure-track positions within religious studies/theology. I graduated from Emory and never even got an interview invite for a tenure-track position. That said, I knew I wanted to work as a priest and was happy doing that. I do have a guaranteed part-time job at the local flagship school and happy with that. A M* classmate went to Princeton and completely struck out in interviews but got a job teaching in the UK and has citizenship there now. Life finds a way. That said, you could find a job with a distance PhD from Aberdeen - provided you're geographically and theologically open. You also might not be able to find a TT job and need to settle/start with church+academia. If you have the financial means to be on campus and in the community, I'd always recommend that.

That's Aberdeen's full-time rate. Aberdeen generally won't approve students for a distance PhD if they want to do it full-time, since the assumption is that you're working. If so, your tuition rate is only 50%. That said, if you want to be a professor, regardless of tradition - Aberdeen carries far more weight than CIU. CIU is not readily known and the fact that they don't publish their placement info doesn't bode well. The second a Search Committee googles your degree and see that it was online, you're going in the trash can. There's far too many applicants to bother with an online PhD.

What's your background? By that, personal and/or academic involvement with Islamic Studies? That might help others suggest programs and offer more specific advice.

I can more or less also vouch for what @ם but my interview was in 2017 so things could've changed by then. Four were invited to campus with another 1-2* that were interviewed but not invited (backups). All of the initial acceptances came from those invited but a number of them declined to enroll. *Some subfields didn't identify backups and instead opted to run short, or have no incoming students, because they didn't like their slate of candidates.

In the case of being in the UK and not being particularly interested in ministry work, I'd say try to find scholarship circles that welcome undergraduates to present their research. Most of them have a fairly low bar for undergraduates to present - it's more about tipping your toes in the water. There's also academic journals. It's more so to show that you're thinking about this work beyond simply what you're being taught, you're making your own connections to things. I love to bake and so one of my attempts to merge this was working on a paper that looked at the history of bread (recipe composition, shape of the bread, etc) and the role that played in various locations when it came to temple worship. Beyond that, just pursue your passions and develop yourself as a person. UK PhDs are only 3 years (usually) but in the US it's not uncommon for religious studies/theology programs to be 7+ and many of the lower tier ones are averaging 10-12 years now. So, faculty are making a commitment to you as a person too. Have interests outside religion, it'll keep you sane.

Get it over with and behind you, so that you can move on with your life and not have them hanging over you.

What degree are you eyeing at Vandy? Their acceptance rate for the M.Div is really high. A 3.1 isn't that bad, I attended Vandy with classmates with much worse GPAs from online diploma mills. If you're also Latinx it might be open you up to some diversity scholarships. VDS, and Nashville, is extremely expensive and even 50% funding is quite rare. I think you'll equally be competitive at Iliff and Candler. Yale is hard to pin down since GPA matters more but I'd say you have a 33% shot at worst.

It's school dependent. Enough schools get enough applications that they refuse to read an application until it's complete, often their website will specify if this is their policy. You're always welcome to email/call the school and inquire about your situation. When I was applying for M.Div programs I had a similar situation. They let me submit a "backup" recommendation and once my straggler submitted, I told them who to drop and they deleted the spare recc from my application.

This is school dependent. Generally, no it doesn't need to be a direct fit as far as paper = field, BUT! it needs to showcase skills that are relevant for your field. So, if you're wanting to propose something language intensive, you'd better show skills there. There's no harm in writing a new paper if you have the energy to do it, but you need a trusted mentor(s) to provide feedback. Ideally, your paper is at least tangentially related even it's a little bit of a creative stretch. Most of your programs are going to expect MAR/MTS applicants to submit three academic references but might not require it. That said, don't submit a lukewarm recommendation to hit this. Check what the schools want. Generally you'll only have detailed requirements for M.Div. If your three best are two academic, and one professional - go with that, unless a school says it must be three academic. You can find more about the MTS application here - https://divinity.duke.edu/admissions/how-apply#mts. Its been well over a decade since I applied to Duke but I think the personal statement is what they used to show that commitment.

Is everything else equal? That is, more or less financial aid package (if any). In another thread you were just applying to M* programs to start this fall, guessing that changed? I believe from past posts that you're an international student, right? By that, not a US citizen? If so, I can't really speak to your job prospects outside the US. It's going to be exceptionally hard to get a job in academia with a UK degree, except for conservative, mostly Baptist and Reformed schools. It'll still be hard with them too, just slightly easier.

Are you a US citizen? If so, scholarships are going to be ridiculously hard to secure. The UK schools that are approved for federal loans would much rather you take out loans than receive scholarship money. The US citizens that get scholarships tend to be the ones that had such competitive applications that they're also applying to HYPetc. A UK school will also limit your ability to come back to the US and teach. Many of the UK schools have a reputation for doctrinal bias, so it's more important to focus on who would be supervising your work. Oxford and Cambridge skirts some of this, but again it comes down to who your supervisor is. No idea what this is meant to mean, but scripture had doctrinal purposes, even by its writers.

