Balatro

Well, you deleted your post but I'll go ahead and address the basics (it'll vary slightly between dioceses). Speak with your rector regarding your interests, your rector will meet with you over a 6 month span (every month, every two weeks/months, etc - really up to them) and gauge how well you've thought through this process and ask you about 999x "Why?" questions. If all goes well, your rector will formulate a PDC (Parish Discernment Committee - made up of parish members, most Bishops forbid clergy from sitting in on these meetings) and notify your Bishop of your interests and seek permission to officially form the PDC (some Bishops don't require their approval to form one, some do -- just depends on if they accept applicants as they come or on a once a year schedule). If your PDC is approved, you'll meet with them for an introductory meeting and with someone sent from the Bishop's office, generally someone from the discernment or spirtual formation committee. At this point y'all will discuss what the process is like, what's expected of every member, what (if any) time frame you have to work within, etc. It's generally advised that PDCs meet over a six month span at a minimum, a year is ideal. This is the hardest process, time wise and emotionally. During the introductory meeting you'll be asked to submit a biography (usually anyway) of about 10 pages detailing everything that has happened in your life that has led you to this point. If your PDC is any good, they'll grill the every loving crap out of you and will not leave a stone unturned. So if you have skeletons in your closet, get them out. While some may find it far-fetched, I've heard plenty of stories of PDCs secretly calling up the applicants families, friends, coworkers, bosses, neighbors, digging through your Facebook page as far back as they can, extensive local, state, and federal background checks (the background checks are required at the Bishop level anyway), etc. You'll also be required to see a psychologist and have a full workup with them too - hope you like being psychoanalyzed! If your PDC goes well, they'll submit to the Bishop that you have their blessing. Once you arrive there you'll go through the whole process again except this time with complete strangers that your bishop has appointed. They'll have copies and notes of everything of relevance from your PDC and will generally look to fill in holes that your PDC may have missed. You'll also probably continue meeting with the psychologist during this process and go through another round of background checks. This part of the process is considerably easier than your local PDC. Once you've passed the Bishop's process and been cleared for seminary (speaking of seminary btw - every Bishop is different but most have their preferred local seminary that the send students to - just like the Catholic Church, this is b/c they diocese donates money to the seminary so it's generally easier to get in and b/c it keeps you local; most Bishops have a list of approved schools outside of the denomination that are okay for you to go to - generally Lutheran, Methodist, and the occasional UCC school however there are also disapproved schools. There are 12 Bishops (probably smaller by now) that will give permission to attend Nashotah (an Episcopal seminary), every other Bishop forbids it. Some Div/Seminary while not forbidden, are discouraged - Harvard being one). So, "your Bishop has given you an approved list/you've applied to several and been accepted and your Bishop has told you which ones are acceptable." Once you're in seminary, you'll follow the approved curriculium for ordination track candidates. You'll also be required to keep in touch with your Bishop and your PDC, meet with them 2-3x a year, etc. You'll also still undergo the occasional psychological evaluation, be required to give a homily (generally once a year) at your parish. Once you've finished seminary, you'll sit for your comprehensive exam -- it's not that hard, imo. Its sole intent is to make sure you didn't sleep through your seminary courses. If you pass, you'll go on to serve as a transitional deacon at a parish -- I believe the minimum is 6 months but you can safely assume it'll last for 1-1.5 years. Once you pass that final test and the parish you worked in approves of your sweet deacon skills (and the Bishop), you'll officially be ordained as a priest. From Day 1 of telling your rector that you want to be a priest to going to seminary, you can expect the process to take at least 1 year. Unfortunately this is rare and becoming less and less common, most of us that've gone through it spent 2-3 years in this stage. The ordination process is not easy and as I'm sure you'll find out, the vast majority of applicants don't make it through the PDC stage. The process is long, tiring, emotionally draining, and so much more complex than it needs to be but it's the process that the Church has settled on and you just have to do it if it's what you want. If you have more questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

PTS

If you're not feeling called to Harvard, there's nothing wrong with that. When I was going through the process for the Episcopal priesthood (still am, just a transitional deacon now), I applied to Harvard's Div School and was accepted. I visited the school and loved it. However when I sat down with my Bishop he made it very clear, if I went to Harvard he'd remove me from the ordination process. Not b/c it was too liberal or the opposite of Nashotah but because the preparation for ministry inside a church is so limited. I was upset and contacted some other Episcopal bishops that I'd met at conferences to consult with them and they all agreed - they'd remove someone wanting to go to Harvard Divinity due to the school being ill-prepared to place students in parish ministry. Long story short, I went to Yale and had the time of my life.

