sayf

Anyone here get into BU GSAS Religion?

I whole-heartedly agree with you on cultivating interests outside academia. This must be done from the get-go. Getting tunnel vision will just hurt one at a later point.

Look at where your potential advisors' former students are now if you can.

All others factors held equal (including quality of your own work), the prestige of your advisor and school/department will have an impact on where you find work. No doubt about it.

That makes sense. Even the big schools have taken a massive hit. Got waitlisted to two school based on reduced intake for this year. So my experience corroborates with option 2. I think more schools should have suspended admissions, to be honest but I don't know the implications for that. At-least that way, a lot of candidates would have saved the energy to apply. It's a crapshoot, really. And if I am not mistaken, Yale does not take a very large cohort to begin with. So reduced really means almost next to nothing for a lot of these schools.

Thanks! wonder whether these numbers are going to normalize for the next cycle or not...

Hi, do you know how many spots there are in a "regular" cycle? To put things into perspective.

Didn't hear back. Had my interview two weeks ago. Surprised, I thought I would make it but it seems not.

I think that's a positive view of looking at the situation. In my experience, fit has become the main factor this cycle given how reduced spots are. Yeah, USC has very narrow preferences for what kinds of students they want given it's such a small program. My top choice was not even accepting applicants this year, so I am getting major fomo.

Second this. From what I know, it varies from school as to how they manage sub-field quotas.

Hi, no info on that front, sorry!

Yes, I know someone who had their interview early in Feb.

that is correct. according to NELC PhD, they are only taking 1-2 students.

Thanks for your response. That's helpful! Did these current students mention if their advisors actually have time for them? Funding is always important—although Cambridge is expensive regardless. The issue I heard from someone with experience there was that the committee is not really a department with a strong core. In any case, most relg departments are fairly interdisciplinary across the board. What are your areas of interest and who are you looking to work with there if you don't mind sharing?

Hi, what's the tea on Harvard Religion? I was told that the department is an organizational mess and that students were just number and word "toxic" was thrown around but would be interested if that's not accurate.

Thank you for your detailed response. It was indeed helpful. I agree that your work matters more than the department per se but I have just been tracking data which would support the hypothesis that religion (as a field) has slightly better prospects (again, very contingent on other factors). In any case, I agree and plan to stay with the rlstudies track!

hi folks, glad to see this thread. I have a quick question if anyone wants to chime in: I can potentially do my phd at either a department of religion or an area studies department focusing on religion, so that's not the issue. my concern is that i have been trained in religious studies in my MA and would like to keep it that way. for this particular school that I am thinking about, the poi is core faculty in both but I only applied for area studies as religion was not taking applicants. I feel like area study does poorly in the job market, and I am not a huge fan of the program structure compared to the relg studies program. So, I am a bit concerned, any thoughts?

hi friends, long-time lurker, have an interview coming up this week. any last-minute tips for a nervous colleague? Thanks!

Good day, Is anyone here attenting UChicago this fall for an MA in Religion? Thanks.