HBgrad2017

After reading MarXian's comments I feel like I should disclose that know basically nothing with respect to studies in philosophy. So I mean, if Harvard really will just flat out not be able to prepare you for what you want to do... maybe Chicago?? But the way I see it, the PhD is (obviously...) more important than the MA. So why not worry about getting "the perfect school" when worrying about PhD acceptances. I also personally like the idea of doing an MA at a school different than your PhD in order to get a broader perspective (although, disclosure, this is not what I ended up doing). So why not shoot for Chicago for the PhD and just worry about staying financially responsible for the MA? I'll also say.... if your end goal is UChicago the MA students sometimes have a tendency of being nasty competitive since they're all eyeing one of the few PhD acceptances of a UChicago MA gard. This obviously varies by cohort, but just know ahead of time that it can sometimes be an less-than-friendly environment that you'll be in for 2 years.

I see this as a no-brainer. Definitely take the Harvard route. Let's be real. You're not going to get TONS of intense preparation in a master's degree for your SPECIFIC field (at least in my experience and observations). Yeah, maybe if you're lucky you'll get a class, maybe two, related to your particular interests. But no matter where you go you'll end up taking whatever coursework is being offered. I see the MA as a time of getting your academic bearings more than for intense specialization preparation. Get some of the grunt work out of the way (theory and method, languages, etc. etc...) then use the PhD to really narrow in. I mean... there's no way that it's going to be impossible to study philosophy of religion or cont. phil at Harvard... you'll definitely be able to take top-notch classes in those fields at Harvard, so you might as well take the cheap route...

I forgot that this was a discussion for the Master's; I was referencing their PhD admissions.

I remember when I was focusing on GRE stuff I came across these two pages, which I found to be GENERALLY helpful. https://magoosh.com/gre/2016/gre-scores-for-top-universities/ https://www.topuniversities.com/blog/what-gre-scores-do-you-need The first has average scores for Harvard specifically, while the second has average scores broken down by field.

Can't speak to HDS, but if they're anything like Yale and the other similar scores, GRE is important... Obviously your quant score is among the least important things on an application, but it could still raise some eyebrows. What were your other scores? If you got 170V/6W, a low quant score might make you look a tad quirky.... What you should also look out for is that I know of at least 1 score that has both a Verbal score minimum as well as a composite score minimum; with a score at 25% it could be low enough to hit a school's completely arbitrary composite score threshold.

Really?! I would DEFINITELY double check what was said about the CMES at UChicago, as both of these would be a significant departure from the way the program has worked in the past... As I said, they have regularly offered half-tuition scholarships for the first year; and the program provides excellent prep for HB PhD work! You will be required to do two years of an ANE language (which is wonderful for getting two years of Akkadian under your belt, which looks great on apps), getting basic ANE history down, and giving you the freedom to specialize in HB with electives... (or, adding more language work...) I know that at least two HB PhD students at Uchicago that have come out of CMES in the past two years.

Can I ask what school you plan on attending for your doctorate? I would also highly recommend looking into University of Chicago's M.A. in the Divinity school or the M.A. in Middle Eastern studies; both will provide excellent preparation for PhD applications at top-tier schools. I'm not sure how the funding for the Div school M.A. works, but I know that the degree in Middle Eastern studies typically gives out half-tuition scholarships for the first year with full-tuition scholarships the second year depending on first year GPA (3.5). If you have any questions about UChicago let me know!

I also applied to Brandeis' PhD in NEJS and have not heard anything back. I do know for certain that some acceptances have gone out, and from the looks of the results page some rejections have gone out. I am not sure what exactly is the situation there or how they roll out the decisions.

One of the biggest challenges I think in non-PhD work is proving capability in primary texts classes. I can only speak for myself, but by the time I had finished my undergraduate, I had not actually taken a true text-course of a book that was purely an examination of the Hebrew text. The main problem with this is that when applying to graduate schools I had difficulty providing a substantive writing sample that I was proud of and demonstrated my ability to use Hebrew for research (all of the classes I took were primarily Hebrew reading classes, with not much attention paid to critical issues and problems--the whole point of graduate school). All this to say, there is simply no replacement for having as many Hebrew text-courses under your belt (and as many strong term-papers to choose from/revise for writing samples). I would definitely check around and see if any professors are offering any Hebrew text-courses, and if not, if any professor would be willing to provide guidance for a text directed study with a substantive term paper at the end. Of course other Semitic languages are helpful, but it seems that many programs will require you to re-take them anyways, especially if you only have one year to work on them. Burning through a "Biblical" Aramaic grammar so that you can put it on your CV might not hurt though. I definitely wouldn't try to tackle Akkadian unless you go to a school that has really strong Akkadian faculty. I would definitely not overlook Greek however! I really think that Greek seems to be more immediately useful if your interest is Hebrew Bible than Semitic languages. More useful than Greek or any Semitic language though is the most important ANE language of them all... German! There are books and courses designed specifically for getting grad students to be strong in German as quick as possible.

I doooo know that at least one person has definitely heard via email. I also applied to UChicago Div but I am almost 100% certain I wouldn't get in and I have not received an email.

Word on the street is the UChicago Div school emails are going out today.

Haha, so I would say that for the most part my application to Yale was pretty strong... except... I noticed almost minutes after sending it that in my final SOP paragraph I had "I am convinced these is no better school..." Not the worst thing in the world, but I certainly felt pretty dumb, especially with how many times I was told to read, and re-read, re-write, re-read, and re-read my SOP a few times over.

This goes against all Skype interview advice I've ever heard. Explain yourself.

Gotta an invitation to prospective student weekend at Notre Dame. Anyone else gonna be there? Also, this will be my first for this type of thing. What exactly happens at these things that makes them last 2 full days? What should I be expecting? What are they looking for? Basically now I'm just shit-scared of blowing it and would love any advice!

Any idea on the Hebrew Bible interviews?