Panera
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Posts posted by Panera
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I am currently going through private tutoring with the Goethe Institute and would like to take a German Translation Exam as soon as I am complete in August. Does anyone know where I could take this exam where I would not have to be a student? I am starting Yale Divinity in the fall but I believe they only administer the exam in December and April. I would like to take it as soon as I finish my book/tutoring program in August.
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Did anyone else get a notification of scholarship increase today from Duke Divinity? Very odd timing as I have committed elsewhere and most school's deadlines were April 15th. Would have been more enticing 2 weeks ago. Just curious.......
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Hi Panera,
I have some suggestions that might help. I currently live in the closest "East Rock" section that's still within a long walk downtown. Most of my neighbors are divinity students or science hill students. While the housing here is cheaper, you get more space for your buck, and it's great for cars... it does feel really isolated from downtown, and it almost feels like you're in another town. The downtown area is very urban and gives you nice cityscapes, however you pretty much only get those views from the high rise apartments downtown.
I'm in my first year of a PhD program, and was in your very same position last year. I was on some wait lists for apartments downtown (I also like the liveliness and access to things that you get from a city environment), but ultimately I couldn't get off the wait list and now I'm near the Div School. Although the distance from here to downtown isn't far, it's about 2 miles and it makes a HUGE difference if you don't have a car or a bike. It's maybe a 30 minute walk, and in the winter it's too cold and it gets dark fast, so that means you will LIVE on the shuttle if you need to get back and forth during the day or you'll be that person that takes the shuttle downtown in the mornings and carries your stuff all day. It's not awful, but it's not convenient. That has just been my experience. I think I notice it more because I'm not in the div school, so I don't really have a real reason to live here other than to save money and have more space. After one year though, it has been great to save -literally- hundreds of dollars a month by living in East Rock, but it has made me want to live downtown even more. If I get off of a wait list for one of the downtown high rises I might be looking for a roommate (since downtown is more expensive). Let me know if I can help you in any other way. Most of my Div School friends are East Rock neighbors, but I can ask some if they know anyone who lives downtown. My my experience it's easier to go from downtown to other places but not necessarily vice versa.
Who knows, maybe we could go in on a high rise apartment downtown together!
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Hi everyone. I will be attending Yale Divinity in the fall and have a question about apartments. I realize that many grad students prefer living in East Rock. With the proximity to the Divinity school this would seem to make sense for me. Problem is I enjoy city life. I am a 21 year old female and the idea of living in a suburb seems dull to me. Thats where I grew up, but since then I have lived in Edinburgh, Scotland and really love being in a vibrant downtown area. I really want to live downtown near the blue & red shuttles and when I have classes I will just take the shuttles up. People keep warning me against this because of the unreliability of the shuttles (during winter) and "wouldn't I rather" walk to class then be on the shuttle all the time". Anyone advice in terms of a Divinity Student living in say New Haven Towers would be greatly appreciated.
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Welcome all you thread hijackers!
Actually, all the language info is helpful no matter the area of concentration. I have a general question to add to the discussion. Is there a standardized test for reading/translation proficiency. I know Yale administers an exam out of their language department that I assume I could take. Does it matter which test or where I take the test. I assume these are all just PhD application credentials items at the end of the day so does one particular test carry weight more? Can the amount of time that has passed since passing a proficiency exam come into play? Will an exam within say two years of filling out applications suffice?Exercising thread starters right and bumping my earlier question!
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Welcome all you thread hijackers!
Actually, all the language info is helpful no matter the area of concentration. I have a general question to add to the discussion. Is there a standardized test for reading/translation proficiency. I know Yale administers an exam out of their language department that I assume I could take. Does it matter which test or where I take the test. I assume these are all just PhD application credentials items at the end of the day so does one particular test carry weight more? Can the amount of time that has passed since passing a proficiency exam come into play? Will an exam within say two years of filling out applications suffice? -
I have some time this summer before starting my MARc (ethics) at Yale Divinity in the fall, so I would like to get a start on languages in anticipation of PhD candidacy down the road. Although I have taken some French in high school and college, I would say that I am intermediate at best. I have taken no German. My preliminary plan was to start German this summer at the Goethe-Zentrum in Atlanta with a private tutor. The focus would be on preparation for passing a German Proficiency Exam for Reading/Translation. Next summer, I thought I would continue preparation in French and German for reading and then attend the 7 week immersion course in German at Middlebury in the summer of 2016.
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Which languages and to what proficiency level (fluency, reading) do I need to demonstrate given my focus/interest in ethics.
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What is the best approach to achieve the demonstrated proficiency levels. Any suggestions on my plan would be appreciated.
