I'm looking to apply to PhD (and maybe MA) programs in religion this fall, but I'm worried about my qualifications.
I'll start out with some basic info on my academic background. Following 4 years of community college, where I earned a 3.0 gpa, I transferred to a top-50 public uni on the East coast and graduated with a BA (cum laude, senior thesis, etc.) in Middle East studies and minors in philosophy, history and religious studies; I ended up with a 3.6 undergraduate gpa there, and currently have a cumulative gpa (encompassing 7 years of study) of 3.5. Anyways, I woke up in my senior year, realized my passion, and now I'm working toward an MA in Islamic Studies at a seminary and have a 4.0 there.
On the upside, my GRE scores are good (760V/690Q) and I have excellent references and a ton of language preparation. While most of the language grades I earned were B+'s (c. 25%) and A-'s (c. 75%), I have 5.5 years of Arabic, 2 years each of Persian, Syriac, German and French and 1 year each of Hebrew, Latin and Greek. Additionally, I have published a couple articles in a peer reviewed journal and presented several conference papers; I'm also preparing an edited translation of a medieval Arabic text for publication. I've also worked as a medical ethics consultant for the past couple years, if that matters at all.
I'm looking to apply to graduate programs in Religion (the area of study being Islamic studies) at Harvard (MTS and/or PhD), Yale (MAR and/or PhD), UChicago (PhD), UPenn (MA and/or PhD), UMich (PhD), UC-Berkeley (PhD, Islamic Studies), UT (PhD, Islamic Studies) and Indiana U (PhD). I've contacted a few of the professors at these universities about my interest in their programs and several seem enthusiastic (a few even want to meet), but I'm not sure how much power they have in the admissions process.
Any commentary on my stats & interests, info on the admissions process or tips on getting into these programs would be much appreciated.
