demondeac

I want to study with Bloechl and Kearney since my interests are generally in continental philosophy of religion and philosophical/theological anthropology. Both were far and away the nicest professors I had contact with this whole interview season, responding quickly, in detail, and with a general enthusiasm for my application. I know this likely will not transmit to an admit, but if I was in the Boston area I would most certainly take a few courses with them. How about you? You have philosophy of religion interest as well, right?

Congratulations! It's a great program, so best of luck. That's a negative on my end. Could be the second de facto rejection this week. :?

Any folks out there applying to BC's philosophy program? I just visited the program and must say I was pretty damn impressed. They did say that they started looking at applications on Friday, and there are 255 applications from which they will select around 5 folks. With a slightly under 2% acceptance rate, I'm thinking it's a long shot...

Many Americans may not be familiar with the UK's system; I know I wouldn't be if not for a few good friends who studied at Oxford. As far as the vacuous impressions that I have (as well as others) is that Aberdeen is a good place for philosophical theology, Oxford depends with whom you study, and a Cambridge degree can be had for the right price (I apologize, this really is just hearsay). But really, apart from American ignorance (myself at the forefront) a UK degree is what you make of it, so if you put the effort in, publish accordingly, I'm sure your job search would go swimmingly, as they say. On another note, anyone know if Emory has sent out all its invitations for the visitation weekend? I'm dying here knowing that they've sent at least some emails out!

The hammer has started to drop folks...two posts on the results for folks invited to Emory GDR's interview weekend. Both by email, one on January 21, the second on January 24. The fact that there is some lag between the two leaves a glint of hope that various sub-committees may email at different times than others. Still, I think I'm going go throw up now. :shock:

I would say it sounds a bit like that old game "telephone" The way it was explained to me by the graduate secretary there (who is probably the nicest I've met through this whole process) is that they try to make offers to the people with the best credentials who really fit in the program, so they don't anticipate many of them declining to go elsewhere. If they do decline (and some do), their spot is offered to another candidate (though a bit later in the process). If I remember correctly they are not allowed (by the Uni) to make more offers than they have funded fellowships, so this would mean that they would almost HAVE to pick folks who will attend or they will miss out by extending offers late in the game. With this in mind, I wouldn't be surprised if they made contact with a letter of recommendation writer with whom they were acquainted, to try and surmise how serious the student was about the program. If the student is likely going somewhere else, then they have to go with another student. It is interesting to see how university policies can affect this whole process. Oh and if there are any Vandy adcomm lurkers out there...I'd totally go there! :mrgreen:

From the more consistent programs to which I am applying, I am actually starting to predict the highest probability dates based on this analysis. I love it; next Tuesday is make or break, baby!

The poll only allows 10 spots unfortunately... but professional ministry is (hopefully) a form of practical theology... so I guess theology would be the appropriate category (I hope theology isn't just the academic study of dusty concepts!).

So I start off apologizing. I am interested in what fields of study most people are interested in, and I am maddeningly bored by waiting for any news on applications. I ask this question assuming multiple, complex identities beyond such "common designations", and noting the objection that "Religion" is philosophically modern notion that cannot be more than perhaps a Wittgensteinian family-resemblance term. This is why I absolutely love this field. No simple questions without myriad objections, clarifications, and disclaimers! If I neglected your discipline, I am sorry...maybe you should post more often so I would remember it! I almost forgot "ethics", so I probably forgot a few major fields. Sorry ethicists.

So applications are in...for the most part. I am daily learning how unreliable the registrar-to-grad school connection can be. I had one program that was missing every transcript (3 schools, two copies each), though I have to suspect that this had more to do with disorganization at the grad school than the three registrars sending the transcripts. Letters of Recommendation also have a funny way of disappearing and needing resending. So I am in the totally anxious waiting period. Every day I do what I call "phd fidgeting" and check gradcafe, applyingtograd, etc. If I'm extra neurotic I might check the status updates at my programs. What are you all doing? Anyone else waiting for the earlier programs (like Emory's invitation-only interview weekend)?

I disagree; if you are applying to schools in the South, a football rec letter will be all you need. You wouldn't want to cloud up all that gridiron glory. But in all seriousness, it would make a great fourth letter showing drive and (gasp) non-academic interests.

So Baylor's Religion program has notified their short list for interviews...why the hell didn't I apply to Baylor? Oh right, Texans.

All in all 12 PhD apps..wife is applying to medical residencies so thought I would play the probabilities. Now if only I could find out before she has to commit in mid Feb....

7 Rejections outright 1 Waitlist then rejection 4 Acceptances (3 at lower tier, partial funding, admit-em-all and let Benjamin Franklin sort em out) Leaving one funded Admission....maybe? :cry:

Last I heard the National Research Council was set for publishing its updated PhD program rankings, including religion programs, around April 2009. Just in time to be completely irrelevant to all our use for this year's apps . I was able to find this highly irrelevant list from the last one in 1995, but I thought I'd post it as I have to do something other than be completely neurotic about waiting on PhD apps. Here' the link: http://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Major/PhDprograms.htm So I'm looking for crappy work while I finish my thesis, and if the absence of even the most demeaning jobs is any indication, the economy is in a world of hurt. When a Bachelors in Business Administration and real management experience can't get you a job whose sole requirement is a high school diploma, I can only hope that PhDland becomes a real possibility.

I ended up sending each recommender a pound of homemade, southern-style pralines. Nothing says thank you like little brown drops of obesity.

