Phenomenologist

Congrats! When did you submit your application for admission, by chance? Was it right at the Feb 15th deadline, or much before then? I also applied to Princeton, and am wondering when I may hear back by.

Well, last Friday when I got my phonecall of acceptance at Duke, they said they would know scholarship funding "next week" (which is this week). It's already Thursday, and I haven't heard back. Hopefully I'll hear something tomorrow -- this is making me antsy .

As I understood it, Duke Divinity School accepts about 6 students per year to the ThD, but Duke University Religion Department accepts only 1 applicant per year to the Theology program of the PhD in the Religion department. (I think they accept 5-6 students overall in the Religion department, but one in each focus area: Judaism, Christianity/Theology, etc.) Although, is this true that if you apply to both the Divinity ThD and the Religion department PhD it's an auto-rejection? That's psycho, I would've definitely applied to both before I heard that. Do I understand you correctly, Postbib Yeshuist?

Sorry to hear it, guys.

Bummer, sorry to hear it. What other programs did you apply to? MA or PhD?

Congrats!!

Bummer about rejection, but don't be too down about it -- it's a total crapshoot. The Committee is even trickier, because the faculty shifts, which makes it even harder to match research interests with faculty and such.

Thanks! Yeah, I know what you mean -- my backup school isn't a strong one (Calvin Seminary, Grand Rapids), so it will be tough getting into a good PhD program. Although I know a guy who did his PhD at Princeton Seminary after an MTS at Calvin, so that'd be good enough for me. LibTheologian, interesting that there's a result from Union on the Result page, but not any other feedback. Hope all goes well for the rest of your guys' applications out there!

I'm waiting to hear back (this week) on funding from Duke Div (already accepted). I won't hear from Yale until March 15th, and Princeton until who-knows-when. I would be freaking out more, but it's only MA-level, not PhD, so it's not as psycho-competitive. PhD is when we'll be freaking out: 300+ applicants with only 5-6 acceptances .

This year, they extended the application date by 3 days to January 18th rather than January 15th, due to the Snowmageddon storm. So, that may not be in our favor for early results. But at least they reaffirmed March 15th as a deadline, rather than extending that a few days as well.

Man, this thread is reminding me how freaky it was when I was looking at PhD programs instead of MA programs. You're all absolutely right, of course. It's a crapshoot, and it's psychotic.

Bummer.

Which programs did you apply to at the MA level? (in what subjects?)

Nice work! I was also curious about when it's appropriate to make a phonecall. I looks like from the "Results" page many people buckle down and simply call the admin office, and end up getting a significant amount of helpful information (such as you have noted here). When is it appropriate or not appropriate to call?

Interesting -- thanks! I'd love to study at Notre Dame, I was planning on applying there when I was going to do a philosophy PhD.

Ha! I was just going to post that as well . I just got accepted at my backup school today: Calvin Theological Seminary. I'm not particularly ecstatic about it, but it's close to family. I don't know funding yet, but I was invited to apply to their "Presidential Scholarship," which I guess is nice, so we'll see. Duke Div said they would know scholarship info this week, so if anyone hears anything, be sure and post .

Yeah, I'm hoping I'll know by this time next week where I'm going -- assuming Duke Div hands out scholarship information this week, as they told me they anticipated. If I get a good scholarship there, I'll almost certainly accept their offer. Philologus, might you be willing to share the names of the programs that were willing to wiggle the stipends to be more competitive?

Congrats on your other full funding offer, though!!

Brilliant -- this is crucial insight, thanks very much! I really appreciate it.

Yup, this is crucial.

Hey guys, I'm filling out Princeton Seminary's financial aid application, and it has a field for "Projected income from field education." Does anyone know the usual protocol for PTS's "field education" units? Do they have any income? I'm going to do more research online about it, but I figured I'd throw the question out to you guys in case you already had this information. For example, I know that Duke Divinity School has a mandatory minimum of two ministry internships, but you get paid for it by the school ($7,000+ ea.). Is the "field education" like this, perhaps, or is compensation independent of the school, arranged between you and your "ministry placement"? Thanks for any insight!

I don't know about religion/theology programs, but from what I studied last year in philosophy PhD programs, the sentiments expressed in the quote here sound right. Programs will indeed be competitive with their funding for an applicant, to "reel them in" or whatever to their program. But I also think the cautionary notes in chaussettes quote here are helpful as well.

Kierkegaard -- excellent!! Yeah, I also had to truncate mine a bit, which was disappointing. Godspeed to you, as well! I'm actually hoping to get a good funding package at Duke Div, that's my top choice. But otherwise, if I get good enough funding at Yale, that'd be my second choice =). So maybe I'll see you there!

I'm pretty sure they accept like 5 applicants per year, so hopefully more word will come in from other applicants. (Then again, it's nice that even a fraction of the applicants know about and use this site!!)

Sweeeeeeeeet. I wonder: Will they email applicants to let them know the results are online (early), or do we just keep checking back?