xypathos

I can't confirm this specific post but UNC generally notifies exceptionally early. Their "we really want this one" candidates are notified of acceptances within the first week of the deadline closing.

I don't know if there are any lurkers out there waiting on Rochester but I believe initial acceptances have already gone out. A friend called to inquire since interviews and acceptances have already been dispatched for several departments, yet seeming radio silence for others. He was told that "Those currently marked 'Under Revew' should have decisions by the first week of March, maybe sooner depending on several factors." A professor at Syracuse that has worked at Warner says traditionally decisions on the first round of acceptances are made by January 25th. Warner has really limited funding for doctoral students so they go pretty deep into the waitlist every year, so there's a strong chance of being accepted but little chance of funding if you're accepted in later rounds. Given Warner's waitlist and how deep they go into it every year, it's probably safe to surmise that if you're still marked as Under Review, you've been waitlisted or rejected.

Multiple M* degress is becoming more and more common, certainly not an expectation but 2-3 Masters no longer seems to raise the eyebrows that it use to. I was rejected from Villanova (PhD) but accepted into their MTS program. The Director noted in his email that given my background, I would certainly be given some, if not full, funding. He suggested I also apply for their Campus Ministry internship for M* students where they work part-time in campus ministry and in return: full tuition grant, room and board on campus, and a modest stipend. I subsidized most of my original M.A. by being a supply pastor for local Episcopal churches and working some on-call for the local hospice organization. My point being, if there's a will - you can make it work. Villanova may happen, I don't know but its been relatively complete radio silence for the other schools I applied to. I don't like the idea of doing another Masters but I want to be a theology professor so I'll jump through the hoops for it, as long as I'm not incurring debt to do it.

Where are you wanting to end up teaching or doing? If you're looking to go back to the church, odds are it'll be received well (depending on denomination and style of Baptist), but you're chances of even making it to the shortlist of a major university with a Ph.D. from Fuller is minimal, and next to non-existent for Asbury and Trinity. As @Wantingtogetinsomewhere noted, it pays greatly in BS and Theo to be Baptist or Catholic for increased job chances (or at least educated in those institutions). You'll likely land a job at some small Baptist college but I can't say much about upward mobility beyond that. Asbury doesn't openly publish placement data (not that I could find anyway), but looking at their faculty listing - they show a preference for HUC, UTS (VA), Drew, and a spattering of others.

Yes, HE at Warner. Thanks for the info! I guess they'll just be stuck in limbo until word about something gets out. Not really much to go on by way of past results in GradCafe either.

Hey everyone, back from the interview with Rochester. It was a courtesy interview, given the nature of my relationship with some of the faculty. It was an unofficial interview and they sought some clarification for my AOI since there's three faculty that I would be suitable under. They asked some questions about my AOI and where I could see my train of thought going in five and ten years, in order to try and lock on 1-2 potential POIs. The actual list of interviewees is still being drafted. They've already drafted their prospective list of interview candidates and some faculty are doing their own interviews of candidates if they feel strongly toward 3+ candidates, to reduce it to one and an alternate. They stressed that I may or may not be on the official interview list. My wife is a PhD student at Syracuse so it would be wonderful to stay in the area but my wife and I both know the crap shoot that is PhD admissions so we may be split for a year or two. I asked if I could post this info here as I know of at least one faculty member (that knows my username here) that casually browses the forums when they want to "vicariously relive those days of anxiety."

Per the school's website, there doesn't appear to be any aid and the instruction is online except for two weeks in January and July. 63k for a degree that schools traditionally pay students to obtain is a hard bargain to sell. Is there a reason that a traditional, on campus school doesn't work for you? How would you feel with a 63k loan over your head and no job to match it?

Received a call asking to come to Rochester for an interview on Wednesday (1/25) with some selected faculty. I live nearby (Syracuse) and personally know several faculty members so I already had quite an in, for transparency sake. I don't know if other interviews have or are going out, or if this is because of my relationship with some faculty members.

I can only offer anecdotal experience, my wife graduated from TC two years ago. I think just about all of our friends received some kind of tuition grant to reduce tuition charges (quite a few full tuition grants), but I know my wife, at least, received nothing by way of stipend. Considering all but two of our friends also worked full-time (the other two lived on loans), I don't imagine there's much in the way of TC covering living expenses. My wife did some substituting while I worked FT and had a RA position with a faculty member that paid a fair bit.

I had some friends apply to Rochester for PhD in HE and none of them have heard anything - applications are still marked as being under review. They said they were told that interviews take place ten days after the close of applications so around the 25th. I'd imagine that interview invites would've gone out by now then.

Per Oxford's website (https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/after-you-apply/decision-timeline?wssl=1) about the decision timeline for graduate studies, applicants can expect a decision about their application 8-10 weeks after the close of the deadline. So, you're looking at mid to late March. Also, I believe Oxford traditionally notifies Masters applicants before DPhil, not that really means anything. That said, funding notifications for accepted students can take all the way until June so if you're an American it can put you in a very tricky spot. My advice from a classmate that went to Cambridge for their DPhil and it's the advice their advisor, an Oxford alum, gave them: If you have an acceptance to a funded PhD in the US but you really want to attend school in the UK, pay your deposit/secure your spot in the US but keep your application in the UK going forward. If accepted and the funding works out, simply apologize to the US school and walk away from the offer. It sucks and it puts them in a terrible spot but it's the name of the game. UK schools notify about funding really late and generally speaking, non-EU applicants from first world countries are last in line for funding.

