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NervousNellie

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    http://atemporaryblogonapplyingtogradschool.blogspot.com/

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    M.Div

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  1. I can only speak from my own experience. I am going to school now in a "second career," though, so I do have some experience on which to draw. Ten years is a long time to live with a loan. A lot can happen in that time, no matter your other plans. Emergency medical situations arise and aren't covered fully by insurance. Housing situations get more or less complex. Family situations change. Babies are born. Job situations change. Parents and spouses die. (God-forbid the worst of all these situations). I remember once when I was taking out a loan, I told the intelligent banker that I planned to repay it in two years with tax refund money I had every reason to expect. He told me, "That's fine, and I hope you do, but you should know that most people take out loans with certain plans, and I very rarely see them work out as people expect." He was right. I couldn't repay the loan as I expected because an emergency arose in the second year when I planned to have it all paid off. It ended up taking the full five years to pay off the loan, even though it was small to begin with. In your shoes I wouldn't want to hear what I am saying, just as I didn't want to hear the banker tell me that in reality, most people don't pay off their loans in the way they expect. But experience speaks volumes. It's easy for me to say, but not easy to hear. Still, if I were you, I hope I would be able to step back and see all that Vanderbilt had to offer.
  2. In your shoes I would go to Vanderbilt. It's Vanderbilt, not a no-name. I think it is foolish to take on so much debt when you already have a great deal.
  3. It took me until late last week to decide, but now I am so excited and can't wait. My yes is at Yale! Hooray! I am considering taking a one-year deferment offered to me due to some unusual/difficult family circumstances.
  4. I just want to say I have the same exact problem (with the particular stress of a $1750 mortgage I am chained to and kids who can't couch surf with me while I go to school, kwim?!!!)
  5. I'll join the crowd in posting some language questions. 1. Does Yale Div require written or oral competancy in a language prior to graduation? I have been accepted and am anticipating challenges I'll have in the program if I accept, and how to begin getting ready now. 2. I have absolutely *no* language background. As within someone else who posted recently, I have a very difficult time picking up languages. In fact, I spent much of my early childhood in a semi-bilingual environment and only picked up English! The last language course I took was in my first year in high school, many, many years ago. By that time I had essentially had four years of Spanish, but I hardly had basic conversation skills. I eventually gave up (and I remember only a handful of Spanish words), though I am looking forward to the challenge of giving-it-a-go with languages again. I know that I ought to learn something. I would like to begin learning either Latin or Hebrew, or both. Maybe I am repeating a question asked by someone else recently on the forum, but I guess what I am asking is what is the best "starter" approach to languages. I really feel that I am starting from scratch.
  6. I think it will always be something of a guessing game trying to figure out what the ad coms are looking for. If they were looking for only one very particular profile for their students, all of the students would come from identical backgrounds, be identical in strengths and skills even if they had different research interests, and every incoming class of the school would be the same from year to year. I think ad coms are usually more far-sighted than this. They are putting together a "team" each year, a group of students who will together, along with the faculty, make the learning environment engaging, dynamic, interesting, and generative. They look to add people to the team according to what each person can contribute. While they might be looking generally for certain characteristics, such as a background in languages, they'll be more interested in how a particular person completes the team. That will be a little different from year to year. I have been admitted to two schools and expect a third admit shortly (looks good). I was rejected at one school. Two of the schools I applied to are on your list. From one I received a "yes," and from one a "no." I don't come from a liberal arts or humanities background. Educationally I come from a public health background of all things (though I continued my studies in religious education and have worked for almost a decade in that field). I have absolutely no language experience, aside from sign language LOL, for which I have a basic level of competence achieved not in school but through the need to communicate with my son. Also, the school is a Christian school, and I am not a Christian. Thus, I have some biblical knowledge from my vocational work, but in my opinion I will need to seek some biblical tutoring this summer to get where I need to be in order to mix with the students with whom I will be mixing. From just what I have written here, I am sure most reading will say, "Why on earth would anyone admit her?" When I list out all the "strikes against me," the list is heavy, but you are not seeing the other side of the coin. I come from a really interesting set of experiences and combination of educational activities. I also applied to an M. Div. program with the goal of working in churches, and I have already been doing so for a number of years. I have many "real-world" experiences with the work and liturgy of the church as well as philosophical training in the same. I bring a *lot* to the table, from a very unique background. My education and experiences will definitely contribute to the conversation. I guess what it comes down to is that if you choose to apply to the schools you have listed here, you will be competing with top students who have similar profiles to yourself. I recommend identifying those things that make you unique, whether a particular set of interests or a particular aspect of your background, and discovering how you can strengthen and enhance them to help you bring more fully to the table something that the schools can't get from anyone, but get specifically from you. In the end, you will have no idea whether that unique aspect of you will be what the schools need to complete the team, but if you don't have it, my sense is that you diminish your chances. Afterall, the school from which I was rejected I know had at least one other applicant (because I know her personally) who has a profile nearly identical to mine. I can only imagine how that would have been amplified if my profile had been less unique.
  7. My first reaction to having to make these decisions was to want to go to bed for a month and wake up on April 16th after the decision was somehow magically made for me. Now, I can't sleep at all. Last night I finally made it to bed at 3am (time change not helping). Now I am up again tonight and it is almost 2am. Ack! I have kids and work and ack!
  8. I relate. I do have another offer that is at a wonderful school I like very, very much, and though it doesn't pay a stipend, it is working-student friendly and would allow me to continue caring for my family. On the other hand, I am bummed that it's difficult to even seriously consider my offer at the school that doesn't have the stipend but is a full-time, rigorous program that would need my full-time devotion. (It also comes with a bit of prestige as well, which makes it hard to walk away without full consideration, but my family has to eat and I can't go into huge debt when my field doesn't pay well to begin with.) As for your situation, having been waitlisted, if you were sure the waitlisting school would offer a stipend, I might be tempted to turn down the "tuition only" school in your shoes. You are "this.close." If you don't get in this year, you could work to strengthen weaknesses and reapply next year. For those not waitlisted elsewhere, though, it does seem like you have to be especially sure to consider how much is realistically going to change in a year for you.
  9. Thanks for the PM. It is good to hear from you and I will have to look at your recent posts for updates. I appreciate your balanced, cautious look at renting out houses. Indeed, its a big deal...and our pool in particular is a liability.
  10. Thanks for these kind and helpful responses. We didn't buy at the very top of the market, but not at the bottom either. My realtor put me in touch with someone from the rental division of her office. She said that she thought we could list the house for up to $50 over our monthly payment, but that it would really be the very maximum we would likely get for the house, and that we may even have to take a bit less. We'd also have to pay water and sewage, according to state law, though we probably wouldn't need to offer other utilities (thank goodness...saving on utility costs would be one advantage to moving). The complication with renting out our house, both in terms of liability and insurance, as well as protecting our investment through good care, is that we have a pool. Apparently, that complicates matters a great deal, and our insurance company might even put restrictions on renting the house that could be prohibitive.
  11. The eternal optimist in me wants to believe there must be help out there for folks in my circumstance. I have an offer from a great school for full tuition but no fees, health care, etc. and no living stipend. The tuition offer is based on full-time enrollment, and even part-time enrollment will be a lot to handle because it will require four hours of commuting (two hours each way) every day I have classes...not to mention what an academically rigorous program it is supposed to be. Thus I need to either quit my job or work on a very part-time basis. I couldn't sell my house for its loan amount right now. So I am stuck with this absurd mortgage ($1750 per month), which my mortgage agent told me it would cost more to refinance than what it is worth, and I am between a rock and a hard place trying to pay my mortgage and go to school. There must be programs or grants for people like me, right?! Right?!
  12. NervousNellie

