MaryHildegard

Hi, Sorry to jump in and recommend a school you didn't mention, but I have to recommend the Boston University School of Theology (which, disclaimer, I graduated from in May). They have a faith and ecological justice certificate and a center for practical theology, and they hired a new professor last fall who teaches queer theology. They also offer great financial aid -- I know Unitarians who turned down HDS because BU gave them more money! I got full tuition with a 3.4 from my BA in economics, and lots of people get stipends. Feel free to ask me anything about it. I feel really confident you would get in. I would encourage you to look at the course list for Harvard Divinity (it's publicly available) and think: are they offering what I want to take? HDS is a great school, but it's not a school where their primary goal is preparing people for Protestant pulpit ministry. This isn't to say there aren't students there with that as their aim, but their course offerings aren't primarily geared toward that demo the way they might be at, say, Duke. It's also a lot more religiously diverse; this is neither a bad thing nor a good thing, of course, but it isn't a school where nearly all of the other MDivs are going to be some flavor of Protestant. I think the Princeton Farminary (https://www.ptsem.edu/academics/departments/farminary) is really cool, and Yale Divinity offers a joint degree with the environmental science department, so if ecotheology is your main interest I think you should direct your app focus toward them.

Hey, I graduated from Boston University's school of theology in 2023 with an MTS. I would highly recommend checking out BU! They have a great chaplaincy program, and I think someone with your background (had some personal struggles, but clear demonstrated ability to do well in an academic environment) would be well received by the adcom. I also dreamed of HDS and YDS when applying (3.4 UGPA) and saw all the posts saying 'oh, it's easier to get in there', and I did not get in, and was disappointed. However, after taking one class at HDS and presenting at a conference at YDS, I realized BU was the right place for me all along. It's not a super in your face Christian school relative to an evangelical one (and chapel isn't required), but it is definitely a school where you know it exists to train Methodist clergy. However, there's a decent number of UU students and a handful of people from totally unrelated faith traditions, and a lot of students with non-standard spiritual paths. The faculty are Christian but pretty diverse in their denominations, and you'd also have opportunities to take classes at the dept. of religion, as well as at other Boston-area divinity schools, including Harvard. Academically, I personally did not think it was crazy hard, although some people definitely disagreed! I graduated with a 3.8 (alas, got a C+ in medieval theology at Boston College). I have a BA in economics, and a lot of the students have BAs in unrelated disciplines, so don't worry if that's you. The main skills you need to succeed are good time management and being able to write well, which is going to be true for every program. Students generally take four classes per semester, but you can do summer classes if you need to space things out more.

I emailed a professor (a while back) and he said: "If you are admitted into our program (and if you enroll), we would meet to discuss working together. In other words, I don't influence admittance decisions and these decisions don't depend on me "taking" new students. Rather, you apply and the Graduate School's and department's admissions committees make the decisions."

This really depends on the school. I attend the BU School of Theology (getting an MTS personally), and the financial aid is quite good. Lots of people get full tuition. All the returning second years got a full tuition scholarship if they didn't get it last year. I don't get a stipend, but some of my classmates do, up to 10k a year. These stipends have grade stipulations to keep them but TA-ing is not required. I even know Unitarians who turned down full tuition at Harvard Div for full tuition + stipend at BU. You do need to have had at least a 3.3 undergrad GPA to qualify for merit aid, though. There are other schools that are known for good funding, like Princeton Theological (I know an Episcopalian who got full tuition + stipend from them, so you don't have to be Presbyterian to get money). It's probably too late for this cycle, but I would strongly recommend applying for better funded programs for next year. There's money out there to be had! Unless you have megachurch pastor charisma and chutzpah, this really isn't a field where you can justify student loan debt. I like BU. Feel free to ask me questions about it.

Hi everyone! Applying to Yale and Notre Dame, as well as Boston University and Princeton Theological for Theology. Applying for sociology of religion! My interest is the rise of extremist traditional Catholics as it relates to the rise of general white Christian nationalism in the US and also how it's mediated by the internet. I'm currently getting a Masters in Theological Studies at BU, and I also have a bachelor's in Economics from UMass Amherst. I'm hoping econ + theology = successful soc of religion application.

