Pinque

Thanks again for all the feedback. You guys have been extremely helpful and welcoming to me, despite this being my first post (and quite a 'woe is me' post at that). As to the "why study at a Divinity school" I see I was very misinformed, and I completely get the point that has been made, and as to the point of “if you’re not a Christian, why are you here?” I experience something similar on a frequent basis. I often have to constantly justify myself to people when I tell them what I'm studying, I inevitably get asked "If you're not a Christian, then why are you studying religion." My first answer has always been that religion encompasses more than just Christianity, and this is more relevant to my BA, which has had a broader range of religion courses where I have chosen to narrow it down to interpretation and biblical classes in my electives, etc. I also like to tell people, "You don't need to be Egyptian to study Egyptology" not quite the same, but it makes my point I suppose. As far as praying prior to class and such, I wouldn't mind that, I just want an environment where I can study without my personal beliefs being an issue. To date, this hasn't been a problem for the most part. I've run across a classmate or two who became angry with me over my "preposterous" beliefs of the Bible, and one teacher who I felt (perhaps imagined) was harder on my because of my beliefs, but it just made me work harder to produce quality work. The rest have been extremely open and I frequently have extensive discussions with one of my professors who is also a Lutheran Pastor regarding many biblical topics. I’m also very used to other students interjecting their personal beliefs in academic topics, I figure this comes with the territory. I just don’t want to treated poorly or even graded poorly because I don’t apply those same beliefs to my work. Anyway, before I get too far off track, I brought up the suggestions here to one of my professors (one of my letters of recommendation) and she agreed that getting a second BA could help, but also warned getting one at CU could actually hinder my chances at getting accepted to CU’s Masters program because some schools prefer students to get a “diversified” education. Her recommendation was to apply to multiple MA programs and if I am not accepted to any of them, then I should look into bolstering my application with a second BA. With that being said, I am actually highly encouraged about Iliff’s program. I’ve spoken to an admissions counselor and I discussed my hesitence about enrolling in a Christian based school and she assured me that regardless of my beliefs I would be warmly accepted and that they have many students from different backgrounds and faiths (or even lack thereof). I still have time to apply to Iliff for the 2014-2015 school year, and I think currently that’s my best choice. If I am not accepted, I will look into applying to multiple programs for next year. I am encouraged by your information that some of the bigger name schools might be the perfect fit for me, and that I might actually have a shot at them, but I do have to wonder if it’s worth waiting a year for a chance, when I could apply to Iliff now. (of course there is no guarantee I’ll be accepted at Iliff either, but I feel it would be safer and more beneficial to try first, than to wait)

Thanks everyone for all the insight and tips. As far as CU goes, they do have special restrictions on 2nd Bachelors, but I do believe I can use my tuiton funding option to cover 9 credits regardless of the program. I will not be able to get a degree from CU in the field I already have a degree in so I would need to choose something outside of the religion department. Perhaps Greek. I will still apply to both Regis and Iliff, as their deadlines have not passed, and if I am not admitted, I will follow all of your suggestions about improving my background/history, as well as applying to a broader range of schools next year (or the following). As far as the "big name" schools goes, beyond the feeling that I would not be accepted due to my background, I also (perhaps inaccurately) assumed that a divinity school was not the right choice for me. I'm not looking to go into the field of ministry or such, I am mostly interested in teaching or outside of that in a political or non profit field. I am not looking for an MDiv, but an MA. Does that matter? And then there is the pesky issue that I'm not a Christian, I just want to study Christian Studies (biblical interpretation and/or history). I am no less passionate about my studies and religion is my entire world, I just don't practice the faith I study. *edit* I also wanted to add, just to clarify, I only took about half my credits at the community college, or at least only 60 credits transferred, I took the rest at the online school. I just spent more time overall at the community college because I took 90 credits there and there were gaps in my education timeline. Once I transferred to the online school, I buckled down and spent 12 months taking 18 credits a semester back to back to complete my final two years in a years time frame. I know that doesn't help in anyway, but I wanted to clarify based on a previous poster.

Thank you for that. It does help to know that it may have nothing to do with being "good enough" but I will take your suggestions. I know rejection is inevitable, but I really had high hopes for this school.

I applied to the University of Colorado's Religion Masters program and I was rejected. I'm not sure why, as they offered the option to inquire, but I have yet to receive a response. I don't know where I should go from here, I've considered both Iliff and Regis, but I am discouraged (I know that's a terrible trait to have) I feel if CU doesn't want me, as a public state school, no one else will either. I have worked so hard to try and get into a Masters program and I want to move onto a Doctoral program afterwards and I know the rejection pool is much steeper in that program, but I don't really know why I was rejected and I don't know how to improve. I want to be involved in biblical interpretation or history and Iliff is actually a better fit than CU, but I had chosen CU because I live in Boulder, and I qualify for 'immediate family' tuition, which would cover 9 credits a year. I know financial things should not be the biggest factor, but attending CU would have considerably lightened my costs of graduate school, and Iliff is consirably more expensive, and at this point I don't know how I can afford it even if I do get accepted. I feel like my undergrad transcripts might have been the biggest factor. I started at a community college, and did fairly well, mostly A's a couple B's and I think 2 C's in my weakest subjects (science). I had one bad semester early on where I failed every single course, but I attempted to explain this in my letter, indicating that I had witnessed my husband commit suicide during that semester and I had to take some personal time away from studies to recover. I took an extended break because of this, but when I got back into school, I have not had a grade lower than an A- since. This occured in my second year. After going as far as I could in the comunity college, I enrolled in an online school, I thought I was making a sound decision because it's regionally acredited but maybe I screwed myself over and they didn't like my school. Do you think my school and/or grades had anything to do with it? Should I still try for Iliff and Regis, and anyone who was admitted to these schools, do you have any tips on what appeals to them? Thanks to anyone who read this, I know it's kind of whiny.