    Yale Div

    It's so nice to "meet" you, and I wish you all the best in your discernment about the best place for you. I also look forward to meeting you at the admitted students day, perhaps. I am sorry, as I should have started with my own introduction. I have an "unusual" hyphenated first name, by which I suspect folks can recognize me when meeting me in person. My intro: I'm a younger "second career" person (just realized I should add my gender since you wouldn't necessarily know that online...I am a woman) who has been working in a non-ordained position of ministry for a little less than a decade. I have been accepted into the M. Div. program and plan to work toward ordained ministry in a denomination not so common to Yale Divinity. 1. My tuition is covered, but not fees, etc. I will also need loans or other sources of funding for living expenses, which is a matter complicated by the fact that I currently support my family of four on my income. I do qualify for loans, but am hesitant to take much in the way of loans. 2. I am going to the admitted students day. 3. I am deciding between Yale and one to two other schools. The decision does have to include considerations about my family, and at which school I can best remain really present for my children even as I engage in a period of rigorous study. Other factors include pedagogy, opportunities to integrate study and practice, the benefits of theological diversity vs. the benefits of having others "of my kind" present, and of course, the old "gut feeling." I am having a very, very hard time with making the decision...much harder than I anticipated.
  13. NervousNellie

    Yale Div

    Oh my LOL! I totally mis-read my financial aid letter in my excitement and see that the aid award was not loans, but that I am eligible for the loans for additional aid. I feel...ridiculous!
  14. Nevermind! In my excitement it seems I completely misread my letter.
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