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Phenomenologist

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Everything posted by Phenomenologist

  1. dkhp -- sounds like you have a very strong application. Temper expectations for Duke and Chicago, of course. (I only say that as a pure generality, not about you specifically -- longshot for anyone and everyone.)
  2. Anyone applying to these institutions this year? What programs?
  3. Hi Joe, congrats on Marquette!!! Nice to hear from you . Great GRE stats, sheesh =). I'm really hoping to go to Marquette for my PhD in theology, so we'll have to stay in touch. I'll be applying there in like 12 months after my first year of my Yale MA is done (philosophical theology).
  4. If you don't accept the offer, you almost certainly won't get it back. If you do accept the offer, you can still apply to theology programs in one or two years, and transfer programs. If it's your only offer on the table, accepting it might strengthen your theology apps for next year more than not accepting it, and simply trying to do other things to pump up your CV. At least this'll show you got accepted and fully funded somewhere, so you're something of a "contender." I don't think uber-funding is a "binding contract," but you might want to look into it more. From what I've read and understand, people do indeed swap PhD programs for one reason or another (a dissertation advisor leaves a faculty, etc.). Presumably most of these candidates had funding offers for 4-5 years, despite transferring after only 1 or 2. And absolute worst-case-scenario, if you don't take the offer, then next year when you apply to theology programs you might get shut out again and be dead in the water (in academia, at least). But if you do take this offer, then at least you'll be moving forward in a program with a potential for future work in academia. Frankly, the most interesting theology work is all interdisciplinary anyway: historical theology, political theology, philosophical theology, etc. We need more sharp theological minds who are trained interdisciplinarily, to draw connections that theologians otherwise would miss due to a lack of training outside their field. I struggled with a similar debate: Should I apply to philosophy PhD's, or theology PhD's? I love theology much more. But philosophy could open other job opportunities, and give great perspective on theology. And one bonus is this: If you get your PhD in theology, you won't read much U.S. history in your leisure time. But if you get your PhD in US History, you'll still read a whole lot of theology in your free time (because it's a chief interest of yours). So you'll be cultivating your interests in both, whereas with a theology PhD you won't. But again -- you can apply to theology programs again in the next year or two (perhaps after your history program grants an MA en route to the PhD, if it does that). But if you reject the offer and get shut out again next year, you're more stuck. I would take the offer.
  5. He is from Zambia, specifically. Interesting, I thought Fulbright was only U.S.-to-foreign countries, I didn't realize the reverse was true as well -- thanks! I appreciate the feedback.
  6. Howdy all, I am investigating U.S. programs and scholarships for African students, for a friend of mine in Africa. Can anyone offer some advice, here? Thanks!!
  7. Question for you guys: I know this will vary by institution, but I want to get your thoughts generally speaking. If I finish a 2-year MA program (such as Yale Div MAR), but later I will want to get an MDiv degree from somewhere (preferrably a different institution, such as Princeton Sem), how much of that 2-year MA work would contribute to that MDiv degree? So, would you only have to take 1 year of the MDiv, in various pastoral classes and languages, perhaps? Or more like 2 years, because many schools only transfer in roughly one year of prior work? etc. Any insight would be greatly appreciated .
  8. Howdy all, I am investigating U.S. music programs that offer scholarships to African students, for a friend of mine in Africa. Can anyone offer some advice, here? Thanks!!
  9. Very interesting -- can you expound on this point more, at all?
  10. Yale seems more confessional than Chicago. In fact, I believe it was gradcafe user Lib(eration)Theologian on these boards who said one thing about Yale is that it's "like a Christian seminary." (If not LibTheologian, someone said that.) So, you may have a more confessional environment. Chicago doesn't seem confessional to me -- or at least pluralist, perhaps. Perhaps something akin to University of Virginia, with confessional Jews and others on the faculty of the religion department, not merely Christians or secularists. But you'll only get "practical application of the text" stuff in an MDiv program and its courses, I would suspect. Even an MA at Yale wouldn't be as much like that. However, they certainly would do "other theological issues," and such. Chicago would likely do that as well. You probably can't get around theology at a divinity school, unless you don't take any theology classes (only biblical studies and such). Usually in many programs, they still retain the Enlightenment/modernity division of biblical studies on one hand, and theology on the other. More postmodern and confessional institutions are the ones that blur these lines more.
  11. I know Chicago Divinity has contacted folks, IIRC... At the MA/MDiv level, not sure about PhD...
  12. Congrats, guys! LibTheologian, see if Yale will give your Marquand Scholarship to Tahuds for the Fall . (Will they reissue it to a funding waitlist, or drop it altogether, I wonder?)
  13. I thought it was over a while ago, when I was chatting with Tahuds . Niiiiiice. That's a pretty funny idea -- I also went to a small community college before transferring to my liberal arts school. That'd be great for us to wear our community college apparel at our lofty graduate programs .
  14. Yes, it's definitely bad in the humanities generally. I think some good programs would be the Religion department at Princeton University, or University of Virginia. University of Chicago would be cool, with the resources at the divinity school. Don't you think a PhD in American Studies is too niche? I can't help but think that will close many doors, rather than open them. But you're right about a history PhD or other subject areas: more open doors, less closed ones. Although depending on the seminary, a degree from University of Virginia or Uni. of Chicago will close as many doors as open, depending on your target schools. I think a good idea is to look at your future career, and ask, "What type of institution would I like to teach at?" Seminary, university, liberal arts college, etc. Then figure out what types of degrees will be most appropriate for that route. Here is a great post from someone in a different thread, which is a lot more particular about "Religion" jobs than merely "humanities" jobs:
  15. No, I copied it out of an Oxford University Press (2010) book: "Understanding Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality: A Conceptual Framework," by a Lynn Weber. I'm not familiar with her, it's just a book that was assigned. Not a "sociology 101" book by any means, though. It's just as "naive" to say that it is a "myth." Just as one may reductively say "It's exclusively based on gender," you can just as reductively say "It has nothing whatsoever to do with gender." It's similar to discussions over race, and minority races not getting paid as much as whites. It's very complicated, but it's not wholly unrelated to race. I already acknowledged with Tahuds my mistake, you may have missed it: So, no need to freak out .
