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Philologus

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Everything posted by Philologus

  1. Yeah, looking back on things, I was just going through a rough spot that it seems like a lot of graduate students go through (is this really should I should be doing?). Since I wrote that post I've come to find an area of study (still within Religious Studies) that I'm much more drawn to than I was to what I had been working on, and I'm set for a great PhD program next year. The wind is definitely back in my sails!
  2. Just today I was accepted off the waitlist at Duke's Graduate Program in Religion!
  3. I'm certainly interested in sweetening the deal since it's so high on my list anyway, but I'm not sure I am following you. Do you mean that, if they knew that I was on a waitlist at another school whose offer I very well could take, they might offer more money just to get the spot filled before April 15? How would that be better than just offering my spot to someone else if I end up declining their offer?
  4. I e-mailed to ask about the status of my application and got a confirmation from Warren Smith that I've been waitlisted. He informed me that I am at the "middle" of the wait-list, that there's a "good chance" they'll get to me, and asked when I will need to have a definite answer. I know that the positive tone need not imply more than that they want to keep me from accepting another offer for now, but it is nice to have this information. My other offer said that we shouldn't feel pressured to make a decision before April 15, but that, of course, they'd like us to inform them as soon as we can. What do you think I should say? Duke is my first choice, and I'm wondering if telling him that I do have another good offer but that Duke is my first choice would help me at all.
  5. Congratulations!! Will you go there? I applied in the Early Christianity track (to do near eastern Christianity w/Lucas van Rompay) and stated an interest in making Islamic Studies my internal minor. They've made an offer to someone and have sent out a bunch of rejection letters, but I still haven't heard anything. I even e-mailed the departmental secretary to ask if there might be some kind of unofficial waiting list and to make sure that my application even made it from the graduate school, but she also hasn't responded. What do you think I should do? I have a good offer at another program but don't know whether I should hold out hope that I'm on some kind of waiting list and that the person who was accepted will go somewhere else.
  6. Theology interviews were last weekend and they have started to make some notifications within the last few days.
  7. Rodney Stark at Baylor seems like he would be good for that.
  8. I don't know about STM, but I do have a friend who was offered a spot in the Department of Theology's Ph.D. program.
  9. Awesome! I think I may call them tomorrow to ask if there is some kind of unofficial waiting list, since I know for sure that an offer has been made in my subfield but still haven't received a rejection.
  10. So what do you think is going on with our applications?
  11. Early Christianity. Are you in Islamic Studies?
  12. I'm in the same boat. I haven't received anything. I know for sure that they have had interviews and made some offers, though. Unofficial waiting list?
  13. The only MA programs I applied to were funded. Why would someone go to grad school in the humanities without funding??
  14. Sure. It was actually Notre Dame both times (MA, Early Christian Studies; PhD, Medieval Studies).
  15. Thanks for your response! I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.
  16. Anecdote1: When I was applying to M.A. programs, I was accepted at three places. Two of them provided full tuition and a stipend, and the third had only tuition. The third one was out of the question for me because I wasn't going to forgo a stipend altogether. Of the other two, the one that I really wanted to accept offered me a lower stipend. I told that school about my better financial offer and they were able to raise the stipend that they offered me, so I went there. The stipend was still not as high as the other place I turned down, but I really wanted to be here and the stipend is significantly higher than the standard. Anecdote 2: I am now applying to doctoral programs. Just this weekend I found out that I have been offered admission to a certain program with full tuition and a stipend. The director included in her e-mail a note saying that, if I have other offers I am considering, I can let her know about it and they will "see what they can do to sway my decision." So based on my experience, I would say that you should let the other places know about your funding offer if it is at all their custom to give M.A. students some sort of financial package.
  17. Would it really be lame? My director advised me to send an "informal note" to the DGS at schools from which I was awaiting replies when I found out that I had received a competitive summer language scholarship, since I had only been able to mention in my personal statement that I was applying for it.
  18. How common is it for schools to let people who are on a waiting list know about it? I'm still waiting to hear from a school that I know has made some offers but has also sent out a bunch of rejection letters. Surely they wouldn't just reject you without letting you know. Why would they send rejection letters to some but not to others? On the other hand, why wouldn't they let me know that I'm on the waiting list if that's the case?
