crossroadsph

I am particularly fond of the park outside Marsh Chapel. Hanging out there was one of the highlights of my visit as a prospective doctoral student in 2019. Good luck to everyone! This is another week of getting through the struggle.

I do hope you get off the waitlist! Good luck.

My situation is that I'm waitlisted but with offers from other schools. It seems, though, that getting an answer to the question of where one is on a list may be more difficult than I thought. It is likely that the situation will be no different than before I even found out that I was waitlisted. Maybe they would consider bumping me down if I did, even if I assured them of my interest. I don't know if that's true across the board, but this process has had me on edge and distrustful of those on the other side sometimes. It will require a lot from me to be charitable and patient toward them. I guess moving on isn't such a bad idea, is it?

A question for those who may or may not have experienced this: what could you do if you're wait-listed, apart from waiting?

Congratulations again! I understand what you mean. I’m awaiting the results of two applications and one of them will be officially out by Friday. The other, I will definitely be waiting for that.

Well, this just got quite exciting. I got a status update, went to check the portal, and the message began, "I regret to inform you that your application...was reviewed." I was baffled until Drew informed me that I was waitlisted. Now that was what I was not expecting. Still, better than being turned down outright! Whew.

That’s what my friend, formerly a graduate admissions person, suggested. Since acceptances and rejections were sent out...fingers crossed! I just checked the BC portal and I still didn’t see anything. It’s already a little past 10 PM Eastern so I’ll wait till tomorrow.

Oh! They haven't updated my portal yet...I'm expecting the same thing, and as R.E.M. would say, "...I feel fine."

I am expecting results from Drew and BC anytime soon. My POI at the former school said that he was expecting results to be released as soon as possible, if they haven’t already, and expressed the hope that I would join them there. I am not too confident about that, but we’ll see.

Congratulations! It’s a very good program and I am glad that you got in!

Yeah, I must admit it was brave for all of us to submit at this time. I think it is to our credit that we decided to try, and however it comes out for any of us, it was great being in the process with all of you. Wow. Four. That’s one or two less than I predicted. I must agree with @alizeh55 that, while congratulations are in order to those who got in, it’s Yale’s loss, not ours. I agree that faculty fit matters more than anything else, so it’s partly the conversations one has with faculty during the process, and the SOP in a sense being an argument for how one can fit. My experience applying for one school showed exactly how that came together: I was able to find a way to match my project with someone else’s interests through both discussions and my SOP that emerged as a result. As to the outcome? We’ll see. It’s out at month’s end.

The latter is true with Yale--i calculated five or six slots based on last year's publicly available figure of 11 admits, and i didn't get one of them. It's fine, because I already have one very exciting option in Europe which is also a top 20 program, if one believes the QS survey (always with a grain of salt).

I’ve gotten a clear answer from Toronto School of Theology about when the results would be out. Pretty exceptional in that case. I definitely agree with you that departments should give a target date. It will relieve a key source of anxiety, the uncertainty about when one’s future will be known. It won’t hurt, but I honestly don’t know why more schools can adopt this level of transparency if others do it. It might not be easy to give up the unstated assumption that patience is a virtue people applying should adopt. At least that’s my guess as to why it doesn’t happen more often.

Just to check with you and everyone else, since I have no experience of this: is it the convention for one's POI in a given school to contact them if they are admitted? Just wondering.

Just checking back in with hopes that everyone is doing fine. I am expecting that next week will be exciting for those awaiting results, based on past experience and the survey results. Unless, of course, COVID shook up things a bit. I had an email exchange with my POI in Toronto recently telling him that I was quite nervous about the whole application process and asking him if he had any insights on the process at his institution. He reassured me that it was alright and he understood. As for my other point, he did not answer it directly, which was fine with me. I'll share the answer when the time is right. Good luck to everyone!

I am applying to the MARc in theology, and I asked about this. It's now optional; the admissions person told me that that "we generally offer applicants the opportunity to connect with a YDS representative after all application deadlines have passed." They will reach out to people in the coming weeks; I will bet that quite a number of people will be taking up that offer. Incidentally, they extended the final admissions deadline for the school to this Monday, February 8, due to the recent snowstorm.

