RyanN
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Posts posted by RyanN
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Maybe this is too late, but I wonder about getting an M.Div. as a back up if you know you want to go on and teach. I'd do an M.A. or M.T.S. if I were you.
Not confessional.
Doing editing for a journal should have helped too, as it was a spot that post-grad program only offers to one student in a competitive pool (I beat out the PHDS for it, booyah!). The teaching should have made some difference -- but not much (ANE language courses). Yes, everyone gets teaching experience. It depends if it can be related to your discipline or not, and it is. It's unfortunate that this is such a crap shoot. I was told not to take any rejections personally, but it doesn't make it any easier to go about it with a cold, disconnected attitude. Regardless, I hope you guys who have 2-3 programs to pick between get hit by a truck! hah!
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Sure thing; I'm with you on wanting to hear, but it could be a photo finish.
Basically what I heard was I was a strong candidate and they wanted to admit me but since my Master's is an M.Div., they could not admit me straight into the PhD program. The email was solely meant to gather information and gauge whether I would "be open" to taking an offer of admission into the M.A. program with the understanding that after one year (I guess of proving my chops) I would be transferred over into the PhD program. This, of course, raises issues of funding, as the MA isn't funded while the PhD is, but whatever. I said I'm "open" to it, and that was the last I'd heard. I saw somewhere March 15th (or did I dream that up), so I think we shouldn't be holding our breath for anything before that.
Now can I ask, what concentration did you apply to work within at McMaster, and where else have you applied?
Ugh, all I've heard from McMaster was what I got back after e-mailing them about my admission status, which was essentially, "Don't accept any offers til you've heard from us", but nothing on my status or the timeline, wich makes me think that the decisions haven't really been made yet. That's particularly bad for them, since some of the other Canadian schools want answers before the end of March. Do you mind me asking what you have heard from them?
I'd like to at least hear back from all of my schools before I have to make a decision.
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Accepted: Fuller (with a fellowship)
Unofficial word: McMaster (admission into M.A., on track to PhD after a year)
No word: Dayton, Baylor (what's taking them so long?)
Rejected: Duke (ThD), Marquette, Notre Dame
I assume I'm waitlisted at Baylor since I haven't heard anything, but who knows. I do wonder how long Dayton will take to notify; anyone have an idea about this?
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I hear you. I'm American and got an email with info from Dr. Kroeker there, but that is it. Since then, basically no info. The late notice is not helping them in the decision process!
Has anyone heard anything from McMaster yet? I'm just about decided on where I'm going to go, but it'd be nice to know all of my options before deciding. I know most of the people on this board are American, but if there's any Canadians here other than me, has McMaster sent out ANYTHING yet?
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Me too. It was terse, given the amount of time and energy spent applying. On the other hand... what more could be said?
Just got my Duke ThD rejection letter today in the mailbox, dated Feb 4, 2011
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Just wondering if anyone had information about ThM programs. Number one, are they worth doing for someone wishing to eventually get a doctorate, and two, is there any funding available for it?
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Duke's ThD has sent out their letters, FYI. I wonder: does anyone out there know if Duke's ThD does a waitlist?
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I have heard random and completely opposing opinions about the effect of the quantitative score in Religion admissions, and am curious what the consensus is around here. I have heard from some that it is completely ignored, from others that schools look only at the composite, and from others still that both V and Q need to be above a certain threshold. I don't want to start another polemic about whether cutoffs exist. I just want to get a better feel for the weight given to this one section in particular.
In the interest of full disclosure, I do have a dog in this fight. My verbal was in the 97-98th percentile, but my quantitative was much lower, as I decided very much last minute to take the GRE (no math since 9th grade and studied for maybe 8 hours total for the entire GRE). I will probably have to take it again before it changes just so that I can go up against the devil I know rather than learn a whole new test style to try and up my quant score. I'm trying to plan the few months I have left to do so, and look forward to whatever perspective your responses might yield.
Nothing I'm saying here is new info, but I think it's reliable.
1. It varies from school to school, and program to program (that is, they aren't looking for as high of scores when applying to Master's programs as opposed to Doctoral programs).
2. Some have a hard cut-off, period. Yale and Duke are the main one's I've heard; Chicago and Baylor are similar there too, but not as rigid.
3. The majority, I think, do not need the Quant to be very high, but just respectable; I've heard over 600 at the lowest. I have a friend who applied to doctoral programs one go round with a V700 and Q4-something, and got in basically no where; the next round he pulled the Q up to 600 and got in to places he wanted.
4. That is to say, I haven't heard anything about a combo-score, although that's certainly nice to have. That doesn't mean it's not important at certain schools, I just have never heard it talked about in that way.
5. Other than the purely aesthetic quality of a number (710 looks so much nicer than 690 on paper!), I think percentiles are probably the most important thing at most schools. I told one program in particular my score, and their only question was, "What percentile is that? Oh, no problem".
Just what I've collected over the past year or so concerning the principality and power known as the GRE.
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Schools (generally) give interviews to the applicants they are seriously considering. So, don't think of it as a first cut. Sure it's the first cut that the applicant sees, but in reality it might be the 4th or 5th cut. At least that's what I'm going to let myself believe. Although, the above is correct about not receiving the invitation to an interview as signaling that you will likely not be admitted to that program.
Thanks! Do you think an email to them asking for a straight-rejection would be inappropriate? I only ask because my wife is applying for jobs in the various cities I'm applying to, and it would save us some time and money to know a "no" right now.
Is Baylor unique in doing these interviews?
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Hey,
Sorry, but what does this mean if you did and (especially) if you did not receive one?
Hey Joe,
I got brave and called them. They already sent out all of their invitations. I did not receive one.
Edit: Baylor. I called Baylor.
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Was that personal email from Baylor?
I applied to Marquette, Baylor, Wheaton, Loyola Chicago, and U. Dayton for a Ph.D. in Christian theology.
So far I have heard very little, though I have student contacts at four of the five schools who I am checking up with regularly.
Shortly after applying to one of the schools I received a really nice personal email from its Dean of Graduate studies telling me that the graduate department of theology would get my application soon, but that he wanted to let me know of a number of reasons why this particular school "was a choice worthy of my careful consideration." I count that as an encouraging sign.
Hope you are all surviving the inclement weather well. Its par for the course here in rural Illinois.
Catholics, Mennonites and Graduate School
in Religion
Posted
Hey,
I have just started at Fuller, and have found it very amenable to those sympathetic with the Anabaptist wing of the church. Nancey Murphy is an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren and sympathetic with virtue ethics, and Yoder/Hauerwas' work; also Erin Default-Hunter is here, a Mennonite and a narrative theological ethicist herself. It's not a fit for everyone, but it's worth a look. Peace!