You may want to look into the program at Iowa State and see if it interests you. They don't require any programming background (granted they admit it helps-for the program, not necessarily admission), but the program is lenient enough that they let applicants with no programming background complete that requirement while in the program. http://www.hci.iastate.edu/

Generally colleges are looking for applicants with a solid understanding of C++ and/or Java

sure, send it over

Generally these schools teach practical computer science (that is, computer science you'd use in a business) and not necessarily research based. It's also unlikely that you would get the math needed to be successful in a graduate program. However every school sets their requirements differently from the next and the only way to know is to browse their websites and see what is required. If you're looking to get into a T1-2 school, your chances of admission are slim (at best). However if you're looking at a lesser known state school or a lesser known private school, it's definitely possible. It's to your advantage that WSU, at least, is regionally accredited. Without that much, your chances of acceptance drop to 0, at any school. Essentially - it's possible, yes but without knowing what graduate schools you're looking at, we can't give a real answer.

From what I can gather from the program details from the admissions website, your Statement of Purpose is your writing sample. I assume you're using the GSAS application? If so, I'd strongly suggest you follow their request or if it makes you feel more secure, email the program director and inquire about it. Often universities will ask for a writing sample to screen applicants at the university level and then the department will also screen the same writing sample or ask you to submit another piece only for them. This may be what they're doing - asking you not to submit a secondary writing sample. If it's the other way around, don't submit one and just hope your SOP knocks them out of the park. If you decide to attach a writing sample anyway, all I can say is I hope your applications elsewhere will be more eventful.

Considering the domain was registered on September 28th and this being the second mention of it in such a short time, I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest someone is advertising.

I finished the MDiv at Yale last year so I can look over it - I was one of the rare dual degree students, MDiv and a Masters in Nursing specializing in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing. I'm still around the campus though taking two courses a semester (at the Divinity school) while I work with a team at YSN on a program to help better educate case managers who treat schizophrenia patients.

Are you a MAR or MDiv applicant? That would help decide who can give you the best assistance.

Honestly, it depends on the school and how well you can convey your academic interests in the field - I'd probably err on the side of caution and not mention you being transgender. Not b/c of any political correctness or making people unfamiliar but because of: What does this side bit of information tell us, academically? Ultimately nothing - it isn't relevant. For example, someone wanting to study queer theory and explaining why in their application by saying because they're a homosexual - coming from talking to undergrad adcoms at least, such a move comes across as trying to play the diversity (or race, gender, nationality, etc) card to your advantage. You wasted space saying something that really wasn't needed. As I've had very liberal adcoms tell me, they don't care what gender you sleep with so taking the space to talk about your homosexuality is often seen as tacky, crass, and (as stated above a couple of times) irrelevant. I would be concerned, especially in an academic science program that the Adcom would reply "I don't care what gender you identify as, it's no relevance to your application." Also, if you're going to be applying to conservative programs along the likes of Loma Linda (or people like Keith Ablow) (just an example) -- stay away from controversial subjects like transgender

Your chances of acceptance at all of those schools will be superior however funding is really too subjective for the most part. Notre Dame has plenty of money and I know MDiv students are fully funded but however as you noted, you must be Catholic. You mentioned "not currently Catholic" which seems odd but ones own religious quest is just that, their own -- however fully expect that should you convert, they'll look to make sure you've been Catholic for some time - generally 2-3 years. I would fully expect that exceptional MTS students will be funded to some degree but someone else will have better knowledge there. I can't really comment on BTI so I'll pass as a whole. I've known students to attend other institutions in the BTI - Andover and Harvard who received funding for MDivs. Though if your interest truly lies in ministry, I'd suggest passing on Harvard but it's not on your list anyway so it's moot. Yale has traditionally provided very generous funding, most of the people I ran across while there at least had a 1/3 tuition remission, quite a few were 2/3, and a surprising number that were awarded full scholarships. PTS is in the same boat as Yale though possibly more generous with their funding. Two people from graduating class in undergrad went to PTS for MDiv and both were awarded full scholarships - one was a mediocre student but active in ministry. The other finished his BA in 3 years, did his MA (history) his 4th year, Phi Betta Kappa, a handful of articles and book chapters published by the time he finished his MA, ranging from history, philosophy, and religious studies and was in the middle of ordination with the PCUSA - phenomenal student and currently at PTS for a PhD. PTS also awarded him a stipend of $15,000 though I can't recall what his duties were. I suspect, assuming the school thinks you'll be a good fit and vice versa, you'll be accepted everywhere you apply. But ultimately funding for MDivs is a guessing game but Yale and PTS at least have traditionally been very liberal with it.

You would take the original 24 credits over the first year, then the second year you would take 2 traditional courses (6 credits), and a 0-credit Masters Thesis Research course in the Fall and Spring Semesters. It would break down like this: Year 1 Fall: 12 credits (4 courses) Spring: 12 credits (4 courses) Year 2 Fall: 6+0 (2 courses and Masters Thesis Research) Spring: 6+0 (2 courses and Masters Thesis Research) This route is designed for someone who has inadequate undergraduate preparation in religion or wants to specialize in a specific area of religious studies that they lack preparation. It's fairly common at other schools too - there was a man at Yale pursuing a Masters whose undergraduate work was in nursing so he took extra time to finish his Masters. Another wanted to specialize in the psychology of religion but lacked a solid foundation in psychology so used his first year to pick up some advanced undergraduate coursework in psychology and sociology (along with religious courses).

I would imagine most schools orient their programs to work as either a terminal masters or as a foundation to further graduate study. I've come to know a couple of individuals that did the MA in Middle Eastern studies at Chicago (http://cmes.uchicago.edu/index.html) through their Division of the Humanities. Some were serving in the military and were granted approval by their branch for the study, others went on to work for non-profits that catered to the middle eastern community in Chicago and NYC, some were clergy and used it was a focus for their inter-religious work, and others used it as springboard to get into a PhD program at Chicago or other schools. There does seem to be a trend amongst the board that individuals who didn't get into their top choice schools, opted to pursue a Masters in order to make their application stronger the next time around. The general trend of this forum seems to be that most of its users are ultimately interested in PhD work but there are some strictly Masters applicants. Also, it's becoming more the norm that PhD programs require you to have a Masters (or at least seem to prefer applicants with one) so the individuals with a PhD in mind (either for the future or already attending) are bound to have a treasure trove of information that will benefit you.

Vanderbilt was a close second for me (behind Yale, but I was applying for a unique dual degree and really it came down to only Yale or Vanderbilt). The school itself is (imo) very liberal. There's some interesting work being done at Vanderbilt with violence/biblical studies/ethics though quite a bit of it is being done with a focus on minorities (particularly women within the Christian church). Ellen Armour and Susan Hylen are immediately coming to mind. A close friend went to Vanderbilt a couple of years before I went to Yale and on our visits to one another we frequently mentioned that as a generalized whole, we felt Vanderbilt Divinity students were better educated than Yale's - obviously subjective but I've read others here state the same.

The acceptance rate at Harvard Divinity jumps around a lot, from year to year. I know the MDiv acceptance rate as of a couple years ago was hovering between 40-50% when I first began looking into the program as an Undergrad. However as I understand it, the acceptance rate for the MTS is somewhere around 20-25%. The MTS is obviously more academic in focus and given your stats and assuming nothing hidden in your LORs/etc, you should be perfectly fine. I've seen people admitted with much, much worse.

Likewise when interviewing for Yale and Iowa, I met them at SBL and know others that have as well.

Hey fellow readers, I'm really interested in the architecture and historic preservation of religious structures - particularly Gothic. Ideally, I'd like to approach it from an academic standpoint but also historic preservation as I'm particularly interested in the renovation and generic preservation of churches. I've had some difficulty locating a program that has faculty which focus in this area so I'm hoping others will be able to lend some assistance. Thanks in advance for any help.

Agree with Mocha, your GRE scores will be fine for most M* programs - especially MDIV, MA programs with languages may pose a challenge but you aren't leaning that way anyway.

Tall order (thinking of MA programs exclusively) as I can't personally name a school off the top of my head that specializes in either field however I know schools (that are feeders) which have faculty in those areas. Niebuhr is pretty big at Union which is to be expected - funny (to me) side story, I was once a student under Eugene Rogers and approached him one afternoon on the prospect of studying Niebuhr and a scattering of other theologians. Literally, he shivered in his seat at the idea and threw me out of his office. Later he explained he 'strongly disliked' Niebuhr and had purposely not read any of his work in over twenty years. Niebuhr, Bonhoeffer, Barth, Schleiermacher, etc is taught at Princeton (PTS) which may be your best bet - it's a world famous school and they cover just about everything.

From a strictly ethics standpoint - I'd suggest also keeping an eye on philosophy programs. Ethics often, in philosophy programs, take on a religious nature because the individuals placed in these situations in their every day lives are often looking through a religious lens of sorts. But anyway - off the top of my head, I'd strongly suggest Duke or Graduate Theological Union. If you go to Duke, I'd suggest at least taking a serious look at their MDiv program even if your intentions are purely academic - it's a top notch program and had I not been born and raised in NC, I would have taken them up on the acceptance (I wanted to spread my wings some). Some other programs, while they have strong ethics programs (in my opinion), some lean more philosophy than theology and vice versa. Duke Graduate Theological Union Catholic University of America Notre Dame St. Louis University* Purdue Indiana University - Bloomington (if you end up here, introduce yourself to David Brakke - wonderful man) Princeton Theological Seminary/Princeton University (cross registration) Boston Theological Institute (Harvard, Andover, Boston College, Boston University, etc) --- the cross registration and library access alone is phenomenal! University of Texas - Austin Bowling Green State University - their program is in applied philosophy but they have a handful of faculty and students that focus on the intersection of ethics and religion This listing is subjective at best and depending on who you talk to - it'll be missing key players or have schools that don't belong. if you're willing to go overseas, I'd suggest Oxford but I get a feeling you'd benefit more from a generalized program. As far as an MDiv potentially hindering your acceptance chances into PhD programs, don't give it a second thought. Dozens (if not hundreds) of people get into PhD programs with an MDiv as their Masters at top schools - Harvard, Princeton, Duke, Chicago, Yale, Notre Dame, etc. Use your electives (and if capable, push ministerial programs to the summer if possible so you can sub in more academic courses - also keep in mind that some programs will permit you to drop some ministerial courses if you aren't seeking ordination, which opens up more room) to pursue your academic interests. Attend reading groups if they're available, get the syllabus of courses you're interested in but unable to take and read the texts on your own and offer to take the professor out to lunch/coffee every so often to discuss the material, etc. Best of luck.

list* apologizes for the error

An interesting conversation arose between a colleague and myself over lunch, namely - undervalued (or really, underrepresented) international programs in religious studies. The ground rules we set were pretty simple - the program has to be, for all purposes, outside of the Western Hemisphere - basically North America, Australia, and Western Europe. Religious studies for our definition includes closely related interdisciplinary subjects - philosophy of religion, anthropology of religion, sociology of religion, psychology of religion, etc. We also included (for obvious reasons, we feel) such fields as theology. Academy of Korean Studies Chinese University of Hong Kong Kathmandu University University of Hong Kong University of Mumbai University of Cape Town The following is my short list but admittedly, I'm a little biased as my focus is primarily within Buddhism - more specifically, Buddhist-Christian dialogue and monasticism. I'd like to hear from others regarding programs they looked into (maybe even passingly) and thought "Oh wow, that's quite the program! I'd be honored to work under XYZ (or attend ABC)."

While I'd advise mentioning it in your statement, I wouldn't dedicate more than a paragraph (two tops) to it (unless as noted above, it's DIRECTLY related to your research areas). Generally speaking, this is how such experience will be handled: In a university - the weight it carries will be minimal at best. Some adcoms will skip over it, some look for these kind of things when trying to decide between two identical applications - they're looking for something that says you're passionate about what you want to do (those people are more likely to survive the program). In a divinity school - considerably more weight. Div schools look at the whole picture (more so for MA/MDiv, less so for PhDs) and are truly looking to make sure you're a good fit for them and that they're a good fit for you. To stress it, it can't hurt anything to mention it in passing but unless it's related to what you want to study, don't expect it to carry much weight.