Epaphroditus

There's another recent thread on this board about reaching out to potential PhD supervisors, which is relevant for your question. Meeting up with profs in your field (NT) will not increase your chances, if by that you mean it will make them more likely to accept you. Meeting with faculty can help your chances by helping you discern whether you'd want to work with them and whether you're a good fit for the school. Meeting with them could also help you refine your statement of purpose based on how they respond to your proposed research focus. However, it's not worth it to go to SBL just to do that. You could honestly ask them the same questions by email.

This definitely seems to be true, even of more traditional programs like Yale, which used to require extensive knowledge of classical Greek for NT students but now seems to have lowered their Greek requirements. It's a shame, really, since I don't think "non-traditional interests" should mean lowering the bar on things like language requirements. This does mean that classically trained students shouldn't assume that their extensive language skills will make that much of a difference for NT programs.

The PhD also encourages interdisciplinary work, but the faculty from other fields aren't reading your SOP. I guess if both of your statements are highly interdisciplinary, it might not matter much.

While the ThD and PhD share the same resources (since they're both in Duke University), the admissions process is completely different. For the ThD, you're competing for a limited number of spots among applicants to all fields (biblical studies, theology, homiletics, etc.), and so the adcom who will be reading your SOP and materials is composed of people from all departments of the div school. Because of that, it helps to have a more interdisciplinary SOP for the ThD to impress faculty outside your field. For the PhD, only the faculty in your major field look at your SOP. Having the same application to both will not help your chances of admission to both.

4.5 for writing is not safe. It might get you through some cutoffs, but one prof (who was on the adcom at Yale) suggested I retake the GRE to bump up my 5 to at least a 5.5 (I didn't, and still got in). I think at least a 5 is safe. In terms of language training, it depends on your field. Latin isn't essential for NT programs (though it helps), and I don't know of any programs that expect more than a year of German. Numbers won't make or break your application though. The most important things are your personal statement, writing sample, and fit with the program.

Really depends on the journal. JSNT aims to respond in 3 months. JBL takes over a year.

Keep in mind that Ehrman is on a 2 year sabbatical and likely retiring soon. Might be good to ask him how open he'd be to advising students in the coming years.

It's probably true that having both an MDiv and ThM from Southern negatively affected your chances. And yes, completing a degree from an evangelical seminary will make it more difficult when it comes to landing a job, even at evangelical schools (which seem to prefer non-evangelical PhDs). In terms of publishing, going to an evangelical seminary won't necessarily hurt your chances (as long as you do quality work), since journals conduct blind peer reviews.

Another thing to consider is that it's not that difficult to transfer to a different concentration at YDS once you're admitted. Many MAR Bible folks who went onto top PhD programs in NT/early Christianity transferred into the History of Christianity track since it has fewer required courses, which allows for more electives and courses downtown. Ultimately, admissions committees will be looking at the courses you took and not the name of your concentration.

Try quitting your browser and logging in again. I got an automated email from the admissions office today that my status had been updated.

Duke (GPR) decisions are out. Unfortunately, I was waitlisted.

I have BibleWorks, because I'm too poor to be able to afford all the texts included on BibleWorks through Accordance or Logos. In terms of value, it's hard to beat BibleWorks for the amount of texts included with the program at its price. If I had to choose between Logos and Accordance, I'd go with Logos simply because it has more available texts. I'm a NT person, so having access to tagged Loeb Classical sets would be amazing, but Accordance doesn't have the Loeb volumes, nor do they plan on adding them (last I heard). Also, I don't think they have the Perseus texts except through a built-in web browser. I'm almost certain you can download the Perseus texts for free through Logos so that they're searchable.

Just got waitlisted at PTS for NT. Not surprised, since I really wasn't a good fit.

I think it might be more helpful to have fewer names in each group and possibly more groups. For example, I don't think Baylor and Boston College should be in the same group as Yale.

I actually think it is worth the effort to try and present at conferences or publish in a top-tier journal (don't waste your time with denominational or lower-tier journals). This might sound harsh, but many of our senior profs advise against presenting and publishing because they applied and studied in an era when it was the norm to graduate from a PhD with no publications. Now, you seriously hurt your chances of landing any kind of job if you have no publications. I disagree that you shouldn't publish because you're not ready as a master's student. If you submit an article to a top-tier journal, the reviewers have no idea that you're a master's student since it's a blind review, so they merely judge the quality of your work. If it gets accepted, then that means it met their quality standards. Also, even if it gets rejected, the feedback you'd receive would be invaluable in revising your writing sample (assuming you submit it early enough to get it back in time). I tried to reach out to POIs during the app season but had little success. I honestly don't think reaching out to POIs helps your chances with them. The benefit of contacting POIs is that you can get a better idea of how to craft your SOP for each school and you can also find out if the school is a good fit. In other words, all the benefits are on your end. POIs are not making decisions based on who reached out to them and the extent of your prior contact. This may just be my personal experience, but some of my POIs (at schools where I got accepted) either ignored me entirely or told me they had decided not to meet with prospective students at SBL.