Deep Fried Angst

I know this is late, but if you ever have a question about a school, always check chea.org As the link shows, Antioch University would be legit due to its accreditation by HLC http://www.chea.org/4dcgi/chea/search/detail.html?action=chea&chea_activity=inst_details&inst_cid=211

I had two online classes I TA'd for over the Fall semester. At least for me, I rarely had interaction with the students that I did not initiate myself. Most of my work was editing the online classroom, updating documents for the professor, and grading essays and forum discussion posts. I may have had 5 unsolicited emails from students the entire semester. In my experience if you want interaction with the students you will have to create it: comment on their forum posts, email students just to check up on how they are understanding the material, and always add substantive comments to their work when grading. Otherwise, it was mostly receiving a to-do list from the professor every week and doing those tasks.

I use Zotero. Free. Editable. And if you know some coding you can make adjustments to the style guide yourself in the source code. Definitely still has some kinks to work out, but overall it gets the job done without spending money.

I'll be the hypocrite here as I advised against it but definitely was wearing athletic shorts during my Skype interview.

Even though some of this is straightforward, I'll say it anyway. 1. Dress like it is an in person interview. 2. Make sure you have a clean room, a wall without anything distracting, and good lighting where you sit. If possible, use a room where you can have an ethernet connection rather than WiFi; better to have faster more stable internet than to freeze up during your interview. 3. Work on your answers to typical interview questions. Read everything you can on the program and tailor them to the school. Make them concise and brief. If you ramble, you waste time for other questions or substantial answers. If you get answers down from two minutes to one minute, even with ones like research focus, why you are interested in their school, and influences in your scholarship, you will almost double the amount of questions you can answer/the information they learn about you. 4. Have at least one or two good, substantial questions about the program. 5. If you have a smaller laptop, it may be helpful to set it on a couple books or a box so you don't look slouched or hunched over but are looking straight ahead.

I would second most of the above. A monochrome laser printer for the home is a life saver. Even though I have virtually unlimited printing privileges on campus, I still find myself needing to print a lot at home. The second monitor is a lifesaver for research, tedious TA work (Netflix on one screen adjusting all the dates in the syllabus on the other), and grading. Noise cancelling or isolating headphones are a great idea, especially wireless ones so you don't have to pause your music or take off your headphones every time you need to get up to get a book off your bookshelf. A book stand for your desk to make research, reading, and note taking easier. No more awkwardly trying to hold down pages while you type up the quote you need. An Audible subscription. Audio books make the walks across campus and to the car more enjoyable and I don't have to listen to the freshmen talk about how hard their semesters are going. Then, your favorite brand of whatever school supplies you like. Anything that brings the stress level down some is well worth it.

Is there an academic blacklist you will be put on if you accept an offer and then decommit later? No. But it is seen as bad practice. Will it hurt you in the future? Probably not, unless your admissions committee has a long memory and the very slim chance that one of them will serve on a hiring committee for a job for which you apply. It will probably hurt your chances to return to that school for a PhD if you are decommitting from their offer to go to another M* program. If you need more time, the typical route is to ask the school for an extension on the decision deadline. Realize though that if you are waiting on an answer from a PhD program it may not come till Mid-March or April if you get placed on a waitlist. Also, once you accept an offer it is best practice to notify all other schools to which you applied and withdraw your application.

1. AAR/SBL website (membership required). 2. HigherEd Jobs (https://www.higheredjobs.com/) 3. Smaller accrediting/conference websites (CCCU, etc.)

Two things that really helped me. First, learn to argue your point like an academic. For me, the argumentation portion improved greatly by applying the insights from The Craft of Research. In this book an entire section is devoted to "Making a Claim and Supporting it." The development of a claim, reasons, evidence, and warrants is very helpful. Since this book is widely read among graduate students and professors, it may help provide an argumentation structure expected by the graders. Given this framework, sketching out a quick outline with your claim, reasons, evidence, warrants, and arguments against your claim helps prepare you before you begin writing. Don't spend too much time on this. Leave yourself enough time to write. Often the longer the essay, the higher the score. This goes with what fuzzylogician said. A quick outline that hits the points of what the graders expect will help you achieve those expectations. Second, learn to make stuff up. Because you are not allowed to research, you are allowed to make research up. Don't be afraid to BS a quote or statistic to help support your argument. Don't be afraid to create a study that goes against your own statement, but one that allows you to dialogue with it and to prove why your statement is correct in spite of the argument against. I think I made up a couple quotes and some statistics for my essay and scored a 5.5. One of the expectations of a high score is to be able to dialogue with opposing opinions. A quick quote from a made up journal or study helps provide the opposition to explain away.

