sorenerasmus

Thanks again! I still never received a formal notice, but I ultimately called the grad school today and someone there was able to check on my status and inform me I wasn't admitted (the formal notice is going to be sent tomorrow, April 16 - yikes). It's not all bad news though as I accepted my offer to Oxford, which was always the goal! Best wishes to you as well ~~

Hi all ~ is anyone else still waiting for official notification from Vanderbilt’s GDR? After contacting them twice, I received a response at the end of last week that I will receive a letter “by the end of the week” this week, but decision deadlines are Thursday and Friday for my other programs (as well as Vanderbilt, technically). I’ll likely go elsewhere, but I would like to know all of my options before deciding. Does anyone happen to know anything about the inner workings of the department? The fact that they are two full weeks behind the graduate school’s own deadline for admissions results doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, especially since I received my other acceptances in late February and early March.

Thanks for sharing this - I reached out to the faculty who interviewed me for any updates on the process as well, since it’s been roughly 8 weeks since my offer and I don’t know my college placement yet. I kind of hope I can get some tentative update on funding before making a decision, because that could make quite a difference! Best wishes for your funding results as well ~

Of course! I am waiting for admissions results for the MA program (I’m finishing undergrad this spring). I hope there will be some movement if you’re waitlisted! It’s definitely rough to be awaiting results when decision deadlines are next week - but hopefully the waiting will be worth it ?

I got a response that all results should be released this coming week (for the GDR). It will be pretty close up against the decision deadline it seems, but I’m in the same boat waiting with you! Hang in there ~

I also haven’t heard anything ~ I’ve been waiting with bated breath today since the Graduate School site lists March 31 as the day admissions decisions are/we’re supposed to be released. I’m debating emailing the department tomorrow (?) to see if they can provide any update on the timeline.

Hi everyone! I’m wondering if anyone has practical advice/experience regarding the process of inquiring about more scholarship funding at a particular school - prior to having official funding offers at other programs. I’ve seen posts about this in other forums, but I’d appreciate thoughts from other rel. studies folks. I applied to 3 master’s programs and have received 2 acceptances with one pending (decisions to be released March 31). For one program, I’m still waiting for an official funding notification in the coming weeks, and for the other (UChicago Divinity) I received a partial scholarship but not enough for me to actually go there (congrats to the people with full scholarships/stipends!). I’m debating whether/how to engage with UChicago about this, because I am partly hoping to be reconsidered for a larger scholarship but also curious about their decision making process for my original offer. My current faculty advisors (who both went to UChicago for their master’s) were maybe overconfident in my funding prospects there, so when I received my acceptance and scholarship offer I was honestly disappointed ? (For context, my undergrad is in religious studies, my GPA is ~3.96, and I’ve held a research assistantship along with doing honors independent research and a special thesis program. Since applying I also had an article accepted for publication, received a research award, and got into Phi Beta Kappa, but I don’t know of a way to casually drop this info into an email exchange haha.) At this point I know I’ll likely go to a program other than UChicago, and this concern may be a symptom of my growing impatience, but since there are currently many unknowns as I wait for info from my other 2 programs I’m partly worried about the prospect of having 3 offers to great programs and not being able to accept any of them. Since I am essentially just waiting at the moment, if there’s anything I can do to try to respectfully self-advocate in terms of funding (while also not having official funding offers from the other programs yet) it might help put my mind at ease over the next few weeks. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions!

Thanks! I’m glad I’m not missing info elsewhere - I have been checking that site too so I hope the timeline is in fact accurate for this year. Congrats on your offer as well! Hopefully we will hear some good news before the decision deadline.

Hi all ~ I just stumbled across this thread. Congrats @mimo2021on receiving a scholarship! I was accepted to the MPhil in Theology and had an Ertegun interview during the last week of February (also before I had my acceptance haha) so I have been hoping for some kind of funding news this month also. Does anyone know if full fellowship decisions (esp. Clarendon, if the Ertegun offers already went out) are generally sent in March or early April? My biggest concern is the potential of having to make a decision before knowing about funding. Thanks everyone

Based on my knowledge from applying to the MA, the main technical difference would be whether someone wants to study religious studies or theology (I personally applied to the MA because I have a background in secular rel. studies but not as much in theology). If I remember correctly the MTS is a two year program (around 45-48 credits I think) but the MA looks like it’s usually meant to be finished in one year (30 credits). The subfields/concentrations between the MTS and MA are different too, and the GDR concentrations include subfields outside of Christianity. I do think the faculty are mostly the same across the GDR and Divinity, but I remember that when I glanced at some of the classes listed for last fall out of curiosity I noticed that Divinity and Religion classes are listed separately, so people in the different programs probably aren’t taking too many of the same classes. Hopefully this clarifies some - it’s hard to tell what the dynamic of a program is just from websites for sure!

Hi everyone! Does anybody know anything about the Vanderbilt Grad Department of Religion? I applied to the MA and it looks like the graduate school releases results on March 31, so I'm guessing they are sticking to that. I don't really see any religion master's results (just divinity), so I'm curious if anyone is familiar with the GDR. Getting a bit impatient and restless with this waiting, so the next couple of weeks will be rough haha.

Hi! I did receive an acceptance (MPhil in Theology) via email at the end of last week but just posted it on the results forum today. From my impression it seems as though they send the notices in waves, and not necessarily all on the same day, potentially depending on subfields within the faculty. Best wishes!

I have seen different postings (results, etc.) suggesting that most PhD programs' slots are roughly half (or even a quarter) of the norm this year. It's definitely kind of frustrating that programs were not particularly upfront or transparent about the number of slots available, at least as far as I know. I personally only applied to two PhD programs since I'm coming straight from undergrad (I'll presumably do a master's degree depending on results/funding), but I would not have even attempted any PhD applications at this stage (or spent the extra ~$200 on the applications) if those programs' circumstances had been clearer ? At least I have the experience of going through the process for when I try again in a couple of years ... lol

Hi @AKWhitty, thanks for your post! I'm also working as a tutor this summer, doing some freelance writing/editorial work, and doing a bit of thesis planning, so my circumstances are fairly similar to yours. I have started outlining my SOP for the programs to which I'm definitely applying (two so far). However, I'm also still in the process of choosing which programs are really the most compatible with my research interests/goals, so I'm still sorting that out before I start preparing for those applications. Based on my limited experience so far, I'd encourage you to start mentally plotting out your SOP for the programs you think are the best fit for you, because those will likely be the easiest for you to start writing. I'm primarily looking at religious studies departments as opposed to divinity programs so we differ a bit in that respect, but since you're considering MA programs as well I'd suggest to keep exploring your options since that will also help you have a sense of your priorities when you start writing your SOP. Best of luck with your planning and application process!

Thank you so much for this response @marXian! My professors and advisors have certainly been candid about the state of the job market, and I'll definitely be pursuing/relying on funding moving forward. It took me forever to figure out what I actually wanted to do, so I'm hoping the future headaches will all be worthwhile to be in a field I really like.