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Since languages cannot be used as electives in my program, I thought of not tackling a new language while pursuing my degree requirements. Any thoughts on that line of thinking would also be appreciated.
Thanks
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Officially headed to give Rory Gilmore a run for her money!! So excited and blessed beyond measure to be attending Yale Divinity School this fall! Thanks to everyone who took the time out to thoughtfully answer my questions. This forum proved to be invaluable for someone new to the many opportunities to pursue graduate work in religious studies.
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The key is that they have a visiting at all: YDS has been depending on bringing in people over the past few years because they don't have the people. Importantly, visiting faculty won't be eligible for being advisers. Simmons is leaving because he didn't get tenure. And Herdt is academic dean and so only teaches one class a semester, usually a seminar. They've had two failed searches in the past 3 years; a failed search at Yale results in a freeze on the chair for 2 years, which means they can't do a search for them. Tanner wouldn't describe herself as an ethicist really either...
The point is: Yale should have 4-5 tenure or tenure-track faculty in ethics. Unless something changes, next year they have only one, who is only teaching a half-load. They'll probably have some more visiting faculty, but this is a significant problem for them right now (and one they know about, of course, and are trying to do things about.)
Point taken. I really appreciate the insight and will definitely consider it! Any thoughts on John Hare in terms of ethics? Several have mentioned him as doing "creative" work in the field of ethics.
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Hi everyone - this is a simple question, but I can't find the answer on the schools' respective sites: how many MTS students are there in each cohort at Duke Divinity and Boston College? I can find the total school enrollment In both cases (including MDiv, ThM, etc.), but I don't see the MTS numbers anywhere.
Any supplemental information (class sizes, ratio of MDiv/MTS students in classes, etc.) would also be welcome.
If I remember correctly, I was told at my visit that Duke makes about 15 offers for admission out of about 150 applications. Have not idea if that is accurate or not or how that equates to size of the program?
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Tanner is giving the Gifford Lectures—one of the most important lecture series in religion/theology—next May in Edinburgh on the topic of economics and theology, for which she has been doing research for the past several years. If Economy of Grace interested you, then you'll probably very much like where her interest is now. Volf's interests have slightly shifted recently—the newest project the Center for Faith and Culture is working on is about joy.
One thing against YDS on ethics at this point is that you should make sure to take a look at the currently faculty listing and notice how many ethics faculty there are...
I have just recently inquired as to the status of Yale’s search for a tenured ethics professor. Putting that search aside though, I am not seeing a huge contrast between Yale and Duke in terms of numbers. Both schools currently have one tenured professor in Ethics (Herdt & Bretherton). Duke has two associate professors and Yale one with one visiting professor.
YALE
Jennifer A. Herdt Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics
Frederick Simmons Assistant Professor of Ethics
Gerald McKenny Visiting Professor of Ethics
Kathryn Tanner Frederick Marquand Professor of Systematic Theology
DUKE
Luke Bretherton Professor of Theological Ethics and Senior Fellow, Kenan Institute for Ethics
Amy Laura Hall Associate Professor of Christian Ethics
David Toole Associate Professor of the Practice of Theology, Ethics, and Global Health
Although Kathryn Tanner is a Systematics professor her interest coincide with mine and hopefully I will have an ability to work with her possibly in a directed studies format. Both Hall & Toole at Duke are focused on Bio & Health ethics which I don’t have an interest in. So by the numbers it seems like a toss up to me. Tanner at Yale and Bretherton at Duke seem like a toss up in terms of sharing my interest in economics.
Am I missing something?
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I have read Kathryn Tanner’s “Economy of Grace” which aligns with my interest. I am curious if any knows whether Miroslav Volf at Yale is still focused on the intersection of the Christian faith and the economy. It seems early on that this was one of his major focuses along with the the globalization of faith. Now it seems his primary focus is on interfaith engagement particularly between Christians and Muslims.
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Yeah, I've been leaning towards PTSem anyways. A lot of good resources for me there. Are you going with Yale, then?
Still weighing both Yale and Duke although Yale was much more generous. PTS was 90% tuition and the rates for board were heavily subsidized. With my concentration in Ethics, PTS did not make as much sense but in all other concentrations it would be a no brainer to go to PTS. My plan is to attend the admitted student days at both Yale and Duke and do a bit more POI research then I will be ready to make the call.
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What a punch in the gut! I just received two e-mails from Duke Divinity School pertaining to my financial aid award. The first thing to catch my eye in the first e-mail was "Duke Scholarship (100%)," which I thought meant I had received a full tuition scholarship. Unfortunately, when I received the second e-mail it said "MTS Scholarship 22%."
