menge

Might be time to start a separate decisions thread so can people can post any offers accepting and turning down.

I know of a waitlist at Georgetown, but in Religious Studies. Not sure about your areas.

A few of us, I think.

PM'd

I did, though its my "last" choice. But I still don't like rejection!

Congrats, thats a solid season for you.

Congrats! Glad it went well. Any idea if they interview all their admits?

Rejection at Princeton and Columbia within an hour of each other today.

If your goal is phil. rel. in a religious studies department, an MA/MTS/MAR is great. If you want to be in a philosophy PhD program, you would be better served by a philosophy MA. It's not to say that the jump is impossible. Just that one track tends to yield better results than the other. That said, it sounds like you'll have as competitive an application as anyone in your position so who knows. The whole process is one big crapshoot anyway.

This would make me a bit nervous. Is the entire PhD program new, or just your subfield? Also, are your would-be advisors visible and well connected members of the field? This especially matters if the program is new, and therefore an unknown quantity to hiring committees.

A couple thoughts: first, I'm not sure what you mean by "average." But I would check into their job placement data and see if students are getting jobs at the kind of places you want to end up. Additionally, I recently had a discussion with my department chair about hiring preferences in our department (a public institution). He indicated that Ivy applicants are always looked at favorably because they boost the perceived reputation of the department. He was quick to say though, that while that might get them an interview, it would not get them the job. In fact, our last two faculty hires have PhD's from public institutions. In fact, he indicated that applicants with Ivy PhD's might be red-flagged because they might view the job as a stepping stone. And in an environment where every humanities tenure line is under scrutiny, the last thing a department needs is to lose a new hire after 2 years. It is true that where you get your PhD is generally the ceiling for where you can get hired, especially early on. But, there is a lot of good work going on in places that are not Ivy institutions. Increasingly there are also good jobs abroad for someone with a strong American PhD. I may have created a false dichotomy by casting this in terms of "Ivy" or elite private vs. "public" schools, but I think this is fair insofar as this is often an implicit divide for academic prestige.

If you're looking for something funded but confessional, you might check out Western Theological Seminary in West Michigan. I don't know a whole lot about the school, except that I read they funded a couple of ThM students every year.

Well, Yale rejections going out. Much as it sucks, I appreciate the prompt notification.

I think I'd rather never know that I got that close. Definitely sucks. You must have a strong application though, so keep your head up! Seems like you have a good chance of getting in somewhere.

Probably about time to add a "presumed rejection" category to my list...

FWIW, I think it depends on the school whether this is truly another hoop to make it through or just a formality.

Seems to me there has been confirmed admits to JCA and TEC... don't know much else though.

That counts me out, but good luck!

I recommend posting over at the Religion forum. Lots of individuals who have applied to and/or attended these same programs. Also, if you haven't already, read through some of the stuff posted there. There are a good number of HDS applicants/grads there. http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/41-religion/

Thanks. Any idea about North American Religions?

Out of curiosity, does anyone know anything about Columbia or UPenn admissions? Do they interview for all subfields, etc. etc.? I don't see either of these mentioned often, and result data is pretty sparse as well.

Helpful, thanks. I'll probably do the same come March just to be able to officially cross it off the list.

I'm with you, hoping for a WL there at best. But realistically expecting a rejection. Any idea when they usually release rejections?

Congrats!