xypathos

Yale has agreements with schools in England, Germany, and two in Asia - Hong Kong and somewhere else that I can't recall right now. Semester or a year length. I imagine it'd be next to impossible to spend your last year abroad due to graduation requirements. Really, I'd think it'd have to be your middler year.

MTS rate is lower than MDiv, but still - I get the feeling that 50% is too high. I recall some outdated posts of the acceptance rate for MDiv being closer to 30-40% and I would imagine the economic decline of '08 sent more people applying to graduate school as a means to reinvent themselves and pursue 'back burner dreams.' Though, since the economy has improved some, I imagine the rate has increased but I doubt it's as high as 50%.

Anyone else worried that the first decision to come in will set the pace for the rest of the season? A decision from Union is imminent* any day now. *Their site says it could take a few days to 3-4 weeks for a decision depending on 'peak times' which I imagine they define as being around January 15th. Since Union notifies you of any merit awards at the time of admission (which is certainly nice), I'm increasingly worried that if I can't get into Union, I'm screwed at Yale and Vandy. I've officially hit the phase where when the email icon pops up on my cell-phone, I check with bated breath - same for the mailbox.

A situation arose with one of my recommendation writers - short story shorter, they apparently had a "mental breakdown" around Thanksgiving, sold all of their stuff and moved to Iceland. The department already knew ahead of time that he was going to Iceland for the holidays and that he would be somewhat unreachable as he traveled around, but that he'd check-in from time to time. I emailed him before Thanksgiving to confirm that he had received the proper emails in order to write the recommendations, he confirmed and said he'd have them submitted by the end of the first week of December. That time came and went, nothing. I touched base with him again, he apologized and said he'd have them in by the 11th. Again, nothing. On the 13th, the Department Chair asked me to come by and see him and he shared an email with me that the professor in question sent him. In short, the professor was resigning immediately and that the holiday trip was merely a ruse, has he had already sold his home and belongings and would not be returning. I was called into the office because the email, sent to the Chair, asked him to apologize to me and to let me know that he would not be writing my recommendation, nor any of the others he had promised to do. Fortunately I was wrapping up my Senior Seminar with the Chair and he asked that I let him step in and write the recommendation, which I agreed to. Now if I could just get Union to return a phone call or email to confirm that they received my message about changing recommendation writers.

Isn't this a little too anecdotal? Sure, I can understand it providing the tiniest sliver of hope and yes that's meaningful, but how far does that deviate from the norm to the point that it's an extreme outlier?

As always, it depends on what you're studying.

Since we're discussing Talbot some, how has William Lane Craig affected Talbot's reputation? I'm not an apologist, nor have I been following the hottest name(s) in the field, just curious more or less. I was writing a small paper on modern Christian approaches to theodicy. A professor, in her comments, suggested I check out William Lane Craig's writings but I've been hesitant to so far. I generally shy away from such material but if he's worth checking out, I'll bite.

I had hoped so, but given the OP's by all accounts, genuine, interest in the field, it's best not to lead them astray.

Unless I'm mistaken, BJU isn't regionally accredited. That said, if your hope is to enter into employment or operate within the circle of independent seminaries, this may not be a problem. However, if you want to enter into a recognized university, be it in some teaching capacity or to apply to a regionally accredited PhD program, you're quite...screwed.

Vandy just got back in touch with me. As per the original question of one essay or four, they said to write in whatever style works the best for you as an individual. As per the question of length, they said at a minimum they recommend one page double spaced per question. At a maximum, four pages, again per question. That being said, I don't want to be the person who turns in a 16 page personal statement so I'm sticking to four pages.

I think Union may win an award for the least useful prompt this year. Now, I recognize that this prompt does tell them some things about me, particularly how I conceptualize myself, how I am able to recognize my weaknesses, and a preliminary plan of action to work on them, while bolstering strengths, while at Union. I also recognize that a distaste for prompts is subjective, though I felt like venting. Also, I get the feeling that a lot of applicants are going to play it super-safe and this portion of the essay is going to look largely uniform across a large percentage of applicants.

I contacted them last week but so far no response. So far I've kept it as one essay but the prompt within the application makes references to essays but also seems like they want one cohesive response. There's also no mention of length guidelines but I'm not too worried about them since I'm following the lengths of other schools and keeping it at about 2-3 pages.

I'll be applying to: Vanderbilt Union Yale Iliff Claremont All of my applications will be for the MDiv program. I'm interested in a fairly wide range of things, though most notably Christian existentialism, death and dying, mental illness (suicide really) and its intersection with theology, and ethics (still too broad of an interest to further refine at this point).

So is the Personal Statement for Vanderbilt as an MDiv student four actual essays, or are they simply asking you to answer these questions within the context of your personal statement? The wording on the website seems to indicate that they want four actual essays but that seems rather excessive, especially since I can't find any guidance on how long they want these essays to be. Obviously if they're looking for each essay to be say 250 words, that's different than say 2-3 pages for each question. Anyone presently or in the past, have any light to shed on this? I haven't officially started on my application yet. From the schools I'm applying to, Vanderbilt provides a nice framework for me to build around for other schools so I've started on the essays first. Likewise, if there's anyone here who is willing to look at my essay, I'd appreciate it. Context, grammatical errors that I missed, maybe points that you'd like me to elaborate on more, etc. For right now I've written it as a single essay, about 1300 words or four pages double spaced.

