xypathos

I'd go ahead and reach out. Let them know that you're applying (or already have), shared research interests, etc. I'd keep the emails short - a paragraph perhaps, no more than two.

Hi @NTGal! As others have noted - meeting prospective advisors isn't required and I can't immediately name a single faculty anywhere that wants or prefers that. That doesn't mean much, obviously, but I just don't see faculty wanting to meet prospective students before they apply. Now, many faculty - most even (maybe!) - prefer a quick email where you lay out what your interests are, academic background, etc, before you name drop them in an application! This way they know who you are, they can maybe go to bat for you come evaluation time, and on the off chance that they're not accepting students they can save you the $100+ in fees and/or suggest other faculty to you.

My field is contemporary theology, more or less. I just want to put that out there as I'm biased and slightly outside the circle that my biblical studies friends circulate in but ... I just don't think languages are that important. There I said it! ☠️ Obviously if you're doing something hyper focused on Syriac Christianity but these are exceptions. My classmates have 6+ semesters of Greek, 2-4 of Hebrew, and then some specialized languages. If you add in students with multiple MAs, you're looking at double those numbers! Yet, they've all eventually come to the realization that despite the academy drilling the importance of languages and Adcoms wanting years of it -- they largely haven't used any skills they didn't acquire by the 2-3rd semester. They wasted time solely pursuing languages when they should've been pursuing tangential interests to their field.

We're seeing this at my school as well. Classically trained biblical studies PhD grads are sitting on the market longer and longer, while those with unique interests - disability studies and NT and had a grad in May that did a NT interpretation of transhumanist philosophy. Both of the latter had multiple TT offers, those with a more classical approach equipping them to teach NT and maybe Paul are all headed for one year visiting positions. It's anecdotal but its caused a lot of tension among the older faculty as they're getting less inquiries from prospective students, and general fear that they're going to be "pushed out."

@ChristoWitch87 is 100% correct but I'll also add that M.Div programs can vary pretty wide from school to school. Vanderbilt let us largely customize our M.Div to our aspirations. I made mine largely academic and got to TA undergrad courses at Belmont University to get a feel for teaching and be able to write about those experiences in my SOP. Considering I wasn't interested in applying to TT research schools and wanted to focus on teaching, it's a gamble I took. From my experience looking back - the schools I applied to largely didn't care. The one benefit I had, my PhD program required a semester pedagogy class before a TA could step in and teach a session (if the prof was absent or if they wanted to let the TA teach for a period) - they exempted me from that semester course. Vanderbilt has since also added a ton of certificates and customization to their curriculum so it's probably even more friendly. You're generally more likely to get a bit more freedom at a divinity school, as opposed to a seminary for obvious reasons.

I have a friend moving to Ft Worth as a transfer to Brite Divinity at TCU. They have pets so can’t live in grad housing. Can anyone recommend nearby communities or apartments? Ideally, they’d love to be able to walk to campus or have a short bike commute.

Absolutely ask about what the department and POI value in prospective applicants, and what you can do to maximize that. Some programs are sticklers for language - they want them done before you enter. Others want a modern done, and you’ll pick up the second before comps. A number of modern programs, though not at top schools, don’t really seem to care. By that I mean they don’t require any evidence of language before entering and from students I’ve met at AAR, they don’t require any before you go. My department largely doesn’t care for those of us in modern. I came in being pretty decent in Latin and Czech (odd professional sidetrack - I was raised Moravian and wanted to work at the intersection of Moravian and American religious history but a number of faculty already in the area confirmed that it’d be career suicide Due to being unemployable because I’d be too specialized). I did a couple group sessions of French and German translations for reading proficiency and was asked to go and take the translation exams. I’m 100% my work was garbage but it was also stupid easy - could use a digital dictionary and we had four hours to translate a 500 word chunk of text. I essentially went through and translated the major words, and using context clues placed them in an order that made sense. Never got notification of Pass/Fail. I asked my advisor and he said I was marked as satisfied the second I stepped into the exam room. The department doesn’t require language exams for modern fields but the university says they have to - so you show up, they mark you done, you move on.

Absolutely reach out but be clear that you’re looking for Fall 2021. Every school has different policies about how they choose incoming students so the faculty will be able to give you a good idea of what’s possible. It’s also possible that their current research interests don’t align with the kind of student that they want to supervise. So, always check! Generally in-person meetings are probably seen as unnecessary. If you’re going to be in the area, it’s a little different but traveling from Rochester to Berkeley for a 15 minute chat is a bit much. When you apply and if they like you, some select schools will require you to come to campus, though usually on their dime.

If you're wanting to do Islamic art/expression, you could go off and do several fields - art history, history, religious studies, etc. A decently funded MA, at a school that'll have resources for your area, will be hard to come by. You can certainly expect some funding but north of 80% is lucky, probably closer to 40-50% if you take into account the real costs of the MA. Going straight into a PhD post-undergrad is not the norm for significant chunks of the humanities. For a field such as yours, that sounds even more interdisciplinary than most - that's probably even more so going to be the case. You could, easily probably, do a MTS at Harvard Divinity and focus on Islamic Studies, catering courses to your focus. I'd probably look at several large universities like Harvard, Yale, Chicago, etc that would allow you to leverage resources from multiple areas.

