KA.DINGER.RA

All of the interviews (except maybe peace studies?) happen this weekend. It’s tough. Beginning last year, they started taking only 2 CJA folks instead of 4.

Are they interviewing all concentrations this weekend? I hadn’t seen anyone say they were CJA invited to interview - which is the concentration I applied to. I guess it’s safe to assume at this point that I can expect a rejection in the next few days. 

Hi friends. Current ND PhD student here in CJA. 
If you're interviewing this upcoming weekend and have any questions, feel free to drop me a PM. 
I'll be helping to pick folks up from the airport and will also be speaking at the dinner on Friday (i think?) night, so it will be nice to meet you folks. 
 
 

Lack of Hebrew may not matter in a state school "Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean" type program, but any school that still uses area titles like "New Testament" will expect you to have Hebrew. Some even specifically list Hebrew as a prerequisite and may pro forma reject your application when they realize you have not learned it. Frankly, it is silly as many NT people let their Hebrew get very rusty, but it is what it is. 

I know it feels difficult to hear tough advice, but I genuinely wish someone had given me advice like that before embarking on graduate school. I'm in my tenth year of college with this year only being my first year of PhD work (4 year undergrad, 3 year MA, 2 year MTS). It's a super long and difficult road. 

I know it feels difficult to hear tough advice, but I genuinely wish someone had given me advice like that before embarking on graduate school. I'm in my tenth year of college with this year only being my first year of PhD work (4 year undergrad, 3 year MA, 2 year MTS). It's a super long and difficult road. 

I know it feels difficult to hear tough advice, but I genuinely wish someone had given me advice like that before embarking on graduate school. I'm in my tenth year of college with this year only being my first year of PhD work (4 year undergrad, 3 year MA, 2 year MTS). It's a super long and difficult road. 

The first four schools I listed were philosophy departments, the fifth was UVA's religious studies department. I preferred philosophy programs to theology/RS programs this application cycle at the recommendation of my thesis advisor who admittedly got her PhD in the 80s/90s, and probably doesn't have the best grasp on the current state of grad admissions in other disciplines. I see now there's no real point in applying to PhDs outside of theology/RS no matter how interdisciplinary my work so far has been.
You don't have to point out to me my grades and gre aren't exceptional, I'm well aware bud. I've regularly worked 40+ hours while taking 15+ class hours, I don't have the same grades as someone who has mommy and daddy's money to sit on and I've made peace with it. Also, the number of schools I applied to had more to do with how few departments are working on the intersection of continental philosophy and religion than anything else.
I didn't include comments about my high school education in my statements of purpose, but I do applaud you for reading my post just to find a way to be condescending at every turn, and then not actually answer my question.
 

@wilsonrg With all due respect, xypathos is not only very respected on the board, but moreover and to the more germane point, his response provided answers that were spot on and lucid. Perhaps it was not in the tone or inflection you desired, they were nonetheless entirely accurate. A tad bit of advice and counsel, the academy is a long arduous road, filled with much more disappointment than success, and if this blunt but totally on point assessment already rankles you, perhaps you need to rethink your attitude as you go down this incredibly long path....

I was notified of acceptance off the NT waitlist at Baylor today!

It's not sent to everyone but schools like Emory, ND, Vanderbilt, etc that see promise in PhD applicants but don't find them strong enough, reroute them to a M* degree to keep them in house.

I'm not sure about the other subfields, but I think only one Biblical Studies person has accepted the MTS offer so far. That means that a couple of other offers are still floating around out there. If those people don't accept, I'd guess that waitlist acceptances will go out shortly thereafter. 

Hi,
I'm actually on the Early Christian Studies M.A. waitlist, not the MTS waitlist. I got a personal e-mail from the director of the ECS program; from my understanding you basically just have to wait it out and confirm you're still interested by a certain deadline (mine was in early March, but I confirmed my interest pretty much right away). If you're on the waitlist and haven't gotten in touch with a POI or the department chair yet, you may just want to write to confirm you're still interest in the program.

Anyone else passing time this week by keeping up with ( the marginally religious, mostly political curiosity) of the General Conference of the UMC?  

I just found out yesterday that I was admitted to the Mdiv program at Uchicago!! I got pretty decent funding but I definitely need to start applying for different scholarships and the like. Anyone else here get admitted to the Mdiv program at Chicago?

