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Hi all, I'm a new poster to the American Studies forum, but have been lurking a while. I'll be primarily applying to religion in America programs housed in religious studies departments, but am interested in a couple of American Studies departments. I was hoping to get some input on the general strength and reputation of the following programs: Iowa, Michigan, Purdue and George Washington. My broad AOI is religion in America, but particularly studied through physical cultures (so interests in things like embodiment, gender, sport). Thanks in advance for the input.

You do make a good point. I should have clarified that a bit more, especially using Chicago as an example. That said, you can do history there- a professor in our department did work on 'Viking religion' in the History of Rel subfield at Chicago.

I'm doing an MA in Comparative Religion (just an outdated way of saying religious studies, not an indication of any methodological commitments) at Western Michigan U which offers funding to qualifying incoming MA's. My understanding is that average funding (as in, what I have and what I believe most students have) includes about 6 credits of tuition, a TAship, and a small stipend to put towards healthcare. Some students are upgraded to instructors of record (what @releighheth describes above) in their second year, which I believe increases the level of funding and tuition covered. A student not teaching their own course at all can probably expect to have to pay for 9 credits, as well as student fees. I have the fortunate circumstance that my partner is employed at a very good job, so we were able to cover what my funding package didn't. I also worked for 6 years between undergrad and MA to pay off my undergrad loans and save some money, knowing that it was unlikely to get a fully funded MA.

For what its worth, I think a history MA could serve you well in doing a religious studies PhD. A lot of programs have historically grounded subfields, and some like Chicago explicitly do 'History of Religions'.

Thanks for the thoughts, that was quite helpful.

That's about the same list I have. I too am interested to hear about the relative strength of the subfield at these schools.

In my mind if you want to work with Elias and there are NELC faculty that will compliment your work, that would be enough reason to apply... that said, I have no idea how Upenn is perceived for Islamic studies, though no matter what it is still Upenn. You might try and contact the department and see if you can get in touch with any current grad students, especially if there are any working in Islamic studies.

I think it partially depends on what you want to study/who you want to study with. From what I know the program in visual and material culture is great, and I'm pretty sure any study that would involve the classics department is also quality.

If you are thinking the seminary/divinity school route is where you're likely to end up for a PhD you might consider Calvin Seminary under Richard Muller (they do fully fund their PhD's), though the Calvin name won't carry the same cache as some of those other schools on your list, and it is probably theologically much narrower than many others on your list. Ultimately it probably depends on what kind of place you will feel comfortable at and where you eventually want to teach. Calvin wouldn't be my cup of tea, but it might be yours or someone else's. *Edit: Forgot to add before, but the reason I mentioned Calvin is that I know of PhD student there doing work on English puritans - specifically Davenant, but also Baxter, etc.

Something additional to note: there is often a distinction between what is considered religious studies and theological studies. Within a religious studies department, you can often study your subject area historically. But if your interest is theology, even historical theology, as a kind of constructive enterprise, then you may be more interested in attending a seminary or divinity school which will offer more by way of theological training. By no means is this hard and fast... just something I've observed from being in a religious studies department at a pubic university. Overall, studying religion tends to be very interdisciplinary so there can be lots of overlap with other disciplines like history, sociology, etc.

That's great. I greatly admire Dr. Wenger's work. I just recently read about USC's new program. It looks interesting, I'm just a bit unsure about placement, etc. from a program with no track record. Granted, USC is a solid university, so maybe that helps? I'd be interested to here your thoughts on it if as you look into it further.

My knowledge of this area is only cursory, but maybe it'll still be helpful. You might look into programs that focus on Religion in the American West - maybe University of Wyoming or Colorado. I know University of Utah offers a fellowship in Mormon studies: http://thc.utah.edu/fellowships/mormon-studies.php. I've read that Arizona State has hosted grad students working on Mormonism in the past, so that might be another place to check out. Also, a little sleuthing shows Tisa Wenger (at Yale) served on a dissertation committee (while she was still at Arizona State) for a dissertation on Mormonism. She might be someone at Yale who could give a better lay of the land. Hope that helps!