It depends on the institutions you are applying to. If the institutions take both tests then it is your choice. Neither one is necessarily "better." As JohnKim noted the English expected in each test will be slightly different based on the country of origin for the test. However, depending on where you live, location may be a bigger issue. IELTS typically cannot be taken in as many places as the TOEFL. Moreover, the scoring of the tests typically are a bit different. Most universities look for the IELTS band score which is an average of all your skills. The TOEFL is usually based on an overall number (the addition of all four parts of the test together). The benefit to the TOELF is that if you have two sections where you particularly excel and two sections where you are good but not great, the adding of the scores does much less to negate the effect of your excellent sections. The IELTS which averages your scores often is more damaging to a high score if your other sections aren't as good. Having worked in graduate admissions in the US, most people took the TOEFL even though we allowed the IELTS as well.

As has often been posted, GRE scores are viewed quite differently from school to school. Some schools use them to weed out the first round of applicants. Some use solely for comparison data among graduate schools (I was told what quant score I needed for a religious studies program because the Dean of the Graduate school needed that score to remain competitive among other schools...). It all depends. That being said, I would recommend retaking the GRE based on your verbal score. From what I can find online and from being in a related field (historical studies sub-field within Religious Studies) a GRE verbal score of over 160 (over 163 is better) is typically recommended for top programs. Magoosh published findings is 2013 that for a top 100 program a verbal score of 157 is close to the bottom being accepted. (https://magoosh.com/gre/2013/gre-scores-for-arts-and-humanities-programs/) Your writing score is good. If you were able to bump it up to a 5.5 it would help your application. However, the biggest need for improvement is the verbal section.

Being able to cultivate a wide interest depends on multiple factors. Before I get to these you should note that you have spoken about professors who have wide interests. It is common for scholars to widen their breadth of interests given the time and desire to do so. It is easy to see the product of 20 years of study and scholarship and forget the fact that it took 20 years to get there. The Factors (well just those I can think of right now): Course work requirements. Depending on the school you may be handed a list of courses to take or you may be given free reign (more so at the Doctoral level) to work with your adviser to create a schedule of classes that suits your interests and needs. Realize at the MA level you may only have 3-4 electives and some of those may need to be taken in other areas. Course scheduling. While better at the graduate and doctoral level, you may get left with a class not available due to a conflict or not come up during your coursework years due to scheduling and/or professor sabbatical. Faculty at the school. You have listed a wide range of interests, many of which do not always get a dedicated scholar at a school due to the other needs of a historical theology/history of Christianity department (e.g., the Reformation, Eastern Orthodoxy, 19th and 20th century theologies, etc.). Exams for Ph.D. - who picks the content, how broad or specific are they going to be? At my current school, Historical Theology Ph.D.'s work with their adviser to choose 3 from 13 available topics ranging from Syriac Christianity to Romanticism and Theology and beyond. That allows for some choice of interests. You. Will you search out books, articles, etc. on topics outside of what you need to do for class? If you have an interest in a specific subject, especially a narrow subject, it is often up to you as the student to take the initiative to make it happen. Additionally, remember that while you are seeking a degree in the History of Christianity, there is a lot to cover outside of your interests. It may be best to talk about three levels of understanding. 1) Proficiency - the base subject matter for your field, 2) Excellency - typically your PhD coursework/exam areas, 3) Specialty - typically your dissertation area. You can add areas of excellence and specialization as time goes on but you shouldn't seek that level of understanding for too many areas lest you attempt too much in the short time of a MA and PhD.

