Postbib Yeshuist

My understanding is that the "tier" of a school has as much to do with funding and number of slots as anything. For example, one of the places I applied to for PhD was Iliff School of Theology. It's considered second tier, primarily because few if any students receive full funding and they accept a relatively large number of PhD applicants each year. On the other hand, Southern Methodist University, where I ultimately accepted, is trying to become a "Tier 1" school (or so I understand) and they only accepted 6 PhD applicants in Religious Studies and offered full funding + stipend to each of us. I'm sure that there are other criteria, but more often than not, when I hear a school's tier mentioned, it has to do with what level of funding they're able to offer. PS I also think that as far as religious studies are concerned, the "tier" is rather informal. "Tier 1" schools are usually the ones with extensive, state & federally-funded research programs in the sciences.

Nah. Again, it's "just" an M.Div. Diversity is often as important as grades. Harvard will obviously be competitive, but your statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, "status" (e.g. male/female, minority, etc) will all factor in. You obviously can't be a C student, but decent grades and a good presentation of yourself in your app will help quite a bit.

On-campus WiFi is all I need. 3G is too slow.

I am beta-testing Office 2011 for Mac. Absolutely awesome. They finally got it right.

Thanks for all the comments. In the end, I settled on... my old Camelbak Trailblazer. Surprisingly enough, it is the perfect width for the average paperback text; organizes my pens, moleskine, Kindle, mouse, etc in the front pocket; and has a felt-lined top pocket. it has a sternum strap and minimal waist belt and the section for the water bladder protects a netbook quite well. It has compression straps to stabilize the load and is small enough (hopefully) to keep me from trying toc arry everything. I am terribly tempted by the Camelbak Fourteener, however. A bit more space, a few more pockets, an amazing backpad that ventilates very well. The bladder pouch is also insulated, so serves as a kind of de facto padded case for a 15" macbook. Currently at REI for $100 after tax

By way of a "basic" flashcard app, what I'd like to see are the following: -Ability to enter my own flashcards either through a synced database (perhaps e-mailed) or manually typing them in (I am a strong believer in the process of writing words down as a way to learn them). -Ability to "rate" my familiarity with a word as I progress and then review only flashcards that meet a certain rating criteria (e.g.. "review only ratings 1-3" since 4 & 5 might be, say, "familiar" and "highly familiar.") -Ability to categorize vocab words (i.e. "food," "transportation," etc) using either pre-defined or my own keywords. Provided the app then supported non-arabic character sets, I'd be more than happy to drop a buck or two your way (maybe even 3 ).

1. Stats -3.97 GPA (Th.M.) -3.2xx GPA (M.Div.) -690V, 720Q, 5.0 1a. The important "stats" -VERY strong Letters of Recommendation (I was very deliberate in who I asked) -Strong SoP (~40 hours spent over 2 months) -Strong writing sample 2. Programs accepted -Southern Methodist University, Religion & Culture (attending (full funding + stipend & Diss. funding)) -Iliff School of Theology, Religion & Social Change 3. waitlisted None 4. Rejected Drew University (I didn't do the legwork of introducing myself to profs) Basically, if I can get in, anyone can.

I think that's an excellent summary of the situation. I do not mean to excuse the prof entirely, since I do think it was a bit of an extreme step (i.e. one that I would not take as a prof), but your acknowledgment of your part in it is important as well. I think you clarified yourself rather well and anyone who follows the thread will not think poorly of you. I know that I, at least, do not.

Interested? Yes. Able? Honestly, I have no idea. I'm still in the early stages of researching this possibility. I am looking into this possibility. To wit, http://fll.smu.edu/flttc/languages/arabic/curriculum.htm

If they need the official transcript, you might consider asking if they would defer your acceptance (and financial package) to the Spring in anticipation of receiving your finalized packet. I think this allows them to keep the funding for the following year and gives you a chance to get things done. If not Spring, perhaps they will defer to Fall 2011?

lol, Riot. As for being tolerant, I really am to be honest. But let me give an example that might be helpful in understanding where I'm coming from: I had a good friend in a class once who had been raped by another classmate. Nothing came of it because it was the "he said, she said" situation (he said she was hopped up on Nyquil and said "yes," She said she was hopped up on Nyquil and was in the act of passing out for a good night's sleep. In many ways, an impossible situation to sort out.) The next week, a discussion takes place in class (only my friend was there since the other student was in different classes) and someone begins to argue that women are responsible for making sure they don't get raped (the usual "don't dress provocatively, don't drink in public, etc"). A few people push back, but he really stands his ground and doesn't budge an inch. There I sit, seeing the pained expression on my friend's face and the tears welling up in her eyes and just kind of lose it. Though my words were "academic" in nature, there was a definte silence when I was done. At the end of class, multiple people thanked me for my comments, but I also knew that had it been a different professor, I might have suffered some (political) repercussions. No biggie at the Masters level, but something like that at the doctoral level can be tough to recover from. And yet, when you see someone sitting there in pain because someone else won't entertain an alternate notion, it's hard to keep silent. So anyway, that's more what I'm thinking about. Religious Studies can become VERY emotionally charged (as I'm sure you can imagine) with lots of hurt to go around when people speak without thinking. It can be tough to discuss something "rationally" that's been used to oppress people for so many millennia. [And for what it's worth, I put liberal and conservative in quotes beause I know they're broad labels that rarely fit the individual.]