I will give you as much congratulations as a Wake Forest MDiv grad can give....remember it takes a Demon Deacon to beat a Blue Devil!

I have one last recommender who will not get his letters out literally until the day they are due when I call and ask. I gave him the packet of organized letters (stamped addressed envelopes attached to each form) in September. What can I say, academics live up to their reputation as the "absent-minded" professors!

So I have a theory. Increasing number of applicants only decreases the probability of admission if every applicant is reasonably comparable. Like the lotto, more people buy tickets, the less likely you are to win (and some have compared the PhD admission process to a lottery, but we have to agree it is not ENTIRELY random, even if sometimes irrational). But instead of the lottery analogy, think of more like the NFL draft... Only the very best few athletes are selected in the draft. First round draft picks seldom turn down an opportunity to go into the NFL, because when you're that good you will go regardless of economic conditions. The majority of the players who sign up for the draft and get drafted in the later rounds don't make it, hands down. Even if more players sign up, these players are doomed to not be selected. The point is the most qualified people were probably the ones already applying, regardless of economic conditions. And PhD apps are like getting drafted in the First Round, since there are probably only 32 funded spots or so. Maybe if you're a second-rounder (i.e. Waitlisted or not funded) and you'll make it in off the waitlist, but the odds are against you. So the moral of the story is a Calvinist one: as they say in the South "you either is, or you isn't". Even if you "is", there are no guarantees of getting in. But if you "isn't", you definitely aren't getting in (or affecting other people's chances). And thus the applications can decide whether you are elect or not! Now that I think of it I never really liked Calvin anyway...

In speaking with the Vandy faculty, it's a very interesting blend of different interests. My interests are similar to yours in the sense of continental philosophy being an important resource for Christian theology (though I'm not as well versed in the psychoanalytic forms like Lacan), yet several of the faculty are more what I would call "old-school"/confessional/dogmatic/systematic theologians that seems to be a less viable approach (based on publications, young faculty, and AAR sessions). One of the faculty asked what my methodology was...I was a little taken back that we were about to lay out a systematic theology right there in his office! That's not to say I'm naive about not having a methodology (in some senses of the word) but in others (esp. Gadamer's critique of methodological hermeneutics) it reflects a Christian tradition that is literally frozen in its early twentieth-century resistance to any resource outside the Christian tradition (human and natural sciences, philosophy, etc.). Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now :roll: Just submitted Vandy, time to get on Chicago like a corrupt Governor...

There was a post from last year (I remember vaguely) of someone who had two MA's in the exact same discipline (different institutions) and he/she had said that programs asked him/her what exactly he/she hoped to accomplish other than spiralling debt. I tend to agree, and an MDiv as one of the degrees opens quite a few possibilities that an MA cannot (religiously-affiliated, small, liberal arts colleges!). Achowa00, I shared your reticence to do an entire MA in philosophy (since my interests are primarily in theology), but it is quite helpful for understanding most contemporary theological streams which presume quite a bit of philosophy. I'm reading through Tillich's Systematic, vol. 1 and I just don't know how intelligible the second half would be without having read Heidegger and other existentialists/phenomenologists. It's certainly understandable without having read them, but understanding it as situated within the intellectual stream (rather than just theological) seems important. Studyordie, I'm definitely going to start using "theologicalish" in regular conversation to describe myself.

I don't want to repeat to many posts on the rest of the site, but you should always send your strongest letters, and by that vague term I'm assuming you just have to weigh possible values like quality/quantity of your study with the prof, the prof's overall academic reputation (which you are asking him or her to leverage), and the prof's network of friends and colleagues who may give you a "leg up" on the competition. Are you interested in Second Temple studies? That's at least what I think of with Judaism and Christianity in antiquity, but we theologues try not to bother ourselves with those trifling textual matters unless it supports what we've already said.

They didn't give me a precise cut-off, unfortunately. One would think that if they had the cutoff, they would have no reason to keep it secret; people who didn't make it wouldn't apply, which would mean fewer apps to consider (but I suppose that limits the funding aspect of applications...welcome to academic$). All the prof did was make funny faces at my 670v and ask if I was retaking it (so I suppose there is the inferential step, no matter how small). The prof did say my quant score (750) was better than most of their applicants, but maybe he was just trying to soften over the fact that the score that really matters wasn't up to snuff. Anybody else have any concrete information on any hidden requirements? T

Amazing...they actually didn't charge me for sending the wrong scores, and actually stopped my pending score request when I asked them (even though they legally could have still taken my money). And now you can request scores online to avoid an employee punching in the wrong numbers and sending the wrong scores to your programs. The future's looking up ETS!

There is a little more "balance" with analytic interests at GA st, so you're probably right on that account. I was never a big fan of analytic either. As for continental MA programs, off the top of my head are Loyola Chicago, Depaul, and Fordham. All have strong interest in more French continental philosophy, but I understand the drive to just want to get the PhD done and over with. After an MDiv and now an MA in philosophy, it's getting a bit old, though there is no substitute for having philosophical foundations. On a broader note, applications are coming along: I've settled in at a modest 12 applications and have proverbially bit off more than I can chew. I was able to schmooze a little at the American Academy of Religion meeting in Chicago, which was quite a bit of fun. Now begins the litany of emails to professors that I wasn't able to glad-hand in person. I never thought it would take so long to compose a simple, 10 sentence email, but it takes forever. Also got back my retaken GRE scores, and I'm pretty happy (V 670 95%, Q750 89%, AW 6.0 97%) except for those engineers and science types who ruin the Quant percentile rank for the rest of us.