jmiiller

Thanks so much for the tips!

Hi! I was hoping to gauge the strength of my application for some of the more liberal divinity schools (that accept agnostics, atheists, etc.) -- Harvard being the school that is my top choice at the moment. The admissions criteria seem somewhat vague and that has left me feeling unsure of where I stack up currently with regards to admissions. I am interested in Existentialism (e.g. Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, Sartre, Camus, Nietzche, etc.), Existential Psychology (e.g. Irvin Yalom, Rollo May, Victor Frankl, Ernst Becker), and I also have my feet in related social psychology (Terror Management Theory and the Meaning Maintenance Model). I also have side interests in Chinese philosophy and Buddhism, and will be taking Mandarin courses before I graduate. My goal is to become a spiritual care practitioner in a palliative setting or another comparable setting. - Currently in my third year of Philosophy at a top Canadian university. - 4.20/4.33 GPA - 9 months experience as a research assistant in two psychology labs. (The first does research into Terror Management Theory and the Meaning Maintenance Model. The second was language development research in Infants.) - 3 years experience as a Residence Advisor (where I provide social, academic, and emotional support to students and refer them to resources on campus.) - 16 months experience as a software engineer. (I did my first two years of undergrad in Physics and Computer Science and then worked for a year, before deciding I didn't want to go down that path.) - I will be taking the GRE this summer. - I'm planning to have my letters of recommendation come from 1) A Philosophy professor who is a Kierkegaard and philosophy of religion scholar (I expect this to be strong) 2) A Psychology professor who focuses on Cultural Psychology, Terror Management Theory, and the Meaning Maintenance Model 3) Possibly another professor or a supervisor from my time as a Residence Advisor. I am unsure whether I should apply in my last year of undergrad, or if I should take some time off after undergrad to work full-time and volunteer to strengthen my application further. How am I looking right now? Are there any glaring holes that I need to fix to be competitive? How can I strengthen this application? Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to read this!