I would recommend BU (I’m a first year). The deadline is the 15th so you’ll have to make a choice soon, unfortunately. High acceptance rate, lots of aid.

I go to BU. If you can live in the theology grad student dorm (only for first year M* students) it’s the equivalent of 710 a month for a double room/850 for a single, although you do have to pay by semester. If you live in the regular grad student dorm, it’s 725 a month for a single and you pay by month. If you’re really lucky and female you can live in the graduate women’s dorm that’s 1800 a semester. I know at least one person who’s an RA in an undergrad dorm. They’re compensated only in housing. If you get assigned to an undergrad dorm that doesn’t have a kitchen you also get a meal plan. There’s also people who live in various ‘young adult’ communal living houses usually run by their denomination, for example, one of my classmates is a Christian Scientist and lives in their house. I want to say the rent at these houses is usually around 600 a month? There’s some Episcopal ones around Boston, one of which is vaguely affiliated with BU, there’s a Quaker one somewhere, and I know that BU has connections with Methodist churches where seminarians will live there in exchange for serving the church. I don’t have a stipend. I do have a full tuition scholarship, although there’s still about 1000 a year in fees. I have a job making 16 an hour working about 18 hours a week (268 post tax) and I also got a research assistantship from November to May that pays 1453 (pre tax). A lot of my classmates did get a stipend. Jobs other people I know have are things like working at the dining hall or being a barista. A lot of people here who live off campus have parents who pay their rent (then there’s the people who have a spouse with a job). Mine don’t, but they did let me live at home last year and didn’t charge me rent while I was getting unemployment, which is what I’m using to pay for the first year and a half of my MTS. I also have a negligble amount of private student loans that can’t be deferred, and a lot of my classmates have no loans at all. There was one person who was trying to do school full time and work full time because he still had lots of loans from his private undergrad a decade ago, and he dropped out. I’m just saying all this to paint an honest picture. (Also, I’m under 26 and my parents pay for health insurance, which I imagine is also the case for a lot of my classmates. The ‘average’ age at BU if you look online is like 40, but I would say the median age for a first year M* student is around 24.) There are people who have taken out loans. I don’t think this is necessarily the worst thing in the world assuming you have no or little undergrad debt.

It’s the end of our first semester, so I wanted to ask how’s everyone doing? I got all As and I got a research assistantship! There’s been some challenging parts but I think overall it’s going okay. Next semester I’m taking New Testament, Church history from the English reformation to now, medieval church history, medieval theology, and piano.

You will get into BU. They have a 75% acceptance rate. (They admitted me, and I had a 3.4 and a bachelor’s in Economics). They also give everyone 70% off their stated tuition price and then if you have a good GPA you’re invited to apply for merit aid. 69% of students get a full tuition scholarship, and some of those people get stipends.

You will absolutely get into BU. They admit 75% of their applicants (admissions person told me this). Don’t plagiarize your personal statement, which the admissions person told me is one of the big reasons other than really poor grades they reject people. If you apply before the first deadline you’ll also be invited to apply for merit scholarships and I wouldn’t be surprised if you got one for people interested in studying LGBT people, which gives a stipend. They let me in with a 3.4 and an Economics degree :), and I got a full tuition scholarship.

You will be able to get the vaccine here, as long as you have an MA address to put down. You don’t need an American insurance card either. April 19th is when it’s open to everyone who lives here and I imagine by August they’ll be doing walk in clinics, which is already the case in some states.

Okay, sorry, I misread the headline title. I thought it said Harvard and Cornell but it only said Cornell. That having been said, I would still be surprised if other universities did not follow suit (currently there’s only a handful). Especially because last year there was a lot of anger over international students coming in from China. Potentially you could come early and get the vaccine here.

Just saw that Harvard is expecting students to have a COVID vaccine by the fall and I expect every major American university will have the same rule. International students, do you know when you’ll be eligible?

Is anyone else hoping they can get permission to take some sort of quant methods class in the university’s sociology department? I love data, and I also think it would look good for PhD or job apps. What’s everyone planning on bringing? My uncle sent me three boxes of NT commentaries, which is great, but now that I know I’m going to be living in a double room I’m not sure how many I’ll have space for.