  19. The page is now available: http://classics.nd.edu/graduate-students/ma-in-classics/
  20. As an undergraduate (UNC - Chapel Hill) I put myself on track to become a career academic because at the time it seemed like the best way for me to utilize my interest in languages. I double majored in Classics (Greek and Latin) and Germanic Languages. The second major included work in Middle High German (a medieval literary dialect) and Dutch. Now I'm in the middle of a master's degree in Ancient Christianity (Notre Dame), in which I've continued with Greek and Latin as my primary research languages and German as a vehicle for reading scholarly research. I've also picked up Syriac, an ancient semitic language (dialect of Aramaic) related to Hebrew and Arabic. The process has been fulfilling on a personal level, but I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a professional academic. My grades are fine but I don't find myself driven to do the kind of research I need to make a niche for myself in the academy. More than anything I've always just loved learning languages, i.e. being able to speak them and immerse myself in a new culture. Right now I'm mostly reading dead languages, reading articles by old German scholars and doing my best to keep it up as a spoken language in my spare time. For some time now I've been wondering if I could find a more fulfilling outlet for my interests in languages, travel and cultures as some kind of diplomat, foreign service officer, language analyst for one of the federal agencies, etc. My GPA at UNC was a 3.75 (graduated "with distinction"). After a year of work at ND I have a 4.0 for my M.A. My travel experience is as follows: during college I spent a summer living in Germany and volunteering at a kindergarten. I have worked in orphanages in Russia and India. I've traveled as a tourist to Dubai, Warsaw, Zurich, and Paris. This past semester I went with one of my classes to Vienna to work in the national library and look at the medieval manuscript collections in several of the old monasteries in the Danube Valley. I think my aptitude for languages is very high and that my academic record is good enough for what it is, but I'm concerned about not having the specialized training in some kind of Area Studies/Political Science/Economics, etc. For those of you who have experience in this sort of field: 1) Do employers look more for specific training or general aptitude? 2) Could I hope to land a job after finishing my current M.A. with prospects for further training (i.e. with the possibility of having further education funded by an employer) or would I need to do another master's on my own first? 3) Is it common to find a master's program relevant to what I've described that carries some kind of financial aid in the form of tuition remission, stipends and/or graduate teaching assistantships? The current appeal of sticking with the track I'm on is that a doctoral program would be funded, but I don't want to stick around just for the sake of having it easier in the short term. 4) If I should look at doing another degree before seeking employment, what kinds of programs should I look at? I have a lot of ambition to take on responsibility and do something that will "make a difference," help people, challenge me, etc., and I'd like for it to be in a context where I could utilize my love for language. I know there are degrees in international relations but I'm also aware that JD and MBA programs can have international law or international business concentrations. Since I'll have this M.A. from Notre Dame and am interested in comparative religions, I think I might try to look at a track that would allow me to be involved with religious freedom, interfaith dialogue and that sort of thing. I'd also be interested in knowing what kinds of jobs are available for people interested in professional interpreting (for an international organization like the U.N. or a private firm devoted to issues I'd be interested in). I apologize if this is all over the place. These are thoughts that I've been turning over in my own mind for a long time and I'm just dumping them out on the screen here. Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to offer!
  21. When I will have completed my M.A. (Spring 2011) ... Latin - 7 years Greek - 4 years German - 6 years French - 2 years Dutch - 1 year Hebrew - 1 year (hopefully)
  22. Hi nrunyan, I am currently in my first year of the ECS program and would be happy to talk to you more about it if you'd like to send me a private message. To respond to your question generally: T Pain is absolutely right. This program is excellent. It provides countless opportunities for intellectual development in any number of areas. I am coming from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I earned a B.A. in Classics and German. I wanted a program with the philological emphases of a Classics department that would allow me to study ancient Christian as well as "pagan" literature, i.e. the emergence of Christianity within its greco-roman intellectual and literary context. ECS is unique in that it allows me to do just that. This semester I took a Christian Latin survey (everything from the Vulgata and Vetus Latina to Jerome, Ambrose and Augustine to Lactantius and Prudentius), a course on the early philosophical (Cassiciacum) dialogues of Augustine (in Latin), an introduction to Early Christianity (in translation) and a directed reading with one of the philosophy professors which covered Plato's Symposium (in Greek). I also was a TA for the Classics department's Greek literature survey. Next semester I am taking a course on editing Latin manuscripts and constructing critical editions, a course on Greek popular literature, a course on John Chrysostom, Intensive French, and am also slated to TA Greek and Roman mythology. With your background in Classics and History, I have no doubt that this program would be absolutely perfect for you, and that, consequently, it would suit you better than the MTS. Our program is small and close-knit. We are, I think, recognized as the group that "does" languages, though the background of each student obviously varies. As I said, send me a message if you want to talk more and I'll give you my e-mail address. If you're able to find time to visit, I'd be happy to show you around and introduce you to some of the other students.
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