xypathos

In short, yes - you stand a chance. In reality, probably a very good one. The situation you find yourself (life events, political culture around you, etc) will all be evaluated by HDS' Admission Committee when you apply. In your actual Personal Statement, I'd mention just enough to wet their appetite and then have a separate document where you go into more detail, so that they may have a fuller view of what you've gone through. I don't recall HDS' application process on their website so you may need to email this document to have it attached. Odds are there's an additional information section on the actual application though. The reason I suggest this is that the MTS is an academic degree, so you need to place most of your emphasis there. Simply, you don't want to take up critical space if it's not directly relevant to research interests. You won't be given the same freedom to speak to life events like a MDiv applicant, unfortunately. Was your MPhil from a university in Pakistan? I only ask because the primary Admissions section says that applicants with an advanced degree can waive the GRE without filling out a waiver form. However, under the international section it says to contact the Admissions office if you're an international student with an advanced degree, to discuss your options about waiving the GRE. This tells me that their waiver process is only automatic for American students, maybe UK/European and Canadians too.

YDS does offer summer language but while I was there it was only six credits in Hebrew, Greek, or Latin. For OP's sake, that's sufficient. I think so anyway but I don't do biblical studies so ?‍♂️

Yea, Faber and Keller are the only process theologians that I know, at PhD granting institutions anyway. I don't know where Keller is as far as Comparative Religion but given her work in spiritual ecology, animal studies, etc - it has to be on her radar. If you mention you have some familiarity with German, I think you'll be fine! I did Spanish as a modern language and hadn't touched it since undergrad, which was over a decade ago. I spent last summer with a mix of self-study and a friend over in the philosophy department that helped tutor me too, tested out of it just fine. Considering what your research interests specifically play out to be, you might be able to replace a modern language with Spanish.

To process theology/philosophy broadly, I'd take a look here - http://whiteheadresearch.org/relations/graduate-programs/ The website looks up to date at quick glance. I can only directly speak to Roland Faber (CST) and Catherine Keller (Drew). Keller took a student, I think, two years ago so she may be up for another student by the time you're applying (guessing for next Fall 2020?) CST/CGU is a really cool and fascinating school. Unfortunately, their financial aid for PhD students is, probably without any competition, the worst in the US. I've heard through the grapevine that their acceptance rate is high but it's because they're hoping to eventually get someone to come. They do have some generous scholarships but the competition is fierce and they've been known to skip over cohorts if they feel no one deserves it. On the plus side, there's a large number of schools in the area and I've been told their students generally have multiple adjunct offers once they're post-coursework. Does CGU still offer a joint MA/PhD? I think it's where you got the MA in Philosophy but did the PhD in Religious Studies. If you're looking at process thought seriously, I'd aim for applying to PhD programs at this point. Undergrad in the field and two M* is, generally, more than enough for a non-biblical studies field. Given the contemporary nature of the field, you'll certainly need reading ability in French and German, depending on the school. I'd focus on German though, enough so that even if you failed the translation exam, they could look at the score and see that you've at least started.* *I had a cohort member that was accepted that said (on their app) that they had an intermediate, almost strong reading ability in French. Their translation exam score suggested that if shown a passage in French and one in Arabic, they wouldn't be able to tell which was which. I exaggerate some but it's all the faculty could talk about for weeks. They were given 90 days to cram, they failed again, they were excused from the program. Not at all related to your situation but I still chuckle when sharing the story. Getting a job for everyone is hard, it is what it is. If this is where you feel called, do it for that and then sort the rest out. Depending on the school, you'd be eligible for philosophy of religion in a RS department, teaching theology, or some combo of philosophy and RS at a SLAC.

That's awesome!!!