Well, it sure sped things up for Duke. They normally send out admissions decisions next week, but they sent them this week, which is quite early given what I've seen. I asked Drew, another school to which I am applying, about when the decisions would come out and they said that it all depends on the number of applicants under review. It's still a helpful answer, but it helpfully does not say much. I asked one other school, which I will not name, about when they are releasing results, and they did not reply, nor am I expecting a reply from them. Right now, I am holding up well given what is going on in my life these days outside this process. I agree with what @_Athena_ and @alizeh55 both said, a rejection is not a reflection on us as scholars. In fact, that was one of the first pieces of advice I received on the doctoral admissions process when I applied last cycle. So, if the radio silence is deafening, know that you are not alone waiting and anxious about the wait. It will all pass soon enough, whatever the outcome.

I don’t know about Baylor, but what people said above is quite valuable to know. They do cater to a particular segment of the Christian world, as does BU, so, as they say, one's mileage may vary. I applied to and visited BU School of Theology in the last cycle. It does have a good reputation, and I’ve had some memorable (in a good way) conversations with faculty and some current graduate students. My POI and I had one of my favorite conversations during my time in Boston, and I would have gone there for a STM if after-tuition funding were available. I would agree with CafeConGabi that learning about who’s who among the graduate students (and their research interests) would be helpful. This has already been helpful in giving me a picture of what a department is like apart from the faculty, and I’ve made one contact at one school as a result of finding out.

For what it’s worth, I did ask the admissions office at the Toronto School of Theology and they told me that application results will be out at the end of the month. This lines up with what I saw on the survey results some time back. They are the latest to report among the schools I applied to. It’s another good option for me, I believe, if I am admitted. Hang in there, everyone! Whatever the outcome, we can survive this process.

Re: the second question, it's best to refer to what Deep Fried Angst said above about interviews: if the school normally does interviews and we aren't invited, it's safe to count ourselves out. That's been helpful for me in easing the blow when official results arrive.

Also learned that BC has done interviews for my theology subfield. Expecting same result as above.

It’s official. Duke Divinity School has just issued admissions results and I wasn’t surprised that I would not be admitted. I still feel bad; this was my first choice US school. I predict that this is just the first in a string of bad news coming from other places. I’m not optimistic right now. So I’m preparing for Europe.

Oddly enough, no. The story, from what I can surmise from what they told me, was that they were about to turn me down but were convinced that my research had some promise, most likely by my POI. They then emailed me on a Friday morning (I remember this well) telling me that I would be admitted to the Master of Sacred Theology program with my POI as the advisor. I did not interview for it, and I was shocked, to be honest. I deferred admission to this year, given the circumstances, and I will think about taking up the offer, depending on the results other schools issue.

I think one report on the survey did mention interviews for the theology area last year. When I inquired with a faculty member at Yale about the program, this professor told me that they are halving the number of slots they’ll be offering this year. Based on Yale stats that are on their website, RS admitted 12 last year. This means that it’ll be likely down to six. So good luck to us indeed (I also applied). If I recall correctly, Boston University issues doctoral admissions decisions in mid-February. That was when I was informed that I would be offered the STM rather than the Ph.D. (Practical Theology, homiletics). I’ve decided to await what verdicts any school will announce...even if interview requests were already sent out by some schools.

Thank you for posting this. It's pretty useful to know what people are aware of and have experienced. I know Duke Divinity School takes between 6 to 7 people for the Th.D. and I asked whether the number of slots would go down this year. They said it would not. I believe that Boston College sends out admitted and waitlisted results today (31 January) and rejections a couple of weeks later. This is based on past posted results. Boston University is having interviews now, from what I've seen. I applied to these schools last year, with mixed results. BC turned me down and BU offered me an STM slot. Your post reminds us, once again, that this is really a challenging year for trying to get in. I am not surprised, but I do wish schools let people know sooner if they aren't even waitlisted at all. That would probably release some of the stressful tension. Thanks again for posting, and I hope to see you at a conference if it happens in person at some point!