First thing to do would be to make sure the schools you are applying to set a limit on the number of letters of recommendation you can receive. Often there are a minimum number needed. However, all three schools I applied to in my field (Religious Studies) had the option of adding a fourth or fifth reference if the applicant desired. Second, if you feel like the second professor does not know your research ability that well, you are able to send him your writing sample or a chapter of your thesis to help him become better acquainted with your academic abilities. All professors understand that your academic ability will continue to grow over time and will be demonstrated in different ways in different classes. At the end of the day, however, Option 1 has already demonstrated a direct interest in your future education by pulling you aside. That initiative taken from the professor is priceless. I would stick with option 1 unless you have the option of submitting 4 references.

While your program will want you to publish, often it is only at the initiative of the student. Because publishing takes extra work outside the classroom, it is up to the student to pursue publishing opportunities. Also, it is up to the student to research issues in class that are not only of interest to the student, but provide a publishable topic/research. If you establish this as a goal, often your adviser will work with you to help select periodicals and conferences open to doctoral students publishing and presenting. Additionally, it is often helpful to find professors who are prolific publishers as they may have additional insights into the publishing world of academia. Some professors (two at my graduate school) created edited volume around certain topics and included the best doctoral papers from specific classes in them, in addition to the work of other scholars. All of this to say, while you may find assistance from your school and your professors, it is up to you as the student to take the initiative and set aside the time to make publishing a reality.

You will have time if you make time. But be realistic. Are you going to have hours and hours of free time to do whatever you want? Probably not. Will you be able to carve out 30 minutes a day to devote to an interest you enjoy? Yes. Protect the time set aside for your personal interests. It will help you keep the stress of graduate school under control. It will help you maintain and identity beyond academia. It, often, will make you a better student. Personally, I can get more accomplished in two hours with a 20-30 minute break in which I do an active pursuit of an interest than working two hours straight on writing, reading, or research. The key is to be realistic and to be flexible. It will take some time to find the proper balance. The balance will look different week to week, depending on your workload. But one of the easiest ways to get burnout is to sacrifice what makes you who you are for the sake of your studies. Discipline your interests into acceptable blocks of time but do not kill them off.

Grad schools admit based on the entirety of a student's application. A low GPA does not automatically rule you out. However, some schools will use GPA as a selection for those who get to move on from round 1 to round 2. A couple things can help you. First, score well on the GRE. Often GPA and GRE scores are seen to even each other out if one is low and the other is high. Second, explain what changes took place between your first two and last two years of undergrad. Often, application essays or cover letters will allow you to explain low grades. Third, calculate your GPA in your major area. There are online GPA calculator that can show you how to do this. As a former graduate admissions counselor, we were able to ok some people's low GPAs because they had D's and even F's in subjects completely unrelated to their future MA concentration (e.g., applying for history but have low grades in organic chemistry). Fourth, speak with the directors of the departments at the school(s) you are interested in. The directors want the best students for their programs. They may be willing to suggest a couple areas to help strengthen your application (or tell you outright that you may need to apply elsewhere). As a rule though, do not rely on Directors to hold your hand through the process. Be courteous and grateful for any information they give you. Lastly, if you are requesting references from any professors who would have witnessed your improvement in academics, you can always tell them that your GPA is a worry for you and ask them to describe your academic improvement in their letter of recommendation. Lastly, remember you are looking at an average GPA. If they accept one 4.0 student and one 3.0 student, the admissions average is still 3.5.

I have not found a satisfactory list. Most of the time the lists are not good representations of reality. Mostly because religious Studies is a broad field, probably too broad for any definitive ranking. What matters is your subject area. Who cares if your school is below par at Native American Religions if you are interested in African Tribal Religions? If you are looking for a program that deals with the ANE, the status of the historical theology department will have little bearing on the quality of your program. Also, because fit is one of the most important things for a person, everyone will determine the Tier of the school differently based on how they fit with that particular program. If you are going to study Jewish apocalyptic literature, no matter how good a school is, it shouldn't be ranked that high for you if there is not a single person who regularly interacts in that field at that school. Some things definitely define the tier structure for most people: Funding. Unless you are looking outside the US, fully funded programs are typically a higher tier than programs that are not fully funded. Those with a stipend included are typically higher than those without a stipend. UK schools get an exception because as a non UK resident you will have to pay tuition (funding is possible, but not a given), although the schools (in certain areas) are some of the best. Attached to a Research Institution. Bigger schools have more resources, offer more opportunities for inter-disciplinary studies, and typically host more conferences and speakers. Length of influence in the field. Your PhD will attach you to the legacy of research at your doctoral institution. E Current Faculty and their publications. This typically is more of an intra-tier factor. If you are looking at Biblical Studies or Theology, some standalone seminaries have more well-known scholars than graduate schools at larger institutions. However, due to #1 and #3 and #6 standalone seminaries are typically relegated to tier 2 status (Princeton Theological being the typical exception). Placement rating of graduates. Not always published. Not always a factor in online rankings. Personally, because of the current state of the job market, this has to be taken into account. Overall University prestige. Your best bet is to apply to fully funded programs at large research institutions, that are well known and respected in their own right, with an established faculty that has at least professor who could be an adviser for your potential dissertation topic. If you have a specific subject matter within the field of Religious Studies you are interested in, let us know and someone may be able to point you in the direction of the topic schools in that area.

