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Care to share any insight you may have gathered on their process? Is their cycle essentially over? I'm not too anxious anymore, as I've received an admission at a program that is a better fit for my interests, but I am curious.

Admitted to Iowa!

Anybody apply to and hear back from Iowa? Or know anything about where they are at? They have a late application deadline (Jan 15.) and they tend to have a later time frame, but IDK what is normal for them.

Rejected from Northwestern at 11:00am today.

I also applied to UCSB! I haven’t heard anything. However, by looking st results from previous years, it seems as if they don’t send out decision until March. Have you heard anything?

Same boat. You're not alone. I received one rejection that was expected, but total silence from the others. I really do wish programs would inform those they reject as soon as they are passed over and put to the side.

I applied to 6 programs... 4 religious studies programs and 2 ethnic studies programs... I've heard back from one (rejection) and total silence from the others...the silence is getting unnerving.

This is not a super annoying question. I think we all share similar anxieties about being good enough for admissions to graduate programs. I can speak from my experience someone who was admitted to HDS, but ultimately decided not to attend and instead pursued an M.A./PhD program. I don't know what happens behind close doors during admissions committee meetings. My response is based on my own application experience and on conversations with admissions and students. You are right that applicants to HDS are already a self-selecting group. I don't think you need to worry about taking courses at a community college or local university unless your grades in humanities classes were particularly weak. Your GPA is adequate for HDS but not stellar (I say this with all due respect, speaking from the imagined perspective of someone in admissions). Therefore, I think shooting to have a verbal score on the GRE of 160+ will boost your chances. I truly do think HDS takes a holistic approach to the admissions process, so if you can demonstrate that you have a compelling reason or pursuing an MTS and an interest in religious studies, that will count for a lot. Make sure that it is well-written. I am assuming that the "unrelated" field you majored in was a non-humanities field. Consequently, they will want to see that you can write well. It seems that you have a sincere desire to go into religious studies. Highlight that and explain why! Best of luck! I want to be clear that this is just one person's perspective based on going through the application process at HDS and being admitted. But then again, much of what we do on this forum is purely speculation.

Disclosure: I am at SLU right now, although in a different department. You are right. From what I know, all of their PhD graduates from last Spring have landed jobs. I don't know if these were all TT jobs, or even attractive jobs, but hey, that tells you something. This isn't a scientific answer, but my interpretation on the matter. I think SLU, like the city of St. Louis, is often overlooked. It's a good school, but lives in the shadow of WashU at the local level and Notre Dame and Boston College in the Catholic context.

Conservative. Not very diverse. Recently went through some internal turmoil. They have an interim chair this semester, as the previous one stepped down mid last semester. I kid you not, the interim chair before this interim chair was someone with a biology background.....yes, biology. To be fair, the scholars that they do have are solid. You will get a good, conservative, theological education. Not amazing, but solid and not looked down upon by anyone.

I don't know that it is necessarily frowned upon, as I assume that professors know that people have different timelines to accept jobs, other PhD offers, etc., and people want to know where the process is at. This is my second PhD application cycle, and I only e-mailed one professor during the last cycle. What I will say from that experience is that I don't think reaching out will really give you a any clearer sense of where the process is at. I e-mailed the professor I wanted to work with in late February and they e-mailed back saying they were still deliberating. Of course, this wasn't technically a lie, although it is now clear I had not made the cut. I think they are still "deliberating" until they have filled their incoming cohort.

Good info. So, if I am reading your post correctly, if you have not received an invitation for a skype interview from Northwestern at this point, you can assume you did not make the cut?

Mmmmhhhh. This would seem to be another bit of evidence suggesting that there were/are fewer applicants to religious studies/theology programs this year.

I applying for American Religion I applied to Religious Studies programs at UC Santa Barbara, Northwestern, and Iowa. I also applied to Mexican American Studies at UT Austin and Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. My research topic of interest remains the same, just different avenues to get at it.

Man. I'm looking through the 2018 PhD admissions cycle thread for religion and it seems like at this time this year there was a lot more activity both in terms of posting and interviews. Maybe that is a sign that it was a down year for applications? Pure speculation.