dhpjectory

I would like to let you know that GRE scores generally only matter when you are up against a person with a similarly great fit. At my current institution, the real minimum is 600 verbal. At a school to which I was just accepted (another top school, which was truly a blessing), I was told by faculty who just came from there that the general low for verbal is about 650. But nothing, NOTHING, will matter more than fit. It is important to remember that in these processes, there are human beings making decisions about other human beings (and plenty of people in the study of religion generally aren't jerks). Try as much as humanly possible to establish yourself as someone they would want to work with not only intellectually--you need to come across as a nice person (because this is the equivalent of hiring junior-junior faculty, and they want to make sure they won't have to deal with someone mean or a bit crazy for 5-7 years). You should have recommenders whom you've tried to connect with and who will vouch for you as someone with a passion in your field (and a good temperament for the rigor ahead). Also, I can tell you that Harvard and Princeton value social justice commitments. So if your work will mean something for some community, that must be clear. There are truly nice people at these schools who simply cannot admit everyone they'd like, so they default to people they might know (either as masters students, undergrads in rare cases, or people who've really sparked their interest through email and phone conversations). This is an ugly process, but I'd wish everyone some serenity and success throughout. I'm glad to know I'm going somewhere.

I will own up to the earliest post. I am in Religion in America, and I was emailed first around 3pm yesterday by one adviser, and then last evening by the current director of Grad Studies.