@nandoswitharando, you're welcome. The Craft of Research, in my opinion, provides the most help in section three of the book "Making A Claim and Supporting It." Since that is exactly what you do with an Issue essay, it is a great resource. Also, for a pdf copy: http://course.sdu.edu.cn/G2S/eWebEditor/uploadfile/20140306165625006.pdf

I would put this around a 4 (but really, just guessing). Reasons: Your evidence does not fully support your thesis. You list an example of computer science majors when the issue at stake is all students. You need to argue with more general statements and then offer specific proofs. Your opposition argument is not strong. You state cost as a factor but then you directly move to time to graduation. While cost and time are linked, you did not link them. You left the reader to assume a correlation. Moreover, you do not prove that the prompt is motivated by financial concerns. Contrary evidence to your thesis. In your second paragraph, ethics is the only issue you explore. Later you propose an "ethics for computer scientists course" which by its very name would have "a direct bearing on their future courses." In arguing in this way you actually support the prompt you are arguing against. All your ideas were limited by the prompt. No creative insights. In this way, you have agreed with the unwritten assumptions of the prompt: e.g., that a student going to a university actually knows what they want to do or what they are able to do. Always interact with the assumptions of the prompt. Only one paragraph of for evidence. While you add additional for evidence in your opposition paragraph, you do not interact with the issue on different fronts. Tips: Make sources up! Really. This is one of the best kept GRE secrets. If you have a prompt about education, just make up a statistic or a quote from Harvard or Yale or someone about the subject, interact with it, and use it to support your thesis. Also do it for the opposition. This takes creativity and may take practice before the exam to do well. Because you can't look up sources, you are allowed to make them up! (I did! Scored a 5.5). Argue with general statements with specific examples. Argue your thesis with 2-3 claims with 1-2 proofs for each claim. Transitions, transitions, transitions. For example is not a way to begin a paragraph in a GRE essay. They want topic sentences. Write with more certainty. Making up sources will help you sound more certain. Instead of "computer science majors generally do not include ethics requirements" try "A 2014 survey of computer science majors published by MIT reported that less that 5% of computer science programs require an ethics class as part of the curriculum." You will need to write as an authority on a subject about which you are not. At this point, some creative BS really will help you. Set the limitations of your essay early. If you establish two parts of the issue you will talk about and do so in depth, you will be given more leniency for not including other possibilities. Lastly, if you have time read the Craft of Research. It will make you a better writer and researcher. It probably will help improve your GRE score.

I will try to give you some hope but not a false hope. (Former Seminary Admissions Counselor here.) First, non-ATS to ATS transfers can happen, but they rarely will happen. Also, the transfer amount from one degree to another is small. In your case, I would assert that there might (and that may be a generous word) be a chance for three hours to transfer. Second, within an ATS accredited institution not every student actually has to meet the admissions requirements. At my former school of employment (SACS and ATS accredited) up to 10% of students within a specific degree program could be admitted under special provisions (in the case of the D.Min. it was most often the waiving of the M.Div. requirement for those who had 2 M.A.'s or something of the sort). Third, since there is actually wiggle room in the requirements the first thing you need to do is talk with the Director of any Doctor of Ministry program you are looking at, explain your situation, and ask if there is the possibility for an exception to be made. Granted, since your M.Div. is not ATS accredited you will have a harder time. Also, looking at Luther Rice, they now have at least ABHE accreditation. If your M.Div. has that accreditation attached to it you will still have a chance. Either case, talk with the Director about additional steps that could be taken to prove your capability (GRE, 12 hours at the MA level from an ATS accredited institution with a 3.5+ GPA [better than a full M.Div.], etc.). Fourth, do not set your heart on a single school. If you want an ATS accredited D.Min., you will need to take any chance that is given because it may not come again. Fifth, ask first, apply later. There is no reason you need to fill out a single application to anywhere before you hear back from the Director that there is a possibility for you to be accepted. At the end of the day, if your M.Div. does not have ABHE accreditation at least, you will be hard pressed to find a seminary willing to offer you the chance to pursue a D.Min. apart from those that are not ATS accredited. As noted above, some schools won't admit those without an ATS accredited degree. Because you are looking at a Doctor of Ministry degree, less schools are going to be able or willing to allow exceptions than if you were looking at doing an MA at a school without capped enrollment.