Oh well. I am still grateful to have been considered for and accepted with some sort of scholarship to the program.
Same exact thing happened to me. You would think after all this time....... I don't know about you but I think I will accept the first offer!!!
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Is funding comparable?
I wish I knew! As you may know, Duke has still not released funding info. They said in the acceptance notification last Friday it would be the first of next week. Its Thursday for goodness sake!!! Patience unfortunately is not one of my virtues.
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Great advice. I had reviewed publications early on in the process. Now that I have narrowed my choices I think it time to do a more thorough review and then fire off some email inquiries. In terms of the public policy programs, I will check them out. I know that at Yale, taking courses outside of the Divinity school is easily done. One MTS (ethics) student I spoke with takes half his courses in other graduate schools at Yale. This is a big plus as I have noted varying abilities to do so amongst the schools that I am considering.
Thanks again
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I have narrowed down my choices to Duke Divinity (MTS) or Yale Divinity (MARc Ethics). I have a double major in Religion and Economics and want to pursue a Ph.D. in Theology concentrating in Ethics. I would like to incorporate social justice/public policy/economics into the theological conversation with a long term goal of teaching. I think at this stage it would be important to choose a MA program where the professor's current research interest overlaps into these areas. My question is how do I get a clear answer to what the focus/interest of the professors is at Yale and Duke apart from just reading the online bio? Do you just email admissions? I would think emailing the professors directly would be inappropriate. Any ideas or if anyone has any insight into the Ethic's professors at these Schools would be greatly appreciated.
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I see this on the results page => "Unofficially notified of my nomination for full, Petrie scholarship" Is that what you are referring to? It was posted on same day that admission notifications were sent? I assume they were referring to the Ray C. Petry Scholarships (M.T.S.) which is a full ride! Not sure what "Unofficially" means. Oh well. I have a feeling that Duke is not going to be near as generous as PTS or Yale. Just a gut.
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Given PTS's faculty reputation, and that the MA(TS) is set up like a MTS program, I can't imagine it having any drawbacks. What in particular do you find concerning?
No major concerns with faculty etc... They do have a substantial number of Phd students (87 I think). It's just forging new ground makes me relatively uncomfortable as compared to say Duke or Yale, but that too might be unfair as the MA(TS) program has been in place for International Students for while but currently only 4 students. Again, PTS is a really great place from what I see. Yale and Duke have reputations for their Ethics work which is what my interest is. I think if I were concentrating in another area I would probably choose PTS but honestly I don't think you can go wrong with them.
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Yes, congrats all! So, given that cost of living is quite a bit cheaper in Durham than it is in Princeton I just need to figure out how much funding Duke needs to offer to make it worth accepting their offer over PTS's. Thoughts?
I am not so sure its that different given the room & board fees I have seen at PTS which seem quite reasonable and subsidized. The 90% tuition at PTS is also very tempting. My only reservation with PTS is that the MA(TS) is very small currently (4-5 students) and just opened up to domestic students.
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I think everyone gets at least 22% off tuition, but don't quote me on that. My letter of acceptance states "You will receive your scholarship package early next week." Does yours not say the same?
Congrats everyone who got into Duke! My letter states the same, "early next week".
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I have until April 3. 6th largest behind Harvard? Who are 1 thru 4?
Thanks
I have until the end of March and had to request an extension to get that. I wish they would give us until April 15 like other schools do. Probably a recruiting strategy thing!!!
The private schools with largest endowments per student per the Chronicle of Higher Education:
school, total endowment, number of students, endowment per student
Rockefeller University $1,771,954,000 200 $8,859,770
Princeton University $13,044,900,000 6,828 $1,910,501
Yale University $18,030,600,000 11,346 $1,589,159
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering $432,117,000 286 $1,510,899
Harvard University $28,915,706,000 19,218 $1,504,616
Princeton Theological Seminary $945,355,000 652 $1,449,931
Stanford University $14,084,676,000 13,155 $1,070,671
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90% tuition scholarship at PTS and opportunity for work study. Makes accepting their offer all the more tempting. Still need to hear back from Notre Dame and Duke, though.
Congrats, what timeframe did they give you till to accept? Just FYI PTS has the 6th largest endowment per student in the country just behind Harvard so they can afford that generous scholarship. Congrats again!
Language Preparation for PhD
in Religion
Posted
Taking a translation exam as soon as I complete my studies this summer if nothing else would be a measure of competency and the effectiveness of my preparation. If I am understanding you correctly, the standards for each PhD program are different and could be subjective given the varying background that students have in languages. Would you suggest taking or possibly auditing a German for Reading course to keep my skills current?
Thanks