I've found it to be a lot like dating. You can be handsome/gorgeous, talented, and be the perfect match on paper, but then you just get rejected for reasons that you could not anticipate. Then, you can screw everything up completely, but it somehow works out. There are just so many variables that you don't know about-- a professor of interest could be going on sabbatical, it could be another professors turn to take a grad student, there may be a student who the professor personally knows that they want to succeed, a professor may be lying to you about them being interested in you, a professor may be interested in you but the department may be emphasizing a certain subfield that year, etc. I've done this for three years and got straight rejected last year by every PhD program to which I applied. It's a crap shoot and the admissions councils have to go through many other similarly qualified candidates like ourselves. At some point, they just have to send out mass generic rejections and move on with their business.
But all that to say, I emphasize with you completely. It sucks and it's miserable. But at least the good news is that we only need one place to say yes once.
Can we create a list of MA and PhD Islamic Studies programs by commenting your own schools here or links for general information?
I am a current MA student at Rutgers University in the Islamic Studies program.
Link:
http://religion.rutgers.edu/graduate/program-information
Rutgers MA program is good because it allows you for a year of exchange study at Princeton University.
Hi 2016 hopefuls!
I've applied to 4 MA programs in cultural anthropology and received the decisions:
1. Cornell: accepted (exceptional admission, as the MA program is not officially launched until next year)
2. Indiana Bloomington: rejected (they accepted less than 10)
3. Rutgers NB: accepted (had an interview with my potential advisor)
4. Nevada Reno: accepted (unanimously).
Now waiting for Fulbright grant decision in May on which school to fund. Best of luck to you all.
AghaDehlawi got a reaction from Ms. V in Islamic Studies Programs List