I'm fine with you being upset with what I wrote. I could've sprinkled some sugar on it and beat around the bushes, but you need someone in your corner to tell you the hard truth. You clearly didn't have that someone this cycle. I worked full-time in undergrad, as a line cook and pantry chef. Plenty of people before you, your classmates, and future students worked full-time and still slammed out high grades at probably every university in the US/world. You're nothing special there. More than five schools work on continental philosophy and religion. That's just poor planning. If you want to be in a competitive philosophy department you need a M.A. in their field. You can get in to a PhD program without an M.A., your chances are higher than 0% but not by much. If you haven't seen it yet, the PGR (Philosophical Gourmet Report) is considered the preeminent ranking system but it also has a fair share of detractors. Recently Brian Leiter (founder) stepped down from running it and that's for the better - they have a solid Advisory Board in place now. Dailynous.com is also a top site to learn about the field itself, what prof is moving where, where the leaders in the field think the next hot subfields will be, etc. The people in the Philosophy forum here at GradCafe are far better equipped to handle philosophy questions. I can direct you to some funded M.A. options but they'll know even more. If you're wanting to do a PhD in Religious Studies (or Theology) with a focus in philosophy of religion, I can certainly help there. My intent was not to hurt your feelings but to simply tell you the truth, nothing more, nothing less. EDIT: Thanks for the kind words @Boolakanaka!

Were these PhD programs literally in these schools' respective Philosophy Department or was it a focus in philosophy but in the Theology/Religious Studies Department? If they were actual philosophy departments, you made a costly error. Philosophy departments have a noted bias against people coming over from theology, even more so without a M.A. in Philosophy. Getting accepted into a philosophy program is rather difficult - there's been a resurgence of interest, so most schools have seen an uptick in applicants - coupled with schools generally cutting funded Humanities spots to divert funds to STEM. Also, five schools is, IMO, simply not enough for someone with your stats. When you look at Verbal and Quant scores for successful applicants to philosophy, you're much more likely to see 163+ in both fields and W of 5+. Is your GPA undergrad or grad? A 3.5 from grad school, particularly from Brite, won't be cutting you any favors. If you made any discussions about reading philosophy and political theory between the ages of 14-18, delete that shit from any Personal Statement you use next time. 1) No one cares, 2) There's 0% chance you understood it in such a way that would be meaningful in a grad program, 3) It gives people the wrong idea of you / it's the wrong kind of bragging.

I worked during my MA and found it very manageable. I probably kept between 15-20 hours a week most of the time, dropping to 8-10 during exams and paper season, then doing 20-30 during downtime. I had a boss willing to work with me on this though. Most of the people I hung out with in grad school worked, everything from bartending, waiting tables, after school teachers, IT, etc. I didn't notice a change in the quality of work, just more of it. If you're worried about it I'd suggest 12 hours your first semester and see how it goes. You ultimately know yourself better than we do! That said, a large part of divinity school and grad life in general is taking time to attend social events and form those bonds, be it a house party, grabbing beers at a happy hour, or attending a lunch lecture. Don't ever get yourself in a position to where you can't attend some of these!

Emory's PhD program is housed in the GDR (Graduate Division of Religion), which is outside of Candler, their seminary. As such, it's a secular degree. They have faculty that do ethics and theology but it's much more historical and cultural studies in focus, coupled with feminism, black studies, etc. They're not doing theology in a sense that we might approach it from a seminary. As someone here once mentioned, secular departments of religion generally aren't interested in doing theology and don't feel that it belongs in their department/school. Emory's seminary (Candler) keeps faculty that does classical theology and ethics but they don't generally come teach courses at GDR, though the opposite does happen. Aberdeen on the other hand, as really all UK schools, tend to be noticeably more conservative. They also hold the reputation within the US of being a place you go when you cannot get into a US school. You're interested in evangelical thought so that would certainly be welcomed at Aberdeen or really any UK program. That said, there are a host of faculty working in the US in the same area too. Getting a job in the US will be significantly easier coming from Emory than Aberdeen. In the UK you're going to be given a probationary period of about 9-15 months (varying by school) where you draft up the first three chapters or so of your dissertation. You'll defend this and if/when you pass, you go to work on completing the dissertation over the next two years then defend the whole thing. That's it. All you'll have to show your future employer is that you can write. In the US, you'll do 2-3 years of coursework post-M*. You'll do a Comprehensive "Comp" Exam, which varies by school but generally means passing your major area and 1-2 minor/subfields. You'll then write a proposal for your dissertation and defend this, then write the full thing, and then defend that. All the while you've also been working as a teaching or research assistant, and probably going full 'instructor on record' post-coursework or post-comp (each school draws the line a little different). In the UK you're definitely looking at 100k+ in loans. Schools have scholarships but US citizens, if they're considered, are dead last for them. In the US, you're going to have to put in more time for the degree but as an educator you'll be ahead of someone that went the UK route.