Oh no I.M.! I hope this turns out to be just a bump on the road, not a detour.

I have seen very few syllabi that did not contain a "this syllabus subject to change" clause somewhere within.

Flawed, too. You yourself have admitted you did 100% while others did 75%, whereas your analogy was 50% to 100%. That's a significant difference. If you compared a race of 100m to 135m, you would have a better idea. Furthermore, in this race, the person running the longer length had an additional day (or more) to train since they did not run at the same time as the other person. So poor analogy, to be sure. As for reality, simply put, your grade is the purview of the professor. They are the expert, you are not. And barring behavior in direct contradiction of defined codes of conduct, a prof can do as he or she pleases. Liken it to a job: your coworkers show up on Monday and put in their eight hours, whereas you stay home to play golf. Two weeks later, the boss shows up and gives a two days off to all those who came on Monday, but asks you to stay. You gonna argue that? Be my guest, but guess who's gonna make the final decision? I would say to consider this a lesson learned. Though the prof defintely threw you a curve, you could have made an A on the final, rendering your grade a moot point (in fact, I would have done so just to prove the prof wrong). You did not, so your lower average is far more the result of your own lack of facility with the subject matter (or sense of entitlement) than your prof's decision to hook everyone else up (and this may be a common thing that the prof has done for years and simply chooses not to put in the syllabus). In the end, you're starting to run with the big dogs now, and if you can't run at the same speed you might very well get left behind. A education is required by law only through the age of 16. After that, you have to work for it and, to be perfectly honest, it looks like you didn't.

Sometimes.

I'd say, "Welcome to the World of Academia." You have graduated (literally) to a higher plane, where initial impressions can be entirely deceiving. The graduate world is a daunting reality and many people (wisely, in my opinion) choose to be somewhat reserved in their initial forays. Political realities start to take hold and the competition begins in earnest. Partying, etc becomes less important than academic competence (as opposed to the typical college freshman who makes 10 friends in the first weekend if he has $5 for the cover charge). I would say wait until your first few classes then make up your mind. Get to know your colleagues where they feel most comfortable: discussing academic topics about which they feel comfortable. Then you'll start to see personalities emerge and find out who you're most likely to get along with. As for partying, there's going to be a bunch of summer school parties at the local frats in June/July...

Both very true. In the past, I have had a bit more freedom to speak my mind. My concern is that now, as a Ph.D. student, there are definite political consequences that can come from such stances. Choosing my battles wisely is defintely a skill I'm going to have to acquire. And Oldlady, I agree up to the point where the focus on commonalities starts to ignore the pain that the differences can cause. Ug, such a tricky topic.

The comments about chloroform and reading an "e-mail to fast" are awesome

So, I'm slowly discovering that the school where I'll be doing Ph.D. for the next 5 years is more conservative than I initially thought. Mind you, it's not horrible, but I'm learning that much of the faculty will be open-minded in some areas and closed in others. A good example is the comparison of sexuality and gender, with the latter being the more closed perspective (i.e. God is "he") while issues of sexuality tend to have more diverse support (though there are still the holdouts). I know that this is not uncommon, but since the school does not appear to have a official stance with respect to issues of inclusivity, there's no standard to which to appeal. As someone who is more or less notorious for speaking his mind when encountering exclusive perspectives, I wonder if anyone has advice, experiences, etc on how best to navigate this very tricky minefield. I want to remain in community, but I'm also going to have a tough time keeping my mouth shut everytime "God is he" comes up. The next five years (and probably the five after, working on tenure) are gonna be tough in this respect.

Ask your husband to take your name (seriously).

Very nice. Thanks!

Well, having a job lined up certainly makes the decision not to attend "safer." Real world experience will help you on future apps, for sure. As for academic burnout, that's fairly common at this time in the year, but once August rolls around, we all seem ready to jump right back in, lol. Sounds like you know what you're doing and it's not "just" cold feet. I agree with the other posts: go in the direction you feel is best for you. Best of luck!

Got my admit letter all squared away in early April, and now I feel like I'm just sitting here, twiddling my thumbs. I at least had my Th.M. to keep me busy, but then I graduated this past Saturday and there's nothing to do but go to work now. The Ph.D. program I'm in won't send info packets until "early June," and I'm not sure if I should be trying to doing anything before that or not. I keep having these day"dreams" of not getting a packet in June and then finding out they accepted one too many and I'm out. Ug, this is killing me! Commmmmmme onnnnnn Junnnnnnnne!

Sorry, but I cannot resist... "something warm."

I live in Fort Worth, so I'm happy to share any info/answer questions. I also grew up in NC, so perhaps I can even help with comparisons