As marXian and cowgirlsdont cry have already state, but I cannot emphasize this enough, have faculty review your paper. I had a flaw in the reasoning that I overlooked. A professor was able to point it out and help me correct it before I submitted my paper. That change may have saved me from rejections across the board. Perhaps first have faculty other than your references review your paper. Then fix your paper. Then go and have your references review it, especially if your writing has significantly improved since your last class with them. I used a paper from a PhD seminar I took as a ThM student. I then revised the paper and added German and French sources to demonstrate my aptitude with those languages. What you need to do with the paper before submission will also vary. Some schools do blind reviews. You may be given an ID number to replace your name with. I would recommend connecting with current students at your prospective schools and asking what they have done since it does vary from school to school. Also, get all of the requirements for schools sorted out before you begin editing. I had schools that varied up to 13 pages in acceptable length of paper submissions. (12-15 pages being the shortest [double spaced] and 20-25 being the longest.) Do include a works cited. It is helpful for the reviewers to have a common location to review your sources. While not necessary, it is helpful.

In my experience, I only visited one school because I was already passing through town (no extra money spent there!). The discussion I had with the Director of Graduate Studies was very beneficial as he gave me information about applications and the program that were not posted anywhere online. Moreover, he walked me through what they really look for in applications from the essay all the way to GRE scores. The visit, however, did not mean I got in (I was waitlisted as there were only two spots available). The program I was accepted to was one in which I never set foot on campus (skype interview). In fact, I had never spoken with them before the offer of an interview. I would say if there is a school you are very interested in and are not able to meet up with professors at conferences and they do not have a lot published online about the program, feel free to visit but not if you are spending hundreds of dollars to do so. Also, if you are not comfortable with contacting professors until you have met them in person (just do it anyways), you could find a visit to be helpful. However, until you are accepted your goal is to make your application the best it can be. While a visit may help you tailor your application to a specific school, it is often better to save the time and money, email professors and current students, and take the saved time and make your paper and essays better (and current school work, as references are often make or break it).

Marquette's MA programs have pretty good placements into good PhD programs. Additionally, if you are looking at working at an Evangelical school don't rule out Marquette just because it's Catholic. They have a great track record of placing their PhD graduates into Christian Liberal Arts Schools, both Catholic and Evangelical. Funding should be taken into account. Milwaukee is cheaper cost of living than Chicago. Plus you have full funding. (But I must admit I do have some bias as I will be starting my PhD program at Marquette this fall.)

Due to the nature of the MTS and MDiv degrees, there would be overlap in coursework. Speaking from my experience as an admissions counselor for a conservative seminary, typically the rule for transfer credit for an a conferred degree is that either up to half of the conferred degree could be transferred in or the conferred degree may take the degree applied for down to a critical mass (typically 75 credits for an MDiv, either 30 or 48 for an MA depending on the school). A second master's will not hurt you in your applications. I applied with an MA and ThM and while some schools seemed oblivious to my ThM, the coursework it offered allowed me to exceed application requirements (always a plus). However, in the age of interdisciplinary studies your best bet may to apply to a top school in a field outside of religious studies for an MA (think Philosophy, History, Sociology, Anthropology, etc.). If you already have enough coursework to meet the application requirements for your top PhD choices, then an MA in another relevant field may make you stand out over those with only degrees in theology/religious studies.

I just got my rejection email from Emory after not hearing anything from them since I submitted my application.