You're overthinking almost all of this. Your GPA is going to be better than some of your potential classmates, and you bring a perspective that will be unique. Take a deep breath. Write your essays and personal statements that speak to your passions, how HDS/Chicago/etc will help you explore them, and the trajectory you see yourself going, etc. Drop this talk about burdens, things being too late, etc. A 3.6/4.0 GPA is not a burden. Applying to graduate school at 25 is not too late. My advisor once said to me: We reach a crossroads when we graduate college. One can go to therapy, or one can go to graduate school and force our problems on others. Don't be the latter, granted most of us did that.

I agree with @sacklunch in that very few seem to leave the Christian faith. Denomination hopping definitely happens! Per the tension - divinity schools and seminaries generally start from the basis that "God exists." If they belong to a denomination/movement they might get more specific. Religious Studies departments are a bit more historical and cultural analysis, so you're looking at this "Other" and talking about what they believe/do (over simplication). I entered VDS intending to be an academic (go get a PhD and be a professor) but my MDiv pushed me to ordination with The Episcopal Church. I did eventually go get a PhD and teach some, but it's church work that pays the bills.

If you go to seminary/divinity school and your faith isn't rattled, you did it wrong. That said, if your faith is destroyed, that's a different thing, though maybe not bad - context matters. Part of school, living, and just being a human being is that you grow and change. Yes, seminary made me stop and think more about things like the Nicene Creed, but I think that's a good thing. It also helped me understand that I valued some things more than others, which is also good. Vandy was good about shaking up people's faiths and challenging them to think bigger and better. That said, they were really bad with the rebuilding that came afterward. In fact, the dean at the time was even emphatic in saying that's not their job. I did hate that part of VDS while there and I disagreed with it. I disagree with it a little less, because I better recognize that rebuilding is 1) personal work I need to do, 2) takes time, and 3) sometimes it must be a different community than the one that inflicted the trauma. That's part of the tension between seminary/divinity schools and religious studies in general. The classroom (and student-teacher relationships) have the capacity for beautiful life-building but also profound trauma. If you're going to be a teacher within this field, part of you needs to be pastoral. You certainly don't need to be confessional, you could very easily be atheistic and an amazing teacher, but you have to carry the weight well that your words and how you use them can kill someone's soul.

Many of my Vandy classmates that got an M.Div went into non-profits, teaching (private secondary schools), and quite a few got into political work - volunteered on campaigns and ended up working for Senators, Reps., and/or Governors. There are chaplaincy options, but I'm not sure where you're drawing the line at pastoral work.

It's an uphill climb, but it's a climb for anyone. Age will be a factor, though they'll beat around the bush with their questions. Also - it's field and school dependent. Your top schools rarely take anyone older than 30. Your state schools, like Indiana and Iowa, are much more flexible. If you're thinking a PhD in a more "practical" field to church work like liturgy or homiletics, these students are often older. Maybe not late 50s from my anecdotal experience, but I've certainly seen mid-to-late 40s. This is also another reason why three year European PhD/DPhil route is popular among older students. Funding is an issue then. I think a former Episcopal bishop of Washington (maybe Oregon?) was 45 or so when he started a PhD in Theology at Notre Dame. Granted, he wasn't the bishop then.

@steadygaze108's advice is spot on. Broadly and generally speaking, Theology/Religious Studies and Philosophy departments at secular schools don't play well together. If you want to be a professor of philosophy, get a PhD in Philosophy. If you want a PhD in Philosophy, almost universally, you'll need a MA in Philosophy. People who get a PhD in Religious Studies (or Theology) with a concentration/focus in Philosophy of Religion (PoR) can get hired by a Religious Studies department (job market is a different concern). BUT! A philosophy department won't touch you for a myriad of reasons. Get a PhD in Philosophy with a focus in PoR, you're employable by religious studies AND philosophy. There are exceptions at places like Boston College, CUA, etc., but we're talking about 1-2 faculty members.

I would fully expect that they've read relevant application material. When I worked in Admissions, we provided personal statements, and when relevant, writing samples to interviewers. Interviewers generally didn't have access to transcripts, anything marked sensitive, or things that might bias them going into the interview. I don't know PTS' policies though.

Back when I interviewed, it was short - 15-30 minutes. They asked me questions about my favorite theologians, anything I found on the website that I was especially interested about, what I hoped to accomplish post-PTS, etc. I didn't attend PTS but I can tell you they were interested in getting a sense of my curiosity. From others that have posted here, it's mostly learn more about you questions and try to get a gauge of how you think.