impetri

That's interesting that you have an M.Div and an MA. I've noticed that getting two MAs is quickly becoming the norm. Sure, I'll add Ugaritic after a weekend's study, Sanskirt after looking it over for a day, and heck, I'll figure out Cypro-Minoan before school starts in September.

Oddly, I didn't consider seven programs to be a "big" list. Your programs seem to be a nice fit for what you want to study. I don't envy you though -- theology is a bit more competitive (I think) than esoteric language study. U Chicago would be a dream for you, I think, but insane to get into. What is your background, if you don't mind me asking? Sadly, I don't have Ugaritic yet. I'm adding Akkadian this fall though...

1. Where are you definitely applying / not applying? I'm going to definitely apply: Harvard Johns Hopkins Berkeley U Wisc. Madison Catholic University of America Brandeis M.T.S. Harvard Div (only because they have all my materials on file from the last round, and I just have to send three more things and my app will be complete) Not entirely sure (I plan on putting a lot of energy into the above applications, so I don't know if I"ll have time for the following): U Mich U Toronto NYU 2. What discipline(s)? (Religion, Theology, PR) PhD - Hebrew Bible, with an emphasis on textual criticism and Northwest Semitic languages Secondary interests: Afro-Asiatic Semitic languages and morphology, Northwest Semitic epigraphy 3. What did you learn from the last round? 1) Nothing is guaranteed - have a back up plan. 2) You can always make yourself competitive in some way - don't stress yourself out that you can't do everything. 3) GPA / GRE won't get you in - invest on your personal statement.