theostudent

Just a note: according to ND's theology department calendar, the MTS admissions committee meets tomorrow @ 4:30 EST. We can all continue to bite our fingernails until then. Maybe notifications will come online early next week?

Is there anyone else here who's applied to the MTS/MA programs at ND, Duke, or SLU? Seems like they should be sending out notifications soon, since at least ND and SLU were supposed to meet at the end of February.

amdg09 -- Were you accepted to the MA or PhD program at Marquette? Have you heard anything more from Marq about funding? I saw that you completed a masters at SLU, which is another place I've applied to (they're meeting next week to decide).

Ditto on the congrats! I'm sure the procedure is different for the MA and PhD programs (I was accepted into the former w/o funding), but I believe that the initial acceptance letter does in fact mean that there isn't funding available right away. I emailed a couple contacts at Marquette, and tuition scholarships at the masters level are very limited this year (no surprise there). The final funding situation, however, won't be finalized until April. Here's hoping that some people in line ahead of us drop out.

fionabird, I posted the acceptance to Marquette's MA in theology. I noticed the decision early this morning on the website, but I also got an email notification this afternoon.

Thanks to everyone who offered advice. ND's MTS program is definitely in my sights, along with Duke's MTS and Marquette's MA. But if the planets don't align, I've viewed SLU as a very decent back-up. Particularly since I've heard that there's a chance for some funding at the MA level. With a kid on the way, money has become a very tangible concern.

I was curious if anyone had heard something about the reputation/quality of St Louis University's theology program. Unlike most people here, I'm applying to masters programs for this this fall. So SLU could theoretically be a (two year M.A.) springboard to a PhD somewhere else. But does SLU have the reputation to merit consideration from the top schools like ND, UVA, etc?

Marquette and Duke would round it out. If funding were more accessible across the big pond, I'd have Edinburgh up at the top. O'Donovan is retiring in a few years, and it'd be great to study under him while I still could.

studyordie -- UVA is definitely in my top 3 for PhDs. Just gotta get through two years of a significantly less-funded masters program first.

For those of you who are familiar with the program--what is the general tenor of BC's theology program--MTS in particular? I realize I'm inviting generalities, which is unfair, particularly for a relatively large school like Boston. So far, I haven't paid BC too much attention for two reasons: 1) My interests tend toward RO and post-liberalism, and I come from a more confessional background; BC seems to be more Jesuit than other RC schools (e.g. even Jesuit Marquette, which has some fresh faces on the faculty). 2) While my application is decent for an MTS (1480 GRE, one peer-reviewed article forthcoming, a few good references), I come from a small, practically unknown (Protestant) liberal arts college; I'm not sure if BC would pay my app much attention. If anyone has any advice along these lines, that'd be great.

Quick procedural question: anyone know if admissions committees generally make offers to both masters and doctoral students simultaneously? Or do PhDs come first, due to funding considerations/priorities, or for some other reason?

I haven't seen too much about UK theology programs on here yet, but I was curious if anyone else is applying or has heard back already. I've been accepted to MTh programs at Aberdeen and Edinburgh (both of which have faculty and research strengths that greatly appeal to me). I've heard that getting accepted is the easy part (is that true?); since international students pay so much more, their tuition is used by the universities to fund PhDs. Also, any advice about job prospects coming out of a British school?