@KA.DINGER.RA
I agree partially that moving from M.Div into a TT phd is not always possible, but I have found that it depends on one’s concentration and/or dissertation topic. A glance through the phd candidates at top programs will show that at least 50% have only one M* degree. All that to say, it appears to be worth applying to phd programs after your first M* if you have a firm grasp on what it will take to be successful in your concentration.

I presented at their student religious symposium and found their graduate students to be as (or more) capable than many of the students I've met at Ivy League schools. They understand that the name value for their program won't get them where they want to go, so they bust ass and work hard. Goff is apparently an amazing advisor and is an equally great scholar. If you don't want to do Hellenistic Judaism or DSS, I personally wouldn't go. I applied and was accepted, but they knew my focus is on much earlier stuff. They said it might be better to go elsewhere; I ended up working on a second M* degree and am happy with my current institution. I have nothing but positive things to say about the students and faculty in that program.

I presented at their student religious symposium and found their graduate students to be as (or more) capable than many of the students I've met at Ivy League schools. They understand that the name value for their program won't get them where they want to go, so they bust ass and work hard. Goff is apparently an amazing advisor and is an equally great scholar. If you don't want to do Hellenistic Judaism or DSS, I personally wouldn't go. I applied and was accepted, but they knew my focus is on much earlier stuff. They said it might be better to go elsewhere; I ended up working on a second M* degree and am happy with my current institution. I have nothing but positive things to say about the students and faculty in that program.

I just got a call from Emory and I am accepted! 

Hi folks, I have been lurking this forum for a long time and I decided to go ahead and sign up to share what I know as of now. So far I was accepted to Harvard (CSR) and the University of Chicago Divinity School in a non-theological subfield (did an interview with the committee two weeks ago).     And I also got an informal email from my POI in Princeton University (not PTS) last Monday and s/he informed me that I was accepted. They will send out a decision sometime next week according to the message I got. And @oh no,  I’m the Princeton-poster on the result page who had an interview early January. Actually, there were two. And if I recall correctly, Princeton University invites all (potential) finalists to the interview process and all the invitations were sent out on January 8 or 9 (my colleagues in other subfields also received their interview-invitations from Princeton on either 8 or 9). I don’t think they do a rolling-basis, or they barely do. If you check the result page, the process is generally similar;  Skype Interview in Jan, emails from professors in the 3rd week of February and official acceptance in three days.    I cannot specify my subfield because of my personal reasons. So bear with me.    Like many folks in this forum, it was my second cycle, after getting rejected from all six schools I'd applied to. I’ve been there and I know this waiting game can be really tough and cruel. My heart is with you. Don’t be discouraged if something is not in your favor today. Better opportunities are always waiting ahead.
    Pieces of advice will be. 1) Keep your head above water- it's just 'fit' and 'timing.'  2) Don’t stop. It's fine to apply for a program multiple times. I was accepted to my "dream program” - U of Chicago- after applying three times.   Would you be interested in hearing my little experiences with Ph.D. applications- about what I did last year after getting rejected from all the schools I’d applied to?