Just apply straight for the MDiv programs, they have high acceptance rates. Unless you have very poor grades, there's no real reason to do a PG.Dip. If you're worried about having a foundation, a significant number of your classmates won't have any religious studies/theology background either and from my experience, many of them were better students for it.

It’s not common to do a MTS and MDiv but it happens. ATS has extremely tight regulations when it comes to transferring credits between M* degrees so while you might save a semester or two, expect to essentially redo significant amounts of coursework. If you’re going to do a MDiv at the same school you did the MTS at, it’s always better to surrender the first degree. ATS allows students to do this in order to save time but the shitty part is that it has to be at the same school and within ten years of getting the degree. As far as working with an emeritus professor, it really just depends and not something you should count on. Some still teach but if they do, it’s often only an independent study or the 1-2 last doc students that they’re supervising. Most of the time though, they no longer live in the area so any sort of class is off limits.

Personally, I think MTS degrees are a waste of time if you didn't also get your MDiv there. Now, that holds true for students applying to PhD programs mid-MTS and wanting to bench on a MTS recommendation. They're going to be superficial letters and your reader is going to see that you've known them for all of a semester. Aid for MTS degrees tends to be lackluster b/c schools know that students doing it are pursuing PhD apps. It's like doing one of the many master's degrees at Chicago. They don't have any real incentives to offer you aid, they know you're desperate and you're willing to pay for it. If you're going to be in the area for three years though, you could make it work for you. Harvard and Yale both have procedures to extend the MTS an additional year. If you did that or found a way to stay in a prof's mind, it could work. If you can afford it, I'd pick 1-2 profs that you really need LORs from and maybe try to audit/credit a course(s) from them during years 2&3. A second option is to hit up all the universities in the Boston/BTI area and just do another funded multiyear M*

You can mention on your application or in a supplementary essay that you took some Edx or other courses. Given the resources available to you, it'll be understandable. I don't know how much, if any, that it'll help your chances but it won't hurt! I would structure your SOP to your interests and not so much your experience. If you apply for the MDiv, which I encourage, you should talk about the interests you want others to know about you. These are the things that you're genuinely passionate about! The closer those interests are to comparative religion or religion in general, the better! Your letters of recommendations should come from people that can write the strongest letter for you. They don't need to be humanities faculty, but they do need to be people that can speak to your desire to learn, your level of curiosity, research ability, and passions. Harvard, Chicago, and Yale have very generous scholarships. When I was at Yale we set aside several scholarships that fully paid for students from developing countries: tuition, books, room and board, and a modest stipend. These scholarships were rather competitive and we cycled through geographical areas of focus. If we took a number of students from sub-Saharan Africa one year, then the next year we might only take one and shift our focus to south Asia. You had to be from a country in the global south and show that: 1) You've exhausted the educational opportunities available to you in your home country or regional area and/or 2) extreme poverty.

Your degree isn't irrelevant! MTS and MDiv degrees are considered introductory degrees, really. I think someone the other day equated them to postbacs and that's absolutely true. People have come into MTS and MDiv degrees without an undergraduate degree in religion. In fact, if you have an interest in working in interfaith work - I'd even look at some MDiv programs. Given the very Christian-centric nature of MDiv programs, really I'd look at Chicago and Harvard. You've got a couple months before the application season begins. So, if you feel that you're ready - I'd just go ahead and apply. Your big hurdle will potentially be the GRE depending on the program/degree that you're applying for!

It's not impossible but it's damn near impossible. Very few RS-PhD programs take anyone straight from UG and when they do, they have exceptional backgrounds. By exceptional I mean they often went to HS at an elite private school, parents had significant money/resources/culture/etc, they went to a Top 5 UG, and spent their summers and UG schedule tailored to PhD programs from fall semester of their freshman year. I mean go for it! Often if you're a strong candidate but just a little short, they'll kick you down to the MA level and throw really nice financial aid your way.

Yes and no. A semester isn't a lot to go on but it is grad school, so they could be reflective of you maturing some and then naturally the health issue being "solved." First semester though is, more or less, the same courses for a lot of MTS and MDiv students - largely intro. Good grades always work in your favor though, just don't expect it to cancel out all of the concerns.

I'm in a PhD program currently. If you click on my username it'll take you to my profile page, you can send me a private message from there.

I think UCLA offers some MA funding. Does Berkeley and Johns Hopkins offer resources in this area? I'm pretty sure they do/did at the undergrad level, anyway. If you're an American citizen, funding in the UK and Canada will be virtually impossible. Honestly, I'd apply to one of the three you listed and make use of their programs. I never took a course at Yale's NEL&C but knew people that did. I loved going over there for talks and events, though. I do know that they offer 0% funding for MA students but they're open to div students coming over and taking courses.

