KA.DINGER.RA

You were selected to present to your fellow students at the same school? I, personally, wouldn't bother with it. At this point in the application process initial, and likely final, decisions have already been made and you're likely to be seen as grasping at straws.

Are all the people who have heard so far internal applicants? 

If memory serves from last year (and it may not or things may have changed–just look at how many schools were responding by snail mail a few years ago), the reporting process for internal and external candidates is different. I think that internal candidates get an email more directly and external candidates are processed through a system at the graduate school that takes more time.

Again, I may very well be wrong.
What's certain is that not having an invitation this morning doesn't mean that one will not come.  

ND is currently reviewing apps. I would expect interview notifications to be within the first few days of February, plus or minus a few days.

To which programs are y'all applying?  Let's get this thread cracking, as its like 10 days to zero hour for many programs, no?

Nothing for ND. I don't even think I've heard about the professors meeting to discuss potential applicants yet. Interview weekend is usually late February so I assume the meeting to figure out who they're inviting will be soon.  Acceptances usually go out a couple of days after the interview weekend. 

...and now the waiting begins. 

Just a heads up, I’m a recent graduate of the GDR at Vandy and they haven’t accepted a new NT PhD student in years because of so much infighting in the faculty. From what I’ve heard, they won’t be taking any NT students for a very long time. 

Hey everyone. Another New Testament applicant here. Like others, it looks like I'll be applying broadly--to at least 10 schools. My areas of interest in the NT are the Gospels and historical Jesus studies. I have the following schools on my list. Are there any top-ranked ones I'm missing?
Harvard, Yale, Princeton U, Princeton Theological Seminary, Duke PHD and THD, University of Chicago, UT Austin, Vanderbilt, Emory, Baylor, and Notre Dame.
I know, I know: lots of schools and application money. Still, acceptances at top programs are tough to get!

For most Americans, Oxbridge is just not that competitive. It is very difficult to get full funding as an American there, but what isn't difficult is getting in and even paying for it through US government loans. Every American academic knows this, so they are very skeptical of any American who has a DPhil from basically any non-North American school. And honestly, I can't say I blame them. The few Americans I know who have a DPhil from a well-known European school (including Oxford) just don't seem to be all that well-prepared, academically and professionally, for the US market. They have no teaching experience and their writing is worse than most coming out of even a middling American department.

Perhaps mine was returned so quickly (a bit less than 6 months) from JBL because of what I submitted, which was an edition of an unpublished papyrus fragment. The editor responded that to be published with them I needed to have the papyrus carbon 14 dated and the ink tested. I guess the Jesus' wife fake scared them away. In any case, I guess that means JBL is out of the publishing papyri game (or any other ancient artifact for that that matter), since no reputable institution would allow such tests (which require destroying some of the artifact). 

Ahh, that does seem a bit more extreme. I ended up sending a query to a journal today. They responded within a few hours.
Sorry to hear that it took them months to reply to you. =(

I am applying to NT programs. Vanderbilt, Emory, UNC, Duke, Boston U, Yale, Notre Dame and probably Marquette.
I heard that Vanderbilt will accept a PhD student this year.

I'll be applying to NT programs!
Still finalizing the list, but the ones of interest at this point are Emory, Duke, Yale, Notre Dame, Baylor, and Marquette.

Hi there,
 
I’m no theologian (I work mostly with New Testament/Second Temple Judaism), but I have quite a few friends in the theology world, especially post-liberalism. Two quick pieces of advice:
 
1. Make sure there are senior scholars working within your interests with whom you can take several courses and from whom you can eventually get a recommendation letter. This is crucial for PhD applications generally and especially for you, I think; those lines on your CV from Jerry Falwell’s institution will take strong endorsements from respected scholars to ease the anxieties of faculty at top-tear PhD programs.
 
2. Visiting schools and meeting with prospective faculty is a really good way to get a sense for the program. I’d also recommend meeting with junior faculty who might have a better sense for the school’s culture (they’re often the profs teaching the most courses anyway). Ask them about where their recent grads go for doctoral work (i.e. are they going to regional seminaries or to Yale, Duke, etc?)
 
In terms of particular schools, I’d also recommend Duke, though you might wish to read another forum post on this site about some troubling issues with its divinity school. Yale has three of the most influential systematic theologians (Volf, Jennings and Tanner) in the country, so I’d strongly encourage you to apply there, as well. Other options: I think there’s a seminary in Louisville that gives full tuition waivers to all its applicants. Princeton Seminary gives good tuition rates, especially to Presbyterians, though I’m not sure how rigorous the program is these days. Other schools people in theology seem to like: Vanderbilt, Chicago (good funding here as well), Notre Dame (funding + evangelical-friendly), Cambridge (a different kind of thing here, but Sarah Coakly is very highly respected in theology circles), Union Seminary in New York.
 
