Dillskyplayer

REJECTED AGAIN. It looks like the only people I could fool into taking me on is Emory. I'm done visiting this website for the time being. Take care. Enjoy school.

Clayton was the AAR keynote speaker at the uppermidwestern regional AAR/SBL at my school last year. He's great.

=] I just know it's a component of admissions. The GRE - yikes. I had to take it for PHD applications and never want to look at another math problem again. I use math once a year: tax time. In my time as a religion student I have never used it, save, for cardinal/ordinal numbers in Hebrew or for gemmatria. But, that's a component too (the objective component -- the great equalizer).

I am not knocking affirmative action. I am merely affirming that it happens and for good reason. To gloss over it and say, "I didn't get in because I'm white" does not work here. What does work, however, is saying that it IS taken into consideration when studying religion: underrepresented peoples have and continually are oppressed by religion and need to be represented. The commonplace WASP has been represented thoroughly throughout US history in seminaries and divinity schools. So, in sum, I did not mean to knock affirmative action here, I am knocking how that "check box" DOES make a difference (even though schools and admissions folks say that it doesn't) Sorry, it does make some difference.Not against affirmative action, but definitely am saying that it IS important to have underrepresented peoples in seminaries/divinity schools due to their marginalization in US history (and history in the Western World in general).

Hm. Never figured I could do that. Where I am -- there's like 4 seminaries and a superabundance of churches but.... they've all got a pastor =[ And oh, Trin, I live in Minneapolis. It's very trendy -- kind of like Portland. It's just COLD here all the time. