DivSchoolHopeful1942

Are faculty reading applications usually understanding if a recommender is late with their letter due to a personal emergency? My advisor—who is also one of my recommenders—is taking a last-minute leave of absence and will be mostly unavailable. This individual is a pretty big name in academic religious studies so I'm not sure whether, because most of the faculty probably know this individual personally, they'd be understanding about potential lateness in their letter of recommendation for me. Or should I just find a new recommender? Sorry for the vague question. Just trying not to give too much info away.

Hi all, quick question. Beginning to apply to Ph.D. programs in religion for this coming application cycle, and a professor gave me a choice of doing a Zoom meeting with her about the program this summer or visiting a bunch of the faculty and students in-person in the fall. I think it's an either/or kind of deal. I'm leaning toward the latter, and going in-person; is that a mistake for chances of admission, i.e., should I try and meet with the professor as early as possible in the summer? Or does it not really matter at this point in the cycle? I'd much rather meet people in person and explore the campus that way.

Congrats all!! Re: this comment, I’m from Boston and… yeah. Housing prices are brutal. Part of why HDS’s aid package being iffy is leading me not to accept the offer. Got waitlisted at YDS, though, so I think it’s looking like UChicago for me. Hyde Park housing prices are high but nowhere near Cambridge…

Back in mid-Feb!

Eeeeek. Got in but HDS only offered ~$24k/30k of the tuition. The rest of the $8,000 was a loan. They gave a crazy high number for other non-tuition living expenses but I live in the area and would have other insurance I’d be on. So overall non-tuition expenses would be 8-10k. I have a job and would definitely be working a lot to pay that off if I were to go. But I’m really, truly, not sure what to do. It’s like, Harvard… is it worth it? I know I could probably swing it without taking out loans (savings and work) but is it worth scraping by for two years for a Harvard M* program? Anyone else have expertise/experience asking HDS for more aid? UChicago ended up giving full ride and living expenses and I’m in love with that school. But being close to family in Boston is really important to me due to medical stuff. Though I’m also keeping in mind that announcement HDS made about offering a lot more aid next year. stuck.

Sooo what’s the consensus?

UChicago decisions out!

I genuinely think you're fine!

Sorry, I meant "counts as an admissions interview."

I emailed them a couple months ago asking this and they said that if you did any kind of information session or one-on-one meeting with one of the admissions reps that counts. Otherwise it seemed it wasn't really something they did in the traditional sense.

Would it be too unprofessional to ask y’all what amount of tuition your VDS merit awards cover? I’m trying to gauge what an “automatic no” from me should be (though I know that obviously varies by situation); 80% is great but I’ve been told not to take out loans for grad school…

Ohh sorry, nope, just the one. (Also out of it, not enough coffee today... lol.)

Honestly, I just checked the portal this morning because I was feeling anxious-and-bored and saw the notification. Didn't get an email for either of them but I imagine they will both be sent out today...?

Yeah that's why I'm confused -- the tuition cost seems to be less than what I was offered in aid. I've found sometimes (though maybe I'm just misremembering) schools mean "tuition + housing" for "tuition"... but I dunno. We'll see. Might email.

Any idea whether the scholarship covers housing? The Vanderbilt "tuition and fees" page is kind of confusing to me -- it seems the merit covers about $30k a year, tuition seems to be about $20k/yr, so like... am I adding this up wrong, or does that just leave $10,000 for housing for the year?