FromBricktoTemple

Hi there! HDS does have so many opportunities...which in the end determined my choice to go there. What are you planning to study at HDS? I am really worried about finding housing. My partner and I are thinking of finding another person/couple to rent out a two bedroom in Cambridge/Somerville as it seems to be the cheaper option to search for housing with a potential roommate rather than try to move in with already established roommates.

Hi everyone! I have not seen very many posts about HDS generally, and none in this part of the forum. I am officially going to accept HDS' offer next week and thought it would be awesome to start a conversation with other prospective students. How is everyone? Are you as excited to move to Cambridge and study with exceptional profs in an exceptional community????!!! What are you excited about? Afraid of?

Thanks! I've heard that some universities throw away your GRE scores and others rely heavily on them in the case of "grade inflation" or "bias from professors." Honestly, I'm not sure if I want to go somewhere that puts that much weight into a square peg in the round hole system. I am certainly focusing on the universities that fit best with my research goals and putting a lot of effort into my SOP. It's better to make what we are good at shine, then to worry about what we are bad at. It's nice to know that someone is in a similar position as me, because most of what I read differs greatly from my experience. Best of luck!

Dear GradCafe, What can I expect for myself while applying for religious studies masters programs with a 4.04 GPA and associated awards, a great writing sample, a senior thesis project, superb recommendation letters, a resume that proves my involvement on campus and in the workplace, and these less than hoped for GRE scores: Verbal: 157 (75th percentile) Quant: 149 (35th percentile) Writing: 4. Here are contributing factors to these low scores: 1. my family moved so often during my childhood that I never had the opportunity to learn basic mathematics with any consistency (but, I did make A's in college algebra and trig). This quant score is a huge improvement from my first practice test, when I scored in the 9th percentile. 2. Given that I work full time during summers and breaks, and part time during the semester while maintaining high grades and staying involved on campus (particularly in the religious studies department), I have less time to study for the test. 3. I have had to retake standardized tests as young as 1st grade for earning outlier-low scores. The test anxiety is strong with this one. 4. I am poor and cannot afford to take fancy preparation classes, though I did buy the Kaplan study book, read the whole thing, and took all the associated web-based practice tests. 5. I took the test with a 101 fever from a cold. I am applying to Harvard Divinity School, Columbia, Indiana Bloomington, and University of Colorado Boulder. It would kill me if my application was thrown away for a GRE score that does NOT represent my academic abilities to any extent. My recommenders will address this in their letters. What are my chances of being accepted into these schools, or to any school? I AM retaking the test tomorrow, but am anxious to the point of debilitation. ANOTHER 205 dollars down the drain for a test I will probably do poorly on. And, to make things worse, I have been working 13 hour days for the past two weeks and am burnt out. I am currently attempting to jam math equations down my throat, but nothing is sticking. Thank you for any help, even though this is half rant.