Hartford Seminary has a combined PhD with the University of Exeter, has focuses on 'Muslim-Christian Relations' and 'Theology and Ethics.' Since this program follows the UK model for a PhD, I imagine that it may not be the best fit but obviously only you can determine that. As you noted, with no Arabic you're putting yourself at a nasty disadvantage.

Simply, how many schools is enough for an MDiv applicant? Obviously our admission rates are higher than a PhD applicant. As is, I have 5 (6 depending on my mood) prospective schools I'm looking at. However, truth be told, I have 3 that if accepted and financial aid worked out, I'd take over any others. My top three: Yale Vanderbilt Iliff My larger list: Yale Vanderbilt Iliff Emory/Candler Union Theological Princeton Theological

If you can't go, you can't go. Professors are humans and understand that we can't pick up and go to a city for a conference as easily as they can - particularly since you're coming from California. You'd also hate yourself if you get out there, really gunning for him to advocate for you in the admissions process, only to find out that once he knows of the finer points of your interests that he's actually not so...interested. I'd be more inclined to push for a telephone or Skype discussion if you can't afford to get out to Baltimore, which is understandable.

Undergrad professors are fine. Some may argue that your M* professors should be used over UG if available but go with who can argue for you better, followed by their reputation. If you're going for a strictly "theoritical" field I don't see the LGBTQ director or priest having much clout. If you were applying for a "Practical Theology" PhD that was heavy on say counseling, then maybe. Unfortunately if you're applying for a PhD in say American Religious History, I'd stay away from personal LORs.

Speaking of funding and M* programs. Any idea how well funded, on average, MDiv acceptances are at Union? I have some interest in religion and psychology/psychiatry and finding most of the people I'm interested in are tied to Union to some degree. That said, NYC is expensive.

Doesn't BC still require a year of full-time ministry experience post-bachelors to be admitted to their MDiv program? Their website says as such anyway but I'm not sure how enforced it is or how flexible they are in defining ministry experience.

Good luck! I'll be applying to all of the same schools you'll be and a few others. In fact, I have potentially 7 that I'll be applying to but I'm thinking of cutting back significantly due to financial concerns but also because I think 7 schools, for an MDiv, is too many. I'm currently serving with Americorps at a non-profit working with the local homeless population. Also, while your backstory is similar to mine (severe abuse), my history is more about mental illness - having lost 3 people very close to me by suicide (a friend I grew up with that was bullied relentlessly by his family, school, and church for being a homosexual, a former girlfriend, and my father in November). I'm also just not interested in Duke, even being from NC and it being relatively close (about 1.5 hours away) to family. It's a good school but when I toured the campus, I just didn't like the atmosphere and the fact that there's no graduate housing on campus (coming from a residential college, 'community' is HUGE for me). Two of my LORs are Duke Divinity graduates and really encouraged the school but, borrowing from the thread regarding 'fit,' - Duke just isn't a good fit for me but describing why in quantifiable terms is hard.

http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40 An excerpt from the site: The formula they use is problematic, but it gives you an idea. The Academic Provost at my local university, who I'm close friends with, says the 'real' numbers are closer to 75% graduate in 6 years, whereas the school's official % under the Student Right to Know Act is closer to 55.2%. Feel free to use: http://collegecompletion.chronicle.com/ to look up information specific to your school, state averages, etc. Using the above tool, even some of the best universities in the US only graduate 70-80% of their students in 4 years, if you stretch it to 6 years, it still only goes to high 80s, low 90s. Keeping in mind that transfer students, dropouts, etc skew the results some.

I know the application season in Europe makes this a little impossible, maybe. But, I was wondering if there are progressive MDiv-equivalent programs in Europe that are along the likes of Vanderbilt, Yale, HDS, etc. Also, preferably ones that have bursaries that award aid to US students (or approved to accept Federal loans). My long time partner is headed to Poland for a couple of years due to a Fellowship so it would be nice to be able to get closer, but we're prepared for that not happening.

No. I'd suggest looking for a M* degree with particular focus on the ME. Yale and Harvard come to mind and I know Hartford is really big on Islam.

At the end of the day, I don't think there's anything that'll bolster your application. Now, with that said, and acknowledging that what I said sounds very negative - I think you're fine to go ahead and apply. If you took more classes, even say two years worth of straight A's - you may be able to slip past a 3.0 but maybe not. If you did more volunteer/ministry work, it still won't alleviate you or the Adcoms of your GPA concerns. You have a unique life story and it more than explains why school may not have been your top priority. Other than $$$, what's there to lose? Cast your net wide enough and you'll be fine. Back in my LAC days, a representative from Harvard Divinity came to the school. A student asked how strongly life experience factors in on their discussion when reviewing an applicant, the rep told us that it's up there with our SOP and LOR (that obviously your life story is told through these documents). That they/some (Adcoms) feel that those who've 'suffered' in life to some extent, more than usual, put more into their ministry training, thus taking more out. She told us of an example when a divinity applicant, had been accepted to the school but they were discussing some kind of aid for the student, one of the reviewers commented that the applicant had led an 'ideal' life - good grades, both parents and grandparents were alive, that she'd never really been 'tested in life,' the applicant even stated in her SOP that she'd never had anything traumatic happen to her. Ultimately the aid went to another applicant. She tied in the story better than I am here, keep in mind that I'm recalling it from nearly a decade ago. My Chaplain, an eternal jester, quipped during the discussion (out loud), "The rep from Drew told us the same story last year." Over the years I've noticed that Divinity school reps. tell eerily similar stories. TL;DR - I better see a signature of schools that you're applying to in the Fall.