  16. Thanks for that info on schools hiring and such, very helpful. Sounds like you have a great academic background, and those GRE scores are totally fine for our discipline. We have much in common: I also studied in the UK for two years, studying theology, and I served as a youth pastor a few years, and had some corporate background (although I intentionally neglected the latter in my applications). I'm not looking forward to the GRE change, but I postponed it to buy me some more time to prepare. Do you think it will become more difficult with the change? I don't get the impression that HDS squelches all confessional scholars. If anything, the opposite may be true (but I could be totally wrong here): people are unabashedly feminist, unabashedly gay, etc. If people embrace their confessional backgrounds, then it would make sense that people would be more tolerant and pluralist about other confessional voices: including confessional Christian voices. However, the opposite could be true: perhaps they believe "Christianity" is the enforcer of the status quo, and is inherently problematic. But this would be a tremendous mistake on their part, of course. If you had to constantly defend your faith all the time, that'd be annoying. I think an atheist would have to do this a lot at an evangelical institution. But at a more liberal institution, there technically should be more of a pluralist bend. But I could see it being the inverse of the atheist at a conservative school: a confessional Christian at a liberal school could have to defend their faith all the time, too. Maybe start a "Poll" on the boards, to ask about the environment at HDS in that respect. There seem to be a lot of folks on these boards who are going there now or in the Fall, and could maybe offer insight.
  17. Hey guys, what is the religion/theology academic job market like? While doing my undergrad in philosophy, when I was researching the philosophy PhD and job market, it was absolutely awful. 400+ applicants applying for one professorship, etc. New PhD grads were competing against other folks who already had taught for years and published material at less notable institutions. The market is so bad that universities can have their choice of only the best-of-the-best applicants, and only those who have the ultimate sweet spot in "fit" with the department. So, what about religion/theology? I've heard mainline schools are all going down, but also Grad Cafe user highlanders said that Catholic universities are hiring. And how about those evangelical institutions? What about seminaries, in addition to university departments? Any thoughts here would be incredibly appreciated .
  18. It sounds like Chicago would be the best "fit" for you, but I would agree that it would be foolish to turn down the funded offers from other schools, only to take on usurious debt. If you can avoid debt in the humanities, do it!!! To me, the options boil down to HDS or Marquette. If you want to "diversify your portfolio" and Boston is already your alma mater, I'm very sympathetic with that. To be honest, I'm biased toward Marquette: I agree that in a few years, they will be among the best programs. They hire all new faculty exclusively from Duke Div and Notre Dame graduates, and are building a stellar team. I really, really, really would love to do my PhD at Marquette after I finish my MA. The only downside is that I'm not sure how much "minority discourse" (feminism, post-colonial, etc.) they do there. HDS specializes in minority discourse, but you're right that it's a more liberal and less confessional institution. That could be fun and challenging (I'm a progressive evangelical going to more left-ish Yale), but it could also be difficult. Are you married? That could offer a good support buffer, but it's not necessary. You'd have to evaluate your personal temperament: would you thrive in such an environment, or be suffocated? One HDS student posted on these boards that like half the HDS students are gay (probably an exaggeration, but an important sentiment nevertheless). Is this too liberal for you? HDS as a name also will go much farther outside the humanities/academic/theology world, worst-case-scenario if you have to go enter the private workforce. Personally, I would go to Marquette, but that's because it gels with my interests well, in addition to being a great program. They gave you a whopping stipend, to boot. May I ask, what was your GRE scores? I didn't apply to Marquette or Notre Dame because I wasn't prepared for the GRE. Can you guys please expound on this point? Actually, I'll start a new thread about it, come to think of it.
  19. You got it! Congrats on your choice of what sounds like an excellent program!
  20. Don't worry about it too much -- if you get into a good PhD program, it'll have a full tuition waver and a big enough stipend for annual living costs. So this'll likely be the last school loan debt you'll ever see . If it's any consolation, even with my mega scholarship at Yale, I will have to pull out $22k in loans. I have three children, so my wife can't work full-time to cover our costs of living while I study. When I finish at Yale (and hope to get into a fully paid PhD), I will have a total of about $65k in student loan debt. It's a lot, but all that debt is covering my bachelor's degree, my wife's bachelor's degree, my wife's master's degree, and my master's degree. So, I think in the grand scheme of life, those degrees will pay for themselves in the higher annual salary they'll pull in the future.
  21. LibTheologian, did you confirm that the full $15k stipend is annually renewed? If so, congrats on the stunning offer! =)
  22. Hm, intresting -- I'm completely ignorant of this information, which would definitely give a different account. So it would definitely require more nuance, absolutely. That being said, I can't help but roll my eyes at a primitivist reading of my phrase "all things being equal." Of course, I'm painting with broad brush strokes: under no circumstances are all things ever equal . So, I guess throw me a bone -- follow Nicholas Wolterstorff's principle of "charitable readings" . (If I understand you correctly)
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