Undergrad coursework is evaluated but MDiv applicants are looked at a bit more holistically than MTS. A shitty uGPA isn't going to tank your chances but you'll need to explain the low grades. If you have an upward curve in your degree, etc - this will go a long way in improving your profile. If you had a significant health issue and it's now resolved, this can help some. If the health issue was a mental health issue, you need to be careful in how you frame it. Mental health stigmas are still rampant, especially so in grad school admissions. I'm sure Duke and PTS put their transfer policies on their websites so take in all of that before reaching out to Admissions. EDIT: If it's a mainline school you want and you want to be competitive for a doc program, apply to them all. At least as many as you can see yourself being comfortable at. I define comfortable as: being outside your comfort zone some, but still having a cohort that you can use as a support system as you come to terms with academic religion vs personal conceptions. If you go to a school and it's 100% right up your alley and doesn't push you on your beliefs, you've failed.

CRCDS is almost exclusively people aiming for ordination, though not all of their graduates go into church work. I know of several that went into chaplaincy, usually hospital. American Baptists and UMC are the largest denominations present. Splatters of everything else - Lutherans, Episcopalians, UCC, UU, Wiccan, etc.

Quant won't hurt your chances for MTS and unless it's abysmal, it's unlikely to hurt you for PhD admissions. You really only see Quant come into play for RS admissions if they think you're competitive for a university/college/dean-level fellowship. Usually even then, they've already decided to admit you but they think you're eligible for a "top-up reward" where your funding comes from somewhere outside the department. This lets them, potentially, admit an additional student that year. It sounds like the HDS person you spoke with feels your writing needs work. The SOP is the most crucial piece of any application packet. You should go through several drafts, having friends, faculty, and a stranger or two, look it over for you. From the sound of your interests, it also sounds like this ties into your own personal life too? That's the bit about making sure you talk about it and present it in a relevant manner. When I was working on an Adcom and prepping packets for review, there were times that we redacted information from someone's SOP because it was grossly irrelevant. The example that stuck with me from my first year doing it: An applicant went on about their interest in environmental ethics, activism, love of John Muir, etc., it was a solid, interesting read. Then they shoehorn in, "by the way, I'm a bisexual male." There was never an attempt to tie it to their research interests or anything. So, the director redacted that bit and no one ever read it. If you talk about strong interests in transgender issues, HIV activism, etc - the readers are going to assume that these issues are relevant to you on a very real, personal level. At least one reader will think "Oh, they must be transgender too," "I'm guessing they have HIV and that's why they care," etc. That can hurt you or help you, that's out of your control but it will always happen, so write expecting it. I'd apply to HDS this year. If you want to apply for a second undergrad too, you can but you'll be back at this stage again next year. Hell, apply and pursue both and see what feels right when it's time to make the decision!

That's a solid point I overlooked but certain schools will absolutely open doors for you.

If you're wanting to keep PhD options open, you'll need to take courses from an accredited school. No matter what you'll be tested but at least you'll have a transcript to back it up. I think learning a foreign language online is the wrong way to do it because you need a strong base, esp. for doctoral studies. That said, take a look at Israel Institute of Biblical Studies. I don't know what the cost is but it's apparently used by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and you'll get course credit from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. They cover biblical Hebrew, some Greek, Aramaic, and modern Hebrew. Language courses are nine months long at three credits, with students expected to put in no more than two hours a week. So, it's not for someone looking to knock this out and move on. To prepare for PhD programs, you're likely looking at 4+ years if only using this method, realistically longer.

You already know what the issue is - that GPA at an ivy is going to hurt you. Hopefully everything else mitigates it. Stuart Rojstaczer, I think, use to maintain an ivy league grade inflation calculator that got floated around but I just did a cursory Google search and couldn't find it. I recall a 3.5 correlating to a 2.5-3.1, depending on the school and field in question, Brown being the primary abuser. It's probably buried on his website somewhere. Hopefully your subject GPA is actually pretty good and a strong upward curve in your last 90 credits. If both are bad and your field is related to theology, that's a nasty hill to climb. Is ND the only school you're interested in?

That's not really something I can answer. So many applicants with a MTS went somewhere like Duke, Yale, Harvard, etc and were able to cater their coursework to their specific field. That's a lot harder to do with a MDiv. It's why the MST (one year post-MDiv degree, some schools call it something else) is popular. My professional advice, unless you've already got a solid application and (ideally) the MST is at the same institution you did your MDiv and it's a Top Five school - they're a waste of time. You just can't build the rapport with faculty there for it to mean anything and often your grades for your first semester won't post to a transcript before evaluation. If you're going to do the MDiv, being encouraged to do a second M* is becoming more common. Doing a second M* after a MTS is also becoming more common, just at a slower pace. If you're doing something language heavy and you didn't also do it in undergrad (i.e., Biblical Studies), you're going to do 2-3 M* degrees. I'm exaggerating on the Biblical Studies front but not by a lot. Go with the degree that feels right at the time. Damn near all institutions allow students to swap between degrees with permission of their advisor and by signing a piece of paper - that's it. Often, barring a denominational scholarship or something, your aid tends to come with you too. We don't advertise this but we're not looking to lock students into a life they've learned isn't for them.