Probably every school granting PhDs in Religious Studies and Theology have faculty that do ethics, I can't immediately think of a school that doesn't. At the PhD level, it's not about a school "doing ethics" but rather about what kind of/approaches to ethics. So you need faculty that have experience with your proposed methodology, previous scholars that have shaped your development and lens, etc. For almost all schools, ethics tends to get lumped into theology, practical theology, or at a secular school, look for buzzwords like "culture," "identity," or "critique" and you'll be able to find the ethicists. Aberdeen and Emory are worlds apart when it comes to worldview, graduate program culture, etc. What specifically within ethics and moral theology are you interested? What writers have caught your eye?

What's your plan for covering the rest? The question being, if you have means to reduce what you need to pay for or take out loans for, that helps. The standard of living in Atlanta, especially around Candler, is much higher than most people think. It's a huge city with a lot of ethnic neighborhoods, museums, schools, etc. That said, if you want to experience life even 10-15 minutes outside of Atlanta, you will need a car. Boston/Brighton has a lot of culture and history but you will pay for it, though your 75% really reduces that. BC's offer is ultimately better. Candler use to have a PhD in practical theology and care but they shuttered it several years ago. I also just think BC>Candler on matters of theology but that's just an opinion and perhaps a poor one. I think BC will ultimately open more doors for you.

Oh no worries! I'm a priest that had some questions I didn't feel were sufficiently answered so I went back to work on a PhD. I fully intend to go back to being a priest when this is over with. I intend to try and grab an adjunct position at the local SLAC or CC but if not, I'll live - I didn't do this for a job.

It's such a small cohort that I can't really say much in terms of reputation. That said, I've met MSU alums at probably every conference I've attended. They've mostly ended up at state schools but I know current alums at Iowa and Indiana. I've also met alums that went onto Drew and Iliff, and a spattering that used their MA and BA to go onto doc programs in Poli Sci, Psych, and Socio - with a research focus on religion. People have seemed happy there and spoke highly of the experience! Will you get a chance to visit and do you know of funding yet?

Getting an academic job, PhD or DMin, is going to be hard and likely require multiple rejections (really they just never respond to your application). That said, most schools and particularly small, rural ones, don't put as much weight into scrutinizing potential adjunct faculty. Warm body? Check. Masters degree in something directly relevant to the course? Check. Not a complete asshole to where students complain a lot? Check. I'm being a bit silly but it's somewhat true. You're doing the work that they do but a lot cheaper and it frees them up to do research and/or teach seminars on things they prefer. As long as you're a passionate and knowledgeable teacher, it's really only your bank account that suffers. You might need to land a job at the local community college, volunteer teaching at a community center, etc to have some kind of experience but it's absolutely doable! Landing jobs at CCs and small colleges is far more about who you know - getting that Dean/Department Chair to directly pull your app and skip over everyone else is key. It's a shit game but adjunct positions don't play by the same rules as a tenure-track position.