PM'd

I think this is the blog series you're referring to: http://forsclavigera.blogspot.com/2010/09/so-you-want-to-go-to-grad-school_08.html

Fair enough! Came to mind so I thought I'd throw it out there. What about a place like Northwestern? I don't know much about their program, but it seems quality and like it would allow for philosophical work.

You might check Baylor out, my sense is they are amenable to Phil of Rel (I think they even host an annual conference on it) and their current students seem to come from a range of backgrounds/institutions.

That does help. As others indicated, training in philosophy is definitely better for getting into philosophy PhD's - and especially ranked ones. Check out the programs Rabbit Run listed, as they will let you work in Phil. too. Also you might look at the Institute for Christian studies at Toronto, and then the usual suspects like Notre Dame, Chicago, etc. If you have interests in religion/theology more broadly there are state universities that offer funding for MA's as well. I know another poster on the boards here had mentioned a hope of funding with Kansas, and there are two others heading to Western Michigan U. in the fall with funding. *Edit: Someone else with more philosophy background/experience will have to chime in on how theology degrees will auger in a Philosophy setting, though my initial thought is that with a Phil. MA it shouldn't hurt you as long as you earn good marks and have high GRE's.

I'd say it all depends on where you want to do your PhD, what you want to study, and where you want to end up after that. There are certainly people and places that are amenable to this, especially if your work in an MA or MTS is more philosophical. Overall I'd say yes, don't bother with the MDiv unless you get a great funding package for it. MDiv's require a lot of more practical/ministerial coursework than the MA or MTS. Can you give a little more info on your goals?

I'll also be going to WMU in the fall (as you already know) - I inquired about language courses and was told they won't count towards degree credit. I'm planning on taking some summer language courses. It may be still be worth asking though when you find out who your advisor is.

At this point, I do think you will get a lot more responses over in the religion section. There are a lot of us (self included) in religion departments at various universities that don't necessarily want to work in a seminary setting. A few places to check out would be Yale, Candler/Emory, and Chicago Divinity as was previously mentioned. From what I know of Chicago, there is a lot of room to work from various perspectives and taking classes in other departments is encouraged. Still, as others have pointed out, it's probably best for someone who does have some interests in religion. Really, it would also be helpful to know about particular AOI's. Much like philosophy admissions, it's important to find a good faculty mentor who is interested in supervising a dissertation.

Check out the Institute for Christian Studies at Toronto (you specifically mentioned Xian thought, so seems like that would be a good fit. Both Syracuse and Villanova are pretty amenable to these kinds of conversations, and I would also look at DePaul and maybe Loyola. You might also cross-post this to the religion forum, as there are a number of active people over there with these types of interests - as Ian noted above, philosophical theology is typically housed within religion or divinity departments.

As of others have said, sounds like you area ready for doctoral work. So taking a little time off and brushing things up and really putting together good & polished PhD apps could be a good option, especially if you can work and put away a little cash before you embark on a PhD. That said, I found myself in a similar(ish) situation this past year. I'm finishing up an MA in another field, and was facing putting in PhD apps, doing a second MA, or taking the year off. I ended up putting in a couple of applications to philosophy and religion departments at schools that I could commute to and decided if I got full funding at any of them I'd go for the 2nd MA. Granted, it helps my spouse has a good job already in the area so it was a pretty easy decision to commit to more time here. Still, since I (like you) didn't put in and PhD apps, I'm looking at next fall as the next application season. But by that time, I'll be 1/2 done with the 2nd (funded) MA. So I look at it like I'm really only losing 1 year instead of two, and I'm adding a 2nd MA from a good department that will likely enhance my intellectual development as well as boost chances of getting into better PhD programs. So if it were me, I'd probably do the MTS from Notre Dame if it was fully funded. But I think someone else could easily and reasonably come to the opposite conclusion.

SUNY Bing. is a pretty solid public university, though I'm unfamiliar with the English/Literature program. Binghamton as a city has a very reasonable cost of living, so expenses should be on the lower end. There should be part time work available, if you are happy to work retail, etc. Otherwise, employment in Bing. can be tough. I didn't attend Bing. U. but I did grow up in Binghamton for 15 years.