EarlyXianity

Did anyone else who was rejected from Emory get an invitation to their ThM program? I'm just wondering how broadly that email was sent. Thanks!

I've not heard official word from Emory or Notre Dame, though I am pretty sure they will be rejections. I'm still waiting to hear from Catholic University, and am entirely in the dark about their process.

Anyone else passing time this week by keeping up with ( the marginally religious, mostly political curiosity) of the General Conference of the UMC?

Do you (or anyone else) know about CUA notifications for other fields? Or how the process works? I see Church History in the results and your response here, but I haven't heard anything at all. Trying to figure out if I should abandon all hope, or if I should still wait. It looks like responses through the years at CUA in theology have varied greatly in timing. Last year, rejections had gone out by now, but other years seemed to have been much later. I've heard nothing at all this year.

Congrats! That's big!

SMU rejection came through for me this morning, if that's helpful to anyone else.

Grinding it out in parish ministry and denominational responsibilities, and trying to watch a little NCAA basketball.

Does anyone around have any insights/insider knowledge about where Fordham, Catholic U, or SMU are in their processes?

At Notre Dame, the odds of getting in without an initial interview invitation are really slim. I didn't ask to learn if the process was changing this year, but last year, in Early Christianity, for instance, they invited 5 people for interviews for 2 available spots. At other schools, things work quite differently. Some fields will do interviews, and others will make decisions based off of applications. At Duke (GPR/Ph.D), decisions are not made by field. However many spots they have open, they invite that # of people to "interview" but it's really more of a preview day. If any of them, for some reason, don't matriculate, they move down their ranked list in order with offers. So, even if someone in New Testament doesn't matriculate, they might get replaced with someone in Theology and Ethics. I don't know anything about the BC process, so I'm as in the dark as you. There are some professors there with whom I would very much like to work, so I"d like to think that there are still possibilities there, but since they sent out some waitlist notifications, too, I'm not holding my breath.

Do you know more about how the admissions process works there? Do all acceptances go out at once? How many slots are available in each field? If no notification came yesterday, can one pretty well presume rejection? Thanks!

Your question isn't annoying, it's just a bit hard to answer with detail without knowing more. The short answer is, if you can afford to apply and you want to, why not? In general, most programs are going to look for something they would call "fit." Capacity to do the work (which stats can but don't necessarily indicate) is an important part of that, but they also want to know if your interests and strengths align with those of the faculty, if you're asking interesting questions, etc. I would imagine that there are a lot of people with your stats and background that get in to high quality MTS programs, but I don't know the numbers beyond anecdotal evidence. I don't know that classes at a community college / local university (mileage varies a great deal with the quality of faculty) will be helpful to build your resume/stats, but they might help you write a better personal statement and have a better sense of the field as you enter, helping you narrow focus for what you want to study and enter with a better working vocabulary for the work you'll be doing. It never hurts to call admissions offices, ask them if they have minimum requirements/what it takes to be competitive, and learn more about the admissions process. That would probably be one of the best places to start if you want a more direct answer about whether it's worth your time.

In addition to applying to the 1 or 2 year Fellowship through the TMC, you might also consider the Master's of Arts in Christian Practice (M.A.C.P), a 2 year hybrid degree.

I think that you're asking the right questions and admire your desire to bring all of these things together; we need more folks doing that kind of integrative work! I don't know what length timeline you have in mind as you think about expanding your knowledge base, how many hours a week you can give in attention to this more theological work, or what your facility is with languages, but I do have some concern that introductory Greek and Hebrew, historical theology, and theological ethics are all pretty demanding and time intensive subjects for people who can give nearly full-time attention to them. I think it would be really important to work right now to make sure that you're developing a realistic (as realistic as possible) sense for the scope of these fields and the time-investment it would demand. One way to do this would be to talk to people who are already doing this kind of work. One place that's trying to cultivate these conversations across the gulf between medicine practitioners and theological ethicists is the Theology, Medicine, and Culture initiative at Duke. As far as I know, there aren't not a lot of options for non-traditional degrees at Duke, but it couldn't hurt to learn more about their fellowship and to talk to some of the people associated with the program to see if they might be able to help you think through how you might focus and pursue some of your questions. Click around their website here: https://tmc.divinity.duke.edu I don't know where you're considering fellowships, but it wouldn't hurt to apply at Duke and other places that are doing excellent work in both medicine and theological ethics.

Are all the people who have heard so far internal applicants? If memory serves from last year (and it may not or things may have changed–just look at how many schools were responding by snail mail a few years ago), the reporting process for internal and external candidates is different. I think that internal candidates get an email more directly and external candidates are processed through a system at the graduate school that takes more time. Again, I may very well be wrong. What's certain is that not having an invitation this morning doesn't mean that one will not come.

Someone else might be able to quantify the difference, but I can't. I would say that I think it can help in a few particular ways, but one has to weigh that against the financial and time cost of making it happen. I think in terms of admissions, it can serve as a way to add a face and personality to the otherwise impersonal application, and thereby help you stand out. It also gives a chance to learn about what the program values in a way that can help tailor a personal statement to the distinct strengths of the school as seen from the inside. I'm not sure that it's a handicap if you don't visit as much as it may provide a leg up to have some semblance of a relationship with scholars and familiarity with the program.