Dewey

You are now in the power position (congrats), so I wouldn’t over-analyze it too much. Your email sounds fine. I might ask if there will be “official” visiting days sponsored by the department and/or graduate school that you can coordinate around. This is from a philosophy blog, but some relevant stuff to consider, too: https://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2014/03/some-advice-to-prospective-graduate-students-visiting-departments.html

Thank you!! It’s been a whirlwind; I’m 3a/2r/3pending.

Sorry for the misinformation! I do know for a fact that they have made their decisions (according to a friend in the dept.). I assume it’s an administrative thing that’s left for them to do.

Hmph, perhaps my bird was misinformed!

In my interview for Yale, it seemed way more about getting a sense of me as a potential colleague, rather than just expanding on my application. They didn't ask about my writing sample (though I brought it up at one point), but did ask some questions about my background outside of academia (this likely matters more for so-called "normative" subfields like ethics/philosophy/theology than the so-called "descriptive" subfields), and also about why religious studies (as opposed to politics or philosophy - both of which I could potentially fit into). They had content-based questions related to my proposal that I was mostly prepared for. All in all, I found it to be a pleasant experience - a conversation rather than a defense.

I heard from a lil birdie that Columbia will be emailing everybody tomorrow.

After I let some time pass, I eventually reached out to professors at places where I was considering re-applying to ask their thoughts. One essentially told me that I got burned on timing (they didn't accept students in my subfield that year), another gave more substantive feedback. I had more to go on the second time around - the first time I was still in an MA program; the second time I had completed a MA thesis and had a clearer picture of a potential research project based on that thesis. I was able to reference specific authors, texts, etc. more confidently, and (I think) had a more compelling case to make for myself in my personal statement. As for a writing sample, I actually submitted the same one, but I revised portions of it substantially. One thing I noticed was that in some recent journals, there were articles that intersected with what I was doing in my writing sample (and sometimes by professors at the institutions I was applying to!), so I updated the sample to reflect that. Hope that helps - happy to talk more about it if you DM me.

Accepted at Yale! Rejected by everything last year, this year accepted to my two top choices.

I think soitgoes was referring to PhD programs, which release decisions considerably earlier. Last year Yale’s PhD decisions came out around February 15 (give or take a day or two). Chicago was the same day, if I remember correctly (it was a lot of rejections for me in one day!). MTS/MAR/MA won’t be until March, I’d bet. It’s curious why Yale is taking so long! Interviews happened a few weeks ago.

I was accepted to Brown via email today (Religion and Critical Thought subfield). This is my second time applying, after a round of 6 “NO” replies. For personal reasons, I am not even sure if I’ll enter a PhD program next Fall (there’s a lot going on in the background here that I won’t get into), but just wanted to tell people who don’t get in the first round that hope is not lost!

Congrats! What subfield? I did my MA at Columbia and still know a lot of the students there. There are some great folx around.

Technically, all PhD departments at Yale are supposed to interview, assuming this policy is still in effect. That said, I'm sure there are professors out there who don't do it. My interview is later today, but it seems like it will be just a brief chat on the phone.

I did my undergrad at Princeton years ago. It would be wise to read some articles/books from the current key players in the REP subfield. The senior faculty include Andrew Chignell, Eric Gregory, and Leora Batnitzky. To the extent that analytic/continental distinctions matter, Chignell is the most deeply steeped in Anglo-American philosophy, and does a lot of work on Kant as it pertains to analytic philosophy of religion (read any of his articles on Kant to get a taste). Gregory is more likely to be the adviser if you are interested in Christian ethics/theology. His approach tends to be more “analytic” also, as the field of religious ethics tends to be (it bears a lot of similarities to political theory and moral/political philosophy, with *perhaps* a greater appreciation for culture and/or history than those fields typically allow for). I’d take a look at his book on Augustine and liberalism. It’s pretty representative of the sort of style he operates in / traditions he takes part in. I don’t know much about Batnitzky, but she would be someone to research if you are interested in Judaic studies and the associated figures (Levinas, etc.). The sort of poststructuralist, deconstructivist, phenomenological approaches (to lump a few distinct traditions haphazardly together) that you find used by people working in theology at, say, Chicago are in short supply in the Princeton department. I’m sure there are students there who do work that feels more “continental,” but I would imagine that they are swimming upstream to a certain extent. Ultimately, though, I would read some of their stuff and see if you take to it. If you do, I’m sure by looking at their footnotes you can determine what sort of courses would be favorable to take in your MDiv program. Good luck!

Received an interview request yesterday for Yale, PhD in Religious Ethics. This is my second time applying.