Rabbit Run

The main advantage to visiting isn't that it will improve your chances of admission (as others have noted), but more your own benefit, in helping you get a sense of the program and the culture of the department or whether this is a place you actually want to live in. Can help you narrow down schools a bit in that sense.

I taught myself some of the basic skills, but had to untrained myself a bit because it was negatively affecting my comprehension.

Read your professors's books so you have a leg up on understanding them better in seminars, what their project is, and how you can put your interests in conversation.

Would echo this, albeit in a different key perhaps. I see a lot of people challenging certain genealogies that have become dominant in ethics/theology (i.e. the narratives of MacIntyre, Milbank, and Charles Taylor) through studies of figures/areas left out of these narratives. For instance, theres been more work on virtue theory in the 17th and 18th centuries, challenging the sort of declension narrative the above named authors can tell.

I'd take Marquette at least for the funding and the strength in your period (not to say Wheaton isn't strong in early Church, which it is). Going to Marquette might, I take it, plug you in easier to the schools that do really well at historical theology/church history which are often Catholic (Notre Dame, Boston College etc.)

Certainly, and I should add that my friend's experience is anecdotal and likely colored by embellishment over the years; so take it with a grain of salt. Likely was an honest mistake on Union's part.

I mean there was an acceptance, then a "hey are you coming here?" (to which the reply was, "well I need to hear from other schools...") then a "oh we made a mistake" followed by waitlisting.

Not surprised, had a friend years ago who was provisionally accepted and then rejected (maybe waitlisted) from Union in a weird confusion/turn of events

Overall Chicago's reputation in terms of academic rigor is the same as YDS or HDS in my opinion. A degree from Chicago, HDS, or Yale will put you in the same place, although this may vary by field (for instance, I take it that YDS is best of the three in Biblical Studies, whereas Chicago might be better in Philosophy of Religion). The M.Div program at Chicago is quite small and they're more focused on the MA program and academic preparation rather than training ministers/non-profit workers. Yale has a pretty robust M.Div program as well as a strong MAR programs, so theres more of a balance between professional and and academic pursuits. I take it Yale is a more explicitly Christian environment than HDS or Chicago: YDS is officially unaffiliated with a denomination and is very ecumenical, but has something of a connection to the Episcopal Church through the Berkeley School of Theology. Chicago and Harvard have more of an inter-religious environment (more so with HDS than Chicago I take it). I think you've mentioned being in Ethics on these forums before. All three schools would be excellent in that regard; in my program I know people with degrees from all three schools. My pick might of the three would YDS for Ethics, however you can't go wrong with any of the three and the decision has to take into account funding and your particular interests.

Begins immediately but it speeds up the closer to April 15 as people who may be accepted one place wait to hear back from waitlists/schools that haven't notified. For the program I'm attending, I was waitlisted at the end of February got off in the middle of March.

Yup. Last Friday of the month. Late afternoon (offices close at 4:30, so before then).

I didn't hear for a while last year and then I got an acceptance for their MA program. Not ideal, but its a possibility.

Same happened to me oh so long ago #HDSRejectSolidarity

Admissions. Not saying they're contacting yet (at least officially)

Haven't heard any horror stories of the grad school turning down finalists, so I think its more a stamp of approval.

No I don't, I'm sorry. Last year it was about the same time as the Seminary if I remember correctly.

I had heard rumor that it was 10 not 8, but I could be wrong. If its 10 admits, then I assume each department will make 2 offers and waitlist about 3. If its 8 then I imagine two departments will only get one admit (although thinking about admission history in recent year, this doesn't add up to me).

PTS will be Friday. Can confirm about PU finalists being submitted to graduate school. Wish y'all the best!

Tough to say. As far as reputation the hard answer is probably no in terms of ethics: people don't usually consider it in that top level with the Ivies, Duke, Chicago etc. However, I want to challenge that, and I anticipate BU will be a bigger player in years to come give some new hires. BU is considered top for Practical Theology alongside a couple other programs (and on a historical note, in the 50s and 60s BU was one of the handful of places you wanted to be in theology alongside Yale, Chicago, and Union). Aside from "name recognition," I honestly don't know enough people at BU to know much about their PhD placement. Most of my knowledge come from a grad of my program whose teaching there. I met someone in ethics at Boston College who did a Masters at BU but thats about it. I'd reach out to a couple profs in ethics and ask about PhD placement That said, if they offer you good funding then seriously consider it. They have good faculties, institutional resources, and the unique situation of being in the BTI, all of which could make its a good place for a Masters.