Hope this helps. Best of luck!

As most people have noted above, there are multiple factors at work. 
SBC actually reports a respectable "vocational placement" out of the PhD  program.in general. However, I have a feeling that their choice of term does include those who work in ministry outside of an academic context as well to be counted. So before anything, find out the placement of the program into academic jobs. Those academic jobs are also probably at small Southern Baptist colleges. If that is where you want to end up, then SBC may be ok for you.
Also, the attrition rate of the program is around 40%. Multiple factors are probably involved. Money is definitely one of them. 
See http://www.sbc.net/cp/ministryreports/2017/pdf/seminaries/sbts/sbts-ats-report.pdf
 
If this is your first go around in your applications, I would highly encourage you to do all that you can between now and December and beef up your applications. Learn a language. Present papers/get them accepted to conference. Rework your statement. Add more research to your paper. Not getting in your first year does not doom you from not getting in anywhere. Also, while other threads have downplayed the UK PhD route, if you are going to go ahead and pay money to a SBC program for a PhD it may be worth your while to try your hand at doing a UK PhD (even part-time from distance). While it will not have the prestige of a Tier 1 US school, it will give you more opportunities than a SBC school. 
 

Which is it? Do you want to have the experience of studying with a scholar you respect, or do you want to get a job? Kuriakos was simply saying that if you get a PhD from an SBC seminary, you likely won't get a job. Those schools churn out PhDs. You will not be competitive at all for jobs outside of very conservative schools. That's why Kuriakos said it would be worthless--it was in response to your original question. That may not be the answer you want to hear, but it's better to face it now than later. If you'd be getting no money to attend an SBC seminary for a PhD, I would turn it down. No sense in paying for something that very likely won't end in you having an academic job.

Forget Oxford. Yes, it's anecdotal, but consider the small number of Americans working in country who have doctorates from abroad. The reason is usually funding. Again, it is anecdotal, but most people at R1 schools (grad students and faculty) consider European doctorates only an option for those who are 1) not "good enough" to get into an American program and/or 2) are very conservative (theologically, obviously). The admission rates are very high at places like Oxbridge for Americans; they know we can and will take out loans for the name. Yes, it feels nice to receive that shiny letter from Oxford; yes, they think you're a cash cow. If you return to the States, you will have a difficult time getting a job, unless you want to work at a conservative seminary/university. 
As for Baylor or Marquette, I would take Marquette, but for my own reasons. Tell us a bit more about yourself, your interests, and where you want to be in ten years.

It's largely anecdotal. I don't know of any actual studies done.
Usually, the criticism isn't over scholarship, clearly Oxford and the like produce exceptional scholars. The issue is that US programs, by their nature, expose you to some teaching whereas UK schools don't. So, if you're seeking a job as a teacher and you didn't have any experience during training, you're asking an employer to take a risk with you. Whereas as a US alum, you'll have faculty and student evaluations to show potential schools. So, if you need to hire a professor and have 50 applicants, you tend to choose the safer bet.

I visited Marquette last fall and it's an impeccable campus and faculty is top notch for historical theology. It was my top choice, however, I was rejected from the get go. If you do decide Marquette let them know soon because I'm wait listed at Baylor right now.

I would take Baylor over Oxford in a heartbeat.

What degree at HDS were you specifically admitted to?
Also, fuck Chicago in this case. It's a great school and would prepare you well but Harvard is an amazing school and you'll have full access to the rest of the university. 50% tuition, living expenses, etc in Chicago will still be a metric buttload of money. What happens if you don't get into a PhD or you come to realize that you don't want to do it? Now you've got debt (presumably). At HDS, your debt would be massively lower and you could still construct a degree to make yourself an exceptional applicant to PhD programs.
Don't spend more than three seconds thinking about this, go with HDS' offer.

Unfortunately, UK PhDs are not widely recognized.. institutions prefer someone with a US PhD. I would pick one of the funded US schools you were accepted in.

Yea, three separate articles cited that a faculty told him that his app was rejected because of his age, one specifically said they told him by email. That was just a stupid mistake on their part - you never give a specific reason, opens the door for a lawsuit.

PhD in religion? Be careful out there. It's so tough to land a job. 

I’ve heard nothing from ND officially but got an email from a prof this afternoon that started with “I’m sure you’ve heard from the grad school by this point...” sooo maybe decisions will be out shortly??