[2009 Application: Religion-Theology-Philosophy of Religion]

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.

[2009 Application: Religion-Theology-Philosophy of Religion]

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...

[2009 Application: Religion-Theology-Philosophy of Religion]

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.