I wound up having to eat 500 dollars for undergrad because I put down a deposit and then later got in off the waitlist somewhere better, but 3k is...a lot. Also I don’t think reputable grad programs even require deposits (BU doesn’t, I asked).

I don’t have specific numbers for you, but Duke is known for not giving good aid. There’s people in the 2021 MTS thread who were accepted into great programs with stipends and then only got 25% from Duke. https://divinity.duke.edu/admissions/financial-aid/tuition Here’s how much the divinity school costs pre scholarships.

Generous should mean free, at a minimum. Seriously, do not pay for grad school. I have a 3.4 undergrad GPA and a totally unrelated major and I didn’t take a single religion class and *I’m* not paying tuition. And yes, NYC is expensive. If you’ll need loans for this don’t do it. I love to go on forums like r/StudentLoans and there are SO many people with so much regret over having 70k+ in debt from grad school. The Columbia name is not worth it.

I have nothing to say about academic quality here, but the reason not to go to Columbia is it’s incredibly expensive. Their masters programs are known for being cash cow programs. Also...do you realize how hard it is to get any job as a lawyer, let alone one in a niche subject like that? Don’t do this unless you can pay for it without loans. Most lawyers have six figures of student loan debt and it is incredibly hard to pay that off.

Don’t have an answer for KungFuKenny, but how’s everyone else planning on handling finances? I have 8300 saved right now, and I expect to have at least 13000 by the end of the summer. I’m really hoping I can live on campus for the first year, which would be about 7600 for the year. I’m thinking I might get the cheapest meal plan so I could occasionally eat on campus, which would be about 1500. I’m also hoping I can get a part time job, which would be about 120 a week (and if it’s work study, I can get SNAP), and doing some freelance writing for 45/50 an article. And then I hope I can get a job for next summer to help save up money for rent (likely 800/month) for the following year. I have 3k set aside to pay for undergrad loans, but since you can defer those while in grad school, I might do that and use that money to help cover rent. Does this seem doable? I’d really like to avoid more student loans. My one expense is a private student loan that’s 50 a month. I have 600 set aside for that for July 2021 - July 2022 already, so I’ll have to make sure I put money aside for 2022 - 2023.

Hey! Didn't see a thread so I'd thought I'd start one. I accepted my offer of admission to BU's School of Theology MTS program today. Anyone else going to any of BU's grad programs in the fall?

Rejected from Yale, but I didn’t want to go there, so I’m fine with it. I have zero interest in attending Catholic University but come on, give me a decision already.

There was a BU accepted students day today and I know if it had been in person everyone else would go have lunch with their friends and partners and I’d be at the Comm ave Subway/convenience store being sad as hell and sitting on a bench eating by myself and then taking the trolley home and being sad. I hope I get rejected from Yale because I know if I got in I’d feel obligated to go there for prestige reasons but then I’d have to come home every weekend so I wouldn’t be lonely, and Amtrak tickets aren’t cheap. I’m just worried everyone else is already going to have friends and I’m going to be spending thirty minutes on the train to hang out with people I met when I was 15.

Yes, international students, expect to bring vaccine paperwork — not only for COVID but for everything else. One of my undergrad friends who was Malaysian had to get a whole bunch of vaccines.

One of my friends who’s doing a PhD and teaching undergrads at a university here in Boston told me on Tuesday that he’s been told they’re not doing online classes in the fall, although there may be some part online classes. And this is a government university with very little in the way of dorms, so they have the least incentive to get kids on campus for profit. So that bodes well. At the current pace America should be 90% vaccinated by the end of August, and that’s with the assumption a vaccine for children will be available. I honestly do believe most American adults will be vaccinated by May or June. That having been said, I would also bet that international students will be expected to have a vaccine themselves before coming here. @LakeSuperior, I’ve heard from so many people that Duke’s funding is always terrible (not only for divinity but for everything else). Do you have other options?

Now I have to share the "what your seminary says about you" joke list: https://rockthatcollar.com/2020/06/27/what-your-seminary-says-about-you/ (the entry for Chicago is "you are exploring your call toward getting an unemployable PhD") @Deep Fried Angst, when do you expect to be on the job market?