Totally second Norman Wirzba at Duke and Willis Jennings at UVA; probably the two most important Christian ethicists working on environmental issues. Excited to hear about Yale's program in this regard as well. Princeton Seminary is trying out some of this stuff with its Farminary Project (http://farminary.ptsem.edu), and Stacy Johnson regularly teaches a class on Environmental ethics. Most of the reflection on the environment at PTS (outside of the farminary) seems to be in the Hebrew Bible and Practical Theology departments rather than theology/ethics. Other ideas given your interests: Wesley Wildman at BU should be able to help with the philosophy. Lisa Cahill works with ecology with some of her stuff on globalization; she's at Boston College so you could work with her through BTI if you were at BU or HDS. If you want to jump the pond, Michael Northcott at Edinburgh is a big name in environmental ethics. Elizabeth Johnson at Fordham does a lot with ecology. Claremont School of Theology seems to have a lot to offer at least on the philosophical aspects given the influence of John Cobb and Process thought

My two cents: Not an exhaustive list--and one focused on Christian Ethics/Moral Theology--but I think Emory/Candler, Yale, Duke, Princeton Seminary, Notre Dame, University of Virginia, and Union Seminary have the strongest faculties. Congrats on getting in to BU! I think BU has a lot going for it. David Decosimo is excellent in my humble opinion, and you'd be able to work the BTI to work with Mark Jordan, Lisa Cahill and others. (Once heard an ethics prof say he thinks people should consider BU tier one for religion, and that he's confused its not ) As far as M* programs specifically, its harder to say what is best. Yale's MAR is a good small prepatory program. Notre Dame's MTS is SUPER competitive and will put you on a great trajectory if you can get in. I've heard anecdotally that Duke Divinity's MTS has a fair bit of requirements. UVA's Masters looks great but doesn't have internal funding (but there is ample external funding if you're Episcopalian/willing to work with them), Princeton Seminary's MA(TS) is relatively new and the MDiv will arguably gives you better preparation (simply because the MDiv doesn't have too many reqs and gives you an extra year).

I did this same think for Princeton Seminary, which requested an earlier decision than other schools I applied too. I even had the deadline pushed back multiple times! As xpathos said, schools know this will be the case so don't worry about it. Be sure to be clear that you are seriously considering BU and not that its just your safety. You've been admitted, they're not gonna take that back.

Rejoice! Applications are super competitive and you've made it far enough to be considered near the top of the pile. This is an affirmation of your promise. Looks like you're waitlisted at 2 places, and have yet to hear from several places. This is good news. The pool of top applicants is surprisingly small. For instance: someone accepting an offer at a school you got rejected from may bump someone off the waitlist at on you're waitlisted at, they'll accept, and that'll bump you off the waitlist at the other school you're waitlisted at. All I'm saying, is that multiple waitlistings makes more likely things will fall out in your favor once people start accepting offers (which it may be too early for since some big schools haven't released yet). Conversely, don't put too much stock in the waitlists. Make contingency plans. Prepare for the worst. All in all, being waitlisted isn't ideal, but its a dang good place to be.

Seriously looked at ThM's when I was in waitlist limbo as well. Hold out hope! (But good on you for also making contingency plans!) ThMs seem to me to be dependent on what you put into it. People I know who've been intentional about getting to know professors early (over the summer), for instance, seem to do very well on the whole. I see this all the time in my school's Th.M. program. A piece of advice I've heard from others is to do your Th.M. at the school where you'd want to do you PhD. Theres quite of few people in my program who did this, don't know of many who did a M* at school A, a ThM at school B, and then went to do a PhD at school C. I second the Yale STM re funding. I think Emory/Candler's ThM has funding available as well. Western Seminary as well. Princeton Seminary has a low sticker price as well that might be an option. (There was a flyer someone posted at my school last year about this time listing schools that had funded ThM's that I'll try and track down). Also, I've known some people who've started their ThM in the Spring semester to get around the whole "meet professors and ask them to write for you within a couple months game." This way they had a whole semester of completed work under their belt in addition to the about half a Fall Semester other ThMs are scrambling with. Of course, this gives you a timeline that might not be workable, but worth considering.

Not sure, but I don't think Religion, Ethics, Politics does at least.