Stud. Theol.

Dogmatist, I am a philosopher/theologian who has interests that cross philosophical and religious lines, as yours apparently do. I have MAs in philosophy (in the analytic tradition) and theology. The fact is that a focus in philosophy of religion and even worse, philosophical theology (if you are able to make that distinction), will simply put you behind the 8 ball at most places. Even at schools where there are "weighty" faculty members who do work in philosophy of religion, you are fighting an uphill battle unless you can put a more traditional foot forward. I have interests in free will and the nature of universals as well, so I put that foot forward with ph.d. programs and only mentioned, as a follow up, that I'm also interested in philosophy of religion. On top of that, I applied to places where phil of religion is well established. After all that I got rejected by 10 philosophy programs and got accepted by 1 religion program that is heavily philosophical in orientation. Three of my advisors have ph.d.s in analytic philosophy in addition to their training in religion. So I guess I got lucky. You'll really need to look at religion programs rather than philosophy of programs. The kind of philosophy you are trying to do (as Tom mentioned) will not open doors at most of the "Gourmet" programs. I don't mean to pile on but the notion of multiple, incomensurate, absolute truths simply won't fly in those places. You can however do that sort of thing in a philosophy of religion program within a religion department at, say, GTU or Boston. (From my perspective that's unfortunate, but you may consider it fortunate.) If you are thinking of sticking to philosophy programs and presenting a more "mainstream" project I would suggest Notre Dame, WashU SLU, Purdue, Iowa, or Indiana. Those places are are pretty friendly to phil of religion.

I'm going to Claremont. They only gave me a 50% tuition remission but CGU only charges $1500 a semester starting in the third year. So the financial burden is not that bad. Plus, the only place I really wanted to go was Claremont and, luckily, they're the only place that accepted me. I was also very fortunate to get a $12,000 per year stipend... from my dad. What a loser... but I'll take it. My GPA was: MA Philosophy - 3.9 MA Theology - 3.9 GRE - Q: 630, V: 630, A: 6 (I got a better analytic than Ting... small victory dance)

Fortuna, You're right, Oxford doesn't require it. I don't know why any non-US institution would. (I can understand why US institutions do, though I wish they wouldn't.) Apparently Brian Leftow personally requires it... or he just wanted it in my case. As I understand it, individual professors have much more control over the admissions processes in the British system than in the US. I think he had a number of good candidates that he couldn't really differentiate so he just wanted some objective tool for doing that.

Also, if anyone is interested in philosophy of religion and comes from an evangelical background, you may want to contact Brian Leftow at Oxford. I emailed him a few times last year with my interests. He essentially said that I'd get in and he'd supervise my work if I got a 1400 on the GRE. I thought that was odd, but it certainly leaves the door open. Anyone can get a 1400 if are simply dedicated to it. The GRE is basically a trick test and if you know your ways around the tricks you'll get the score you need. (Evidenced by the fact that everyone I knew who became a GRE trainer and basically internalized the whole thing--how to take the test, the kinds of questions you face, got over the nerves--got better than 1400. Becoming a trainer made the difference for them; they certainly didn't get magically smarter.) I didn't follow through because I dread taking the GRE again and, with some thought, I decided that I'm in no position to move to the UK.

In the ND philosophy department you're going to see grads from good MA phil programs like NIU, Western Michigan, and at least 1 every year from Talbot School of Theology/Biola University. I personally know about 5 people in the program from degree programs that I've been in. There will also be a very large number of evangelical and theologically conservative Catholics in their classes. So if you have an MA in philosophy and a are interested in philosophical questions that are of interest to conservative, evangelical, Catholic thinkers (like open theism, perfect being theology, God and time, Molinism) then you probably have a fair shot.

How much does one expect to get if they are give a "good" stipend? I'm guessing that in many cases (most?) some part time work is still necessary. (?)

I plan to talk to a faculty member at my prospective program about funding soon. As I mentioned, I got a 50% fellowship but he said he'd be willing to discuss it. (Not sure if that means there's a possibility to get more or whether he's willing to explain why there is no more.) Anyway, is there anything you can suggest that I can be thinking about as I get ready to speak with him?

Sarah, Did you accidentally apply for the MA at UVA? I think there was something wrong with the application because I almost applied for the MA until I caught the error after submission. I am pretty careful with those things, so I am tempted to think there's something wrong with their routing. Oh well, if that's the case then this years admits should consider themselves fortunate to have had some candidates electronically routed out of direct competition.

The secretary at UVA told me that I'm not on the list over a month ago but I read here a bit later that the lists were not complete. I'm not holding out hope; I think they must have contacted admits by this point. They, like many places, are just dragging their feet with rejection letters. I got rejected from a philosophy program a few years ago (where I had done my undergrad... boo hoo) and they didn't send me a letter until June! By that time I knew it was over but I still wanted to get some official response for the investments that I had made--both the years or study and the $50 fee.

Your son gets chagrined? That's impressive. I can't even get my son to wipe his face.

He's got that Richard Dawkins gaze about him.

Well take heart in the fact that they told you you're good enough. I mean, that's huge. Imagine how you'd feel if they said you weren't good enough. It's happened to me plenty of times. I've never at any point had anyone tell me I was good enough. Everyone insists that I can't, that I won't, and that I shouldn't. My wife says she believes in me but all she has going for her is the fact that she loves me. If someone told you you were qualified and that you'll thrive, take that a clear confimation of your ability (nothing outside of an accptance could be clearer) and just send your application in next year. It's heartbreaking, but what can you do? If it were you then there'd be some other HDS quality person wondering whether he or she has what it takes. They only have so many slots so, while they tell everyone this, some qualified people just have to be left out.

Wow Ting, #1 on the waiting list. I had no idea we were in the presence of greatness all this time! Best of luck to you. I'm sure the top 3 must have good offers at other places as well. A spot is sure to open up.

Yes, I intend to pull the trigger... bite the bullet... those are both rather ballistic expressions. Anyway, I'm saying yes to Claremont. Claremont has always been my top choice, even if I had gotten into a program that some would consider more distinguished (which I haven't so far) I had intended on going to Claremont. It seems that, in talking to a few others already in the program, taking the 50% fellowship is standard. I'm looking at other funding options (my father has been very generous) but my wife insists that this is what I've wanted and so it's what we're doing. You only live once. If I don't make it in the academy or can't make enough to live I can go back to my previous work. At least I'll know I tried.

So what now? What do we do between now and the start of school? I absolutely can't wait to tell the people at work that I'm leaving the office to do my ph.d. I'm going to tell people that I'm studying dance. "Working here for the last ten years has been wonderful. I would be quite content to stay here if the urge to dance didn't gnaw at my soul like a starving rat in a burlap sack. Seeing you fine people every day has been a true joy but what I really want to do is dance!" Other than fantasizing about quiting, what should I do?