It's a mutual concern for most of us and its has been noted in the History and Philosophy sections as well, participation in the forums has dropped off significantly. On the flip though, the subreddit for Graduate School is very active, there's a subreddit for theology, and a separate one for Religious Studies but the activeness of the last fluctuates significantly. I'm not particularly active or aware in any others so I can't say much more.

I agree with @menge, a post-interview thanks is a common courtesy. While it perhaps isn't as "known" among our (millennials) generation, it is/was among our POIs. A simple sentence or two about how much you loved the school or a "I could really see myself here" goes a long way. Three of my interviews have explicitly asked, "Could you see yourself here?" The issue of "fit" is a two-way street and they want students that want to be involved in the life of the department, school, and community. While it's anecdotal, one interview specifically asked some avenues that I could see myself getting involved with at the school, stating directly that they're not interested in students who aim to attend, be active in the classroom and then disappear. Anyway, all of this is to say that if you're eager to attend and the school is a good fit - let them know! You will not come across as too eager.

I would absolutely send them an email to thank them for their time. As well, if after the interview you feel even stronger ties to the school, you should let them know.

As a consolation of sorts, I was notified today that I was accepted into Villanova's MTS program which they consider a stepping stone for students wanting to stay on for the PhD. The person that emailed me said the committee felt I needed more *specifically* Catholic theology courses in order to be successful in their PhD hence my ultimate denial for PhD but acceptance into MTS. No word on funding or anything but it's something, I guess.

Rejected from Villanova PhD by phone call. They loved my application but ultimately felt that I didn't "connect with their Catholic identity." I'm not Catholic but use a lot of Augustinian theology in my work so I knew this would hurt me in my evaluation. Well, that's one less site to keep checking.

If it's legit, this early it was likely to setup the interview. It's not unheard of for a potential POI to contact applicants that they're interested in to setup a "private interview." This interview is unofficial and designed to help the supervisor pick 1-2 candidates for which they want to advocate for come committee meetings. How each committee decides on acceptances is unique to their politics so can't really say.

It's certainly possible as you note @menge, that it could just be an outlier and a really strong candidate. They've had the same Director for the last four years so I don't expect much change in process but as we all know, this process is arbitrary.

Faculty I spoke to when applying said interviews wouldn't happen before the first week of February at the earliest, and the results page shows that's the usual time frame so yea, I'm suspicious of the request.

Final batch of applications are in. Now I get to join everyone else and officially twiddle my thumbs until *hopefully* interview invites start trickling in.

Echo @menge's sentiments in that in Religious Studies, Theology, etc - going to the UK and getting a PhD is generally acceptable and often simpler in terms of application. Funding though is an entirely different matter! Getting accepted to even say Oxford and Cambridge as an American is easy, the competition comes in getting funding since almost all of their bursaries are reserved for EU members and students from the developing world. UK Theology degrees are also known to be more accommodating to conservative students so there's that stigma when trying to land a job in the US too.

Most schools start trickling notifications around mid-February but ultimately it can vary by 2-3 weeks each year. Generally, we'll start seeing some interview invitations late January to early February, with some decisions really beginning mid-February. Applications, generally, remain as "incomplete" until an actual staff member certifies it as Complete.

If you're unable to get a hold of the LoR writer, you really only have two options: 1) Attempt to contact the Chair* (keep in mind that this will almost surely not go over well with your LOR writer!) or 2) Replace them. *I had a very similar situation, that I chronicled on here about three years ago - one of my LoR writers dropped off the face of the planet, deactivated their FB account, wasn't returning emails or phone calls, etc. I took the route of contacting the Chair who informed me that the Prof. had a a bit of a midlife crisis and quit the college, left his family, and moved to Iceland. The Chair was happy I contacted them and agreed to write the LoR (we'd had only one class) and said he even included a note about the situation as to why the abrupt change - at the time the application system didn't allow me to change LoRs on my own so I had to ask the department to delete him. EDIT: Also check the guidelines on YDS and HDS' website as per how the LoRs should be spread out as far as 1/2 academic, 1 pastoral, etc. If you can only meet the minimum, so be it.

I think applying for the M.Div and talking briefly that this program is also a period of discernment for you will go over well. You're discerning potentially some kind of ministry (interfaith, social justice, etc) though leaning towards academic work but lets be real - that in of itself is a ministry too! In fact, we specifically call it "academic ministry." Union, HDS, BU, etc - they all see this every year and they understand. It's expected that who you are coming in will be different in three years time, as it should be or they've/you have failed in doing their job. If your application read more along the lines of, "I'm applying to the M.Div program because of an interest in academic ministry or possibly becoming a police officer" - that would raise some eyebrows. Your situation will not. The acceptance rate at BU and Union hovers around 50%, sometimes higher - HDS, last I heard, is closer to 35-40% for the M.Div. so you have that going for you. As long as your GPA shows an upward curve, your 3.2 isn't going to kill your chances. I nearly flunked out of school my Freshman year (seriously, I had two faculty meetings that recommended I withdraw but the President was willing to give me one semester to turn around), kept somewhere around a 3.0 GPA my Sophomore year, and the last two kept a 4.0 and I was eventually accepted to all of the top Div. schools with almost full rides, and I'm not an URM of any kind. Also, it's worth noting that funding for M.Div programs is generally always superior to MTS/MA programs, even once you account for the third year of the M.Div. I'm applying to Ph.D. programs right now so I get the "let me look over this statement for the 99th time" jitters! Just go with your gut, take a deep breath, and the click the Submit button.

Grats @OHSP! Getting very early, unofficial acceptances is unusual but it does happen. I'm in the same boat though my acceptances came by way of Canadian schools (one history, one religious studies) but neither are my top school but I certainly won't complain about having choices already.