mconsul

religionstudent, i grew up (mostly) around the 'triangle' (raleigh-durham-chapel hill) and one of my bros went to unc and lived there for about another 4-5 years off and on. so i'm very familiar. and i know duke as well, and was even invited to interview but had to turn it down. i love how people are debating the qualities of Bart Ehrman as if it really matters to you.......(from what i gathered from your area of focus).

religionstudent, i enjoy chapel hill more than durham, but there are aspects to duke's campus that are more appealing in certain ways. so really it would come down to how much you would enjoy the campus, dept, facilities, etc. it seems shallow, yes, but i would decide based on which dept/campus i'd want to be based in. you can travel back and forth easily enough, but if you'd like to be closer to the profs with whom you are more interested in working (or where there are MORE of them), then go for unc. more importantly, i guess, would be how your 5-6 years would be broken down, whose course requirements and qualifying exams would suit you better, etc. since you'd have (in part) the best of both world, i say it comes down to comfort, aesthetics, and that good ol' gut feeling.

Who heard from Columbia?! It seems that at least two (negative) notices have gone out via email/website, but I've been informed that my application is still at the department (the decisions go out from the GSAS after the apps have been sent over from the dept). What does that mean?! They were originally supposed to meet and decide by Feb 26th... Last year they'd made the decisions by this time...

UGAgrad07 with every school and dept receiving way more applicants than they have room for, it comes down to a lot of things beyond how great a student you may be. one is overall prep, which could involve MA work, like you've done. another has to do with what's going on in the dept at the time. for example, has someone with similar interests to your own been admitted within recent years? how many students does (do) the professor(s) with whom you would likely work already have? a dept and faculty member can only take on so many in good conscience (if s/he expects to be a good adviser). with some programs, all it takes is one person who is either a bit more prepared, impressive, or who fits better into the dept at this specific moment. i've spoken with profs who have agonized over the fact that they'd love to take certain students, but simply cannot in light of the space available and what the overall dept decides are the best candidates. i'm not sure where you've applied at UNC, but i know that some programs (often with the most applicants) can only take one person each year, two on occasion (and that may only be due to the fact that they extend offers to more than they plan on having since they expect at least a few to not accept). i know it's terrible, but don't be discouraged. decisions are still out, and sometimes it takes more than one attempt.....

haha. guess what genius accidentally clicked/selected the MA Program instead of PhD program in his VA application?

I spoke with a former classmate at Harvard last night who is a very bright and talented student with excellent recommendations. She told me that she was 1/12 so far with an acceptance at a school she wasn't all that thrilled about. I know of another student who went bust. This is what happens when MA programs swell (and provide some extra cash for the school since not everyone gets help with funding, in fact most don't) but PhD programs stay the same size.

rising_star: yes, although part of my problem is that i've continually branched out to different, though related fields. that's kept me from really narrowing myself down, which i think is a strength heading into a phd program, but which seems to be working against me somewhat (esp since some people i know who do well are very narrow in focus).

I agree that a Master's degree (or perhaps several!) is becoming the unwritten rule. I think that in a few fields, such as Classics, it is still possible to go straight from undergrad, and lots of people do. But with the increasingly high demands for knowing languages (for studying some sort of Religion in Antiquity field, at least) and the interdisciplinary nature of everything, you need to be so far along before a dept is willing to take you on and fund your work. The related problem is that it's becoming very common for everyone to have a MA (or variously titled) degree, and so the level is being raised across the board. I have two Master's so far and was 0/4 last year, and only had one interview/acceptance this year with a few decisions still out. Several friends I know in PhD programs also had a second Master's before moving on, though this is not yet quite the norm.

well Columbia's faculty was supposed to meet yesterday.....so I guess those phone calls and emails should be going out soon/now.... Shayna, thanks for your reply, even though my parade is now slightly more threatened by those rain clouds.......I will try to stay optimistic and keep working on those languages, etc. One good thing is that my fiancee will be starting med school and I will be approaching the world record is commuting-by-train time, so I will have a lot of time on my hands for everything. I wish you luck!

from interviews (informal) i had with several profs at Columbia and Brown this year, the consensus even among profs seems to be that they hate this process almost as much as we do. there are so many more applicants (record amounts each year, so they say) but not really any more open spots.....so we keep getting more masters degrees and learning more languages to try to find that perfect angle and fit at a school. for those of us with other responsibilities and attending 'circumstances' (families, spouses, or soon-to-be spouses), it seems even more difficult. for instance, i was all-but-accepted at Duke this year, but my fiancee doesn't have any options in NC, so i had to turn it down and am putting off a program for a while until we can move again (unless i get into one of the two programs i like in the area). so that means i had to take myself out of the running for Virginia and Columbia as well. i would hate to think that qualified students would get so discouraged by the process and the apparent impossibility of it all that they would put things off indefinitely. i am just hoping that if i have to wait 2-3+ years to start somewhere, that i can still stand a chance and that i won't be too jaded by the process. this is my second application round, by the way. rejected by Columbia, Brown, Yale and Princeton last year. (and the guy who got the spot at Princeton was a real douchebag, though i know for a fact that the guy going this year is a great guy and excellent student. :wink: )

This is a message I got from someone in UVA's Religion dept about two weeks ago.

No, I hadn't been offered interviews at those schools, nor have I heard one way or the other. I was just saying that I am no longer a candidate for those schools since I can't attend. Sorry for the confusion! And it was Religious Studies at Virginia. What fields have you applied for, sarah4153?

Thanks! Also, fyi, I had to turn down the interview at Duke because my fiancee does not have any med school options there. So we are hopeful for Brown or Columbia so that we can both start next Fall. So if you suddenly get a call from Duke for an interview.....you're welcome! (And the same will go for Virginia and Illinois Urbana-Champagne's history dept, neither of which I can attend).

Duke: got emails last Friday from L. van Rompay and E. Clark (and also J. Warren Smith today) inviting me to interview at the beginning of next month for the field of Early Christianity. ANYONE WAITING ON BROWN RELIGIOUS STUDIES?!?!?! If so, I was informed by Gail Tetreault that they committee met jointly Jan 28-29 and have met by specific tracts since then. They final meeting was supposed to be this week (so she predicted last week), but I don't know what day or if it is actually happening. She is super nice and if you email to ask her she will give you whatever info she has. I'd email again, but I'm afraid that I may be overdoing it! Anyway, she said that if you're on the "short list," you will get an unofficial notice (email, phone call) from a professor in the dept. Should happen sometime this week or next week...........