MattSolo

Oh dear heavens... I had what must have been a mini-heart attack. Vanderbilt Divinity School (Admissions Dept.) had the bright idea to send off two emails (spaced apart). My apple watch could only show the sender and I freaked out. However, upon closer look, they are just advertisements for the programs at the school. >.< #hopeyourlaughing

It also seems like, based on previous reports, certain people could be getting a phone call or email from Vanderbilt this week (even possibly tomorrow). Likewise, Duke might trickle out some apps (and Princeton maybe along with them?). Sigh. The stress just keeps growing. lol

It's hard to say. They're all such great schools! By the way, financial aid decisions are going out to Emory/Candler students by Wednesday for those wanting to know.

Just as a heads up to others who are curious about who is hearing back from who... I heard back from Boston U at the beginning of February (got accepted and was offered possibility of free tuition) and I got a phone call from Emory/Candler earlier this week congratulating me on an acceptance (no financial aid mentioned yet). Exciting times! Did anyone else get into Emory or Boston?

Just as an update, for those that follow my stats and want to know what happened: 1. I got an email from Boston University's School of Theology a week or so ago alerting me that I had been accepted and was being considered for a full tuition scholarship. 2. Emory's Candler School of Theology gave me a phone call in the morning (literally woke me up out of sleep) in order to congratulate me on being accepted. No news on financial aid. Crossing my fingers for the rest to see how things go. But it's so exciting to know that I have options! haha

You have no idea how much that information has set my soul at ease. I was worried I needed a 167V to be competitive enough to get into HDS.

Thanks. It was very exciting. Glad to hear that about the quant score. So then, ignoring the Quant, do you think that the 163V is competitive for HDS? Or Chicago?

Sure, it was JSOT. I know I said that I wouldn't share my GRE scores, but the more that I've worried about HDS, the more I've thought about it. I got a 163V and 142Q. :/ Are my chances screwed by my chronic struggle with mathematics?

God, I hope you're wrong. haha I'm an intensely interdisciplinary individual, so I tried to pursue and develop myself in as many areas as I could in order to gain breadth and depth in more than one corner of academia. However, I realize there is the worry that someone may view, like you said, the multiple degrees negatively. I'm hopeful though that my essays, which outline a clear vision of my future and direction, will offset any such worries. It does. Their letters are, according to them, as glowing as anyone could hope. So one could hope that plays a positive role in admissions. The admissions office at YDS actually told me the opposite. They said that you shouldn't have famous people write a LOR for you unless they know you intimately well. Otherwise, they instructed me to choose little known professors at my school who knew me well over famous scholars I've studied with who knew me only partially well. They said they didn't care about name recognition, but rather paid close attention to the LOR's to see if the professor and student were on the same page. He said that if the essay didn't match the same spirit and tone for the LOR, they might decline admission. Likewise, he said that if a letter says the professor describes a student as "seemingly" anything or "potentially" anything, in other words, if they write like they don't know for sure, YDS admissions will hold that against the students application and assume the professor doesn't really know the student. So, at least at YDS, LOR's are taken quite serious. I'm a little iffy on that as well because of some language in my school's documents. However, it does appear that I am receiving 4 distinct degrees, though three of them are BA's. I believe I will get 2 printed degrees on graduation day, one for my 3 BA's and one for my 1 BFA. However, as I understand it, its technically 4 distinct degrees. I ended up taking over the government allowed limit of units (for financial aid), around 260. 900+ hours of credit. Took 5 years to do. I also did a pre-professional program in Pre-Seminary while I was at it, but that doesn't fit neatly with everything else (it just starts to get very convoluted). lol I have indeed. For those interested, the minor breaks down as 1. Koine Greek (2 years) 2. Biblical Hebrew (1 year) 3. Akkadian (1 quarter or year, since the applications don't allow less than a year) By the way, one other detail: I have already been published in a top peer-reviewed biblical studies journal. So I don't know if that will weigh heavy or not on the admissions committees.

Hey there fellow grad school applicants and students, I am finishing 4 Bachelors Degrees at my school (graduating this June). 1. Religious Studies (individual gpa: 4.0), 2. Archaeology (individual gpa: 3.9), 3. Philosophy (individual gpa: 4.0), 4. Film & Television (individual gpa: 3.95) (and a Minor in Biblical Languages) I am from a small denominational university on the West Coast of the US and come from an under-represented conservative denomination (though I myself am not) that doesn't often try to go to Ivy League schools. I have right now an overall GPA of about 3.96 (graduating diploma count) and a currently listed GPA on the transcript (which includes a non-college class) of 3.9. My GRE scores though are so baseline average, there's no point in mentioning them. Just consider it a possibly large negative. I am deeply passionate about the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism. I've applied to the following programs. 1. Yale Divinity School (MARc Second Temple Judaism) 2. Harvard Divinity School (MTS in Hebrew Bible) 3. Oxford University (MPhil Judaism and Christianity in Graeco-Roman World) 4. Princeton Theological Seminary (MTS) 5. Vanderbilt Divinity School (MTS) 6. Duke Divinity School (MTS) 7. Candler School of Theology at Emory (MTS) 8. Boston University School of Theology (MTS) 9. Union Theological Seminary (MA) Debating whether I should apply to University of Chicago Divinity School (since its after the priority financial deadline of Jan 8 and I have bad GRE). What are my chances of getting into any of them? I know that's a broad question, but I'm honestly worried (as any grad student is). My professors are far too confident in my abilities and chances and I'd rather hear from fellow students. Do you guys know anything about how these schools currently judge student applications in the admissions process? Thank you to everyone in advance!