Re your question about having too many degrees: So far as I have noticed, a number of academics in our generation are taking 3–4 years of masters-level coursework before pursuing a doctorate in religious studies. Even among a number of well-established faculty in the field, having a second master's is not unheard of (and by "second master's" I don't mean an MA that is awarded to Ph.D. students who reach ABD status). I imagine that having all the more research experience (and in my case language experience) can only help you with the admissions process and, ultimately, your marketability as a professor to religion departments upon graduation. 
Re your question about median age range for admitted students: It varies somewhat. But, in my estimation, applicants tend to be in their 20–30's. For example, two colleagues of mine got into their respective programs two years ago; one was 29 and the other 24. Another colleague got into a different program just last year; they were in their mid-late 30's. Coming into this application cycle, I will be 27. For me at least, language prep did factor in somewhat to how long I have been in school so far, but this is not the case for everyone. You also have to consider the prereqs of different religion programs and departments, life events that might impact one's decision to continue their education, and so on. We are all hiking the trails of academia at our own pace.
If it will be useful, I will use some of my experience as an example. Last spring I was finishing up the second and final year of my first master's program (Hebrew Bible), and I was faced with a question that no aspiring academic wants to ask themselves: What do I do when all of my prospective schools have rejected my application? So, I sought some advice from a few mentors and they all steered me toward applying for a Master of Sacred Theology (known by its acronym, STM). Very few schools offer this degree or one like it. Often times it is offered by top-tier divinity schools. I applied to the STM programs at YDS and BU-STH. I got into BU-STH.
Now an STM is essentially a one-year master's degree where you can take all manner of upper-level graduate courses. The important thing, at least for BU, is that a majority of these courses have to be relevant to your program focus (or major) and have to be taken at the university. A cool thing about BU is that it is part of a consortium of other graduate universities and seminaries across the Greater Boston area. This way, you have access to a wide range of course offerings from a variety of different institutions. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I studied Akkadian at Harvard NELC, took a doctoral seminar on the Minor Prophets at BC, and a seminar on ancient Jewish wisdom literature at HDS. To finish up the program, you can either take the standard final comprehensive exam or write a thesis. I opted to write a thesis for various reasons. From my experience so far, the STM program at BU is super flexible and will allow you to use your credit hours and program resources as best you see fit. 
In this year's application cycle, I bring to my file a full transcript from my first master's degree, a fall transcript for my second master's, another year of different ancient languages under my belt, and more coursework in areas of biblical studies with which I am unfamiliar. Compared to last year, my application looks a lot stronger, and as a result, I was fortunate enough to receive an offer from a top-tier program earlier in the month. Though I also received a rejection from a program I really wanted to get into and am still waiting to hear back from some other programs, I would not be in this position without this STM program. So, for a backup option, I highly recommend an STM. 

To those who haven’t heard back, here’s a word of (hopefully) comforting advice. To start with an annoyingly cliché but true suggestion: try your best not to take rejection too personally or as an insult to your intelligence or capacity. Let me explain. People have repeatedly mentioned on this forum that applicants with “very good or near perfect stats” get rejected to Phd programs all the time. This is entirely true; I’m an example. When I applied to Phd programs a couple years ago, I had a 3.95 undergrad GPA, 3.9 grad GPA, and a GRE of 170V/164Q/5.0. I had a very good writing sample, a publication under my belt, and great recommendations. Naturally, I applied to 7-8 top schools. But I was rejected to ALL of them—every single one; I didn’t even receive an interview! As the weeks of waiting went by, I fell into despair. Why had I worked so hard and spent thousands of dollars? I thought about giving up on academics altogether. 
Here’s the silver lining. I was determined to find out what had gone wrong and try again. As it turns out, there were two things I had messed up. First was the statement of purpose. Without going into too much detail, the description of my academic background and interests was rambling, imprecise, and stale. There’s an art to writing statements of purpose, and I didn’t pay any attention to it. I kind of just figured “Hey, I’m a good writer, let me write about myself.” Don’t do that. Get profs to look at your statement. Second, my declared research interests were too narrow and didn’t fit very well in any of my desired programs. It’s worth repeating: FIT is everything. I had friends with much, MUCH lower stats get into amazing schools because their research interests fit hand-in-glove with the departments.
So, I’ve applied again this year, but I really did my homework this time with my SOP; I adjusted how I framed my interests; I had professors look over it. I took some more classes; I changed a bunch of other things (I also found a more relevant recommender). This time I’ve received a handful of interviews, and I reasonably expect several acceptances (fingers crossed). The moral of this story is that, yes, it’s incredibly discouraging to hear nothing and get rejected. And perhaps for some this will suggest moving on to another field. But for those who are determined to pursue doctoral studies, don’t give up. Revise your whole approach to your application and try again. This sort of story is not unique to me; I know many others who applied three times before they finally got into top-tier programs. Now they are thriving in their fields. 
Apologies for the long post; I hope this encourages some of the disheartened out there. Find out where you can improve your application. Your points of weakness may be different from mine. Work on those areas throughout a year (or two), and jump back in the ring!
 

Those of you waiting to hear from UVA, I was just sent an acceptance. I applied to the Religion, Literature, and Culture section. 

To my knowledge, MTS can take a while. They frequently offer MTS spots to PhD interviewees that they want to keep in house.

I would think that all of the invites have gone out at this point. I know people who have received invitations in all of the various subfields.