MaryHildegard

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?

Congratulations! And to @Joey_Jawadtoo! Chicago is an excellent program!

Maybe. There are studios priced that low but they’re rare. 1500 a month would give you way more options. There’s a ton of Boston housing Facebook groups you should join. Also be aware that not everywhere in Dorchester is near the Red Line. And that yes this is a major American city and there is gun violence (Cambridge has shootings too). Not that you have to worry personally, but someone is gonna get shot relatively close to you at some point. Also, on that, you may at some point hear people talk about ‘the Smiley Face Killer’. People think there’s a serial killer going around attacking young men in Boston. It isn’t true. What happens is young men get drunk and fall in a body of water and drown. Pretty much every part of the city that you’d want to drink in is near water. I know people on here are not dumb 19 year old BC students, but just felt like I should warn people.

Depends on how much time you’re willing to spend on the train every day, but there are parts of Boston (Dorchester) that are on the subway line that goes to Harvard that are way less expensive. Or look at Medford or Somerville. Also, there are tons and tons of grad students in the Boston area — see if you can find a house share? Like where you’d be renting one room in a 4 or 5 bedroom house. I’m really hoping I can get a space in the BU Theology student house, which has room for, uh, 20 people, so my odds aren’t great. They said decisions for that would be out on the 24th.

Hi! I will probably be attending BU in the fall (still waiting to hear from Yale, but I think my odds are pretty low, considering I was rejected from Harvard). I was born and raised in Boston, but not the part near any of the universities, and I went to undergrad in western Mass. Excited to live in a new part of town. Not an issue for someone flying here, but if you're planning to drive a UHaul to Boston: be VERY careful about where you're going!! Avoid Memorial Drive (route 3) and Storrow Drive. Every year we have out of state university students drive a UHaul into bridges.

Got rejected from HDS :/.

Harvard religion PhDs are not under the auspices of HDS.

Okay, so looking at the results page: Oxford, Cambridge, Fordham, BC, Villanova, Emory, and BU have sent decisions, and we know ND has because someone in here has got one. I also know people who have been offered acceptance to Princeton and Nashotah (for their mdiv program). So we're waiting on: Chicago, Harvard, Yale, CUA, Duke, Loyola? Anyone apply somewhere else? If previous years are any indication, Duke decisions will be out on Feb. 28th, HDS decisions will be out on the 11th, YDS on the 15th, and the other programs don't have enough results listed to be sure.

The Community of St Mary in Tennessee. It was supposed to be for the whole year, but I was having a hard time with it, so I didn’t go back after Christmas. @Chicago Guy, are you interested in doing your PhD at ND? I’ve heard they use their MTS program to groom PhD candidates.

@Chicago Guydid (he posted about it on page 3). But they could be doing a wave of decisions.

Nothing. It’s for my personal interest.

Everyone’s been saying this is a super competitive cycle, but I’m curious who’s gotten emails from schools mentioning it, especially with numbers attached of how many applicants they got.

Anecdotal, but I absolutely would not have applied to a Master of Theological Studies program if it hadn’t been for coronavirus. I was very against the idea of going to grad school while I was in undergrad. I have a degree in economics, and economics graduate programs require extremely good math abilitities that I do not have. But in an shaky time, where getting a job is difficult...a structured graduate program is mighty appealing! The time at home made me realize my passion for religion, and I spent 4 months as an intern at a convent and took a class at the nearby seminary, whose professor wrote me a LOR. I was still considering history MA programs last fall. I think religion is unusual in that it’s significantly easier to get into a master’s with a totally unrelated bachelor’s than it is in other fields. My BU merit scholarship letter noted that this was a very competitive year. Also, while I chose to take the GRE (168 V/149 Q/3.5 AW), the schools I applied to did not require it, and a lot of other schools were GRE optional this year. Can’t discount that.

Sorry to double post, but I wanted to mention I received a merit scholarship from BU yesterday (full tuition!). To everyone else feeling the impostor syndrome, remember that adcoms and financial aid committees can think more highly of you than you do.

Ugh, I know you’re right. But I’m also not totally certain I want to do a PhD (but I would like to stay in Boston, where BU is quite well regarded as an overall university). I have a friend who got into ND, so a full ride, but only got 75% from HDS, which doesn’t make me feel confident about my chances since my stats are worse.

I’m a big fan of free. I don’t think religion is a field where I can justify more debt for prestige. I already have about 24k of undergrad debt and I would like to avoid adding more. I haven’t yet accepted my offer, but I don’t think I can realistically expect full tuition at HDS or YDS.

I got a full tuition scholarship at BU! I’m so excited. Still going to wait and see if I hear from HDS and YDS, but honestly if I got in without full tuition I think I’ll pick BU. Also, @Chicago Guy, I realized I didn’t say congratulations, so congratulations! I know ND is a super hard program to get in to, way to go.

If you got into one of the other schools with say 75% or 80% funding, would you pick them over ND? That happened to one of my friends and he picked ND (he’s a first year MTS right now), but they were also more aligned with his research interests.

Congrats! I still haven’t heard back from BU about scholarships :/. I know they watched my video because I could see on YouTube analytics that people had watched it. I wish they could at least tell me I’m not getting it.

Since I’ve submitted my app I’ve been thinking about how I’m also interested in the liturgical arts in addition to the topic I applied for, so if I do somehow get into Yale I’ll consider them more now. I am, to be honest, anxious about making friends, so I applied to HDS and BU so at least I know I can hang out with people I went to high school/undergrad with.

Mine is HDS, partly because I live in Massachusetts. I applied to YDS as well, though. (And Catholic University of America, in DC, which I think would be a good fit for my topic but I’ve heard their funding is really bad). What do you like about YDS?

Thanks. I didn’t enjoy making a video, but when ‘full tuition + 10k stipend’ is on the table you can’t afford to not make one. They had a bunch of questions you could pick from, and I did ‘which class did you like most at your last institution and why’, ‘what are you looking for in a seminary community’, and then answering why I think I’m qualified for a specific named scholarship. Do you have a top choice of the four?

I don’t know where else you’re applying to, but yes, I would ask for an extension. I’m planning on asking BU for an extension (their deadline is March 7) because last year HDS decisions came out March 11. Have they given you a financial aid letter yet? BU wanted us to make a video answering three questions as their merit scholarship app, and I know they’ve looked at mine (thanks YouTube Analytics for showing when you’ve gotten views). So I hope decisions for that come out this week.