Can you be more specific on American religions? If it's reception of Buddhism in America, for example, that makes quite a difference. Doesn't Stanford only keep like one American Religion student at a time, maybe two with a brief overlap? On the one hand, probably a fair amount of attention to your work but then how many faculty do they keep on in that area to help form you? My gut says go to Columbia. When I think of Stanford, they're renowned for the Buddhist studies, not American religion (IMO). I'm also firmly rooted in east coast culture so I'm biased. Being in NYC as a grad student and the resources available to you, I don't know if I'd pass that up.

Re: Funding - more or less, yes. Going from 25 to 50% is certainly doable. 50 to 75 is rarer. I don't know of anyone that swung an increase to 100 (entirely from institutional aid) but I'm sure they're out there. Every school has different requirements for what qualifies for their 100% aid but generally they go to URMs. As you noted, being Jewish on its own isn't enough to qualify for most institutes. I've had some friends find success working as RAs (Research Assistants) at YDS. Some faculty openly announce they're looking for someone and some privately ask their favorite students. So either way, just make it known you'd be willing to do scut work and maybe someone will extend you an offer. It's usually not glamorous work: translating some basic French or German sources, identifying potential sources for them and writing up abstracts, etc. If they're nice they'll acknowledge you in the acknowledgements. If you were the professor I did this for at VDS, your initials get buried in an endnote. I promise I'm still not bitter! Occasionally a church offers housing in exchange for service: maybe working as a formation leader, children's ministry, seminarian in residence, etc. These positions go fast and gather a lot of applicants. Also, they tend to get advertised at BU first, given the reputation that people don't go to HDS for traditional ministry.

There's no official policy barring a non-MDiv/BD graduate from doing a STM but it's not advised. You'd be taking courses, probably, in the field that you're hoping to do a PhD in, which you should've done with the MAR. You'd likely be forced into doing a lot of independent studies which could be hard to setup. Most schools also don't offer ANY financial aid for the MTS/ThM so you'd be taking out significant loans for this experience. If you're going to go the one year MTS/ThM route, I'd advise a different school (just make it a good one!) since it'll open connections with other faculty for reccs and connections. Just keep in mind that they really only have 3-4 months to get to know you enough to write a LOR, if you're wanting one of them. It's also unlikely that any of your MTS courses would be on a transcript to benefit you. There's other problems with MTS degrees too but that's a different thread.

PhD only, really. Your focus shouldn't be on publications at the M* level, you just simply don't enough to make meaningful contributions to the field. As a general rule, if you want to go onto a PhD you should get your M* at a school that grants PhDs. Odds are their faculty are well connected enough to know a strong student when they see one, their LORs mean something, etc, etc etc.

If you go in aware of all of this, I think you're perfectly equipped and ready. The application process for either school is tedious and (jokingly) pretty much consists of writing a publishable paper. My extremely limited interactions with Cambridge and Oxford grads has me believing that Cambridge alums are better off. I can't really speak job prospects since I haven't had extensive conversations in that realm but Cambridge alums always spoke highly of the program and social atmosphere that helped them survive. As a whole, they've just seemed happier. That said, if you follow QS Rankings for 'Theology, Divinity, and Religious Studies,' which Harvard loves to cite from, then Oxford is considered the better of the two options, though barely. A potential third option would be Durham (they sometimes out rank Oxford and Cambridge, field dependent) but they're even more conservative than Oxford or Cambridge. Anecdotal: I've noticed that Cambridge tends to interview more than Oxford. This tells me that they're aware that the application process does not provide the best glimpse of you as a candidate and want to see you in person (actually it's usually over Skype but you catch my drift!). They want to ask you questions during the interview and see not so much your answer but have you explain how you got there. As far as differences, I've only visited both schools as a someone on vacation. I've never set foot inside a classroom or spent any extended time talking to faculty. From a purely name drop perspective, saying Oxford turns more heads than Cambridge, IMO.

Honestly, most of the people I know (PhD students in my cohort and current faculty), we're all banking on using IBR and/or that universities count as non-profits and discharging our loans after working X-years. I made use of a communal living arrangement during my M* that helped a lot. For the majority of students, you just have to work a part-time job and make it work. On top of this that usually means roommates and/or having a working spouse. I also had some classmates that enlisted into the military after their M* degree. Took advantage of that sweet loan repayment option and then used/intend to use their Post-9/11 GI Bill to do a second M* or buy their way into a PhD. I think all of the PhD students at VDS worked some kind of side hustle to bring in extra money. It ranged from teaching intro courses at the CC, waiting tables, or working at a coffee shop. In Nashville, working at the Genius Bar at Apple was popular b/c the manager was a VDS alum and would hire M* or PhD students, generally on the spot and was willing to accommodate whatever your schedule was. The reality is that the cost of M* degrees for the vast majority of students, even with scholarships, is untenable. VDS was putting out 50-60+ students a year with 80k+ in graduate loans, on top of what they had in their undergrad. I've worked at a lot of seminary and divinity schools and networked with many more - it's even worse at a lot of them. Given the amount of grads being pumped out for the few jobs that open up, barring a shift in culture again, future students need that person who is willing to sit down and say "Picking up and moving across the US to attend Harvard isn't in your cards," especially when there are far cheaper options closer to home. I won't rant about it here, however much I'm tempted. I love what graduate programs in Religious Studies, seminaries, and divinity schools offer their students and communities but the current system no longer works. It's stuck in a 1950s mindset of how the US works.

If you want to better position yourself for a PhD program in North America then HDS is your only option. KU Leuven is a wonderful school with access to amazing cultural resources. There has been the occasional student here that graduated from Leuven and gone onto top programs. That said, I've also seen faculty have to google KU Leuven when someone says their name. There is also a rather wide belief that you only go to Europe for a Masters and then to the US for PhD because you couldn't get a cheaper M* degree here. You're an international student so this won't affect you as much but being a third world applicant and getting a funded position at HDS speaks to your ability, what HDS sees in you, and what they believe that you can offer their student body. I've never lived in Cambridge or Leuven so I can't speak to costs. I lived on the Isle of Man for two years and as part of that process the diocese had someone sit down with me, over Skype, and do the visa paperwork. There's ways to frame resources so that you don't need to have $22,000 in a bank account but rather have access to it. I don't know if HDS has someone that can help with this but I suspect so. I know some of my international classmates at Vanderbilt from Africa and Asia did similar things too. On a US visa you'll be entitled to work up to 20 hours a week when classes are in session and 37.5 when they are not - not sure about Belgium/EU.

They're waiting to see: 1) if any of their big offers go elsewhere or 2) if they have enough scholarship/endowment funds leftover to bother with another redistribution to those that accepted. #1 happens so sometimes their stipend offers go to a secondary candidate. While I was at YDS we never let the runner up candidates know that they're on a list for boost to funding. Too many broken hearts #2 almost never happens. It's far more likely that they'll bank the funds to earn a little extra $ over the school year. The argument is usually that runner ups didn't wow them enough on the first pass so it's unlikely that anything has changed. So, they'd rather save the money for next year on the off chance that they want to extend an additional 100% + $ offer to a candidate. TL;DR - I think it's unlikely that they'll increase your offer.

Welcome @TreyDavis! I'm glad to answer whatever questions you may have, as countless others will be too! That's quite the spread of schools! Different geographical areas, denominations, academic specialties, etc. What are you looking for out of a school and where do you see yourself, if you could put yourself there? North Carolina is home for me so I can speak to WFU and Duke from multiple perspectives, inside and outside their halls. Considering that you're an Episcopalian and a solid episcopal seminary isn't on the list (YDS has BDS, I know but slightly different beast), what are you aspirations?

Only if you feel that it's important to understanding something about you that can't be conveyed in a required place. Everyone is a little different but sometimes optional or "excess" material isn't read by your app reader.

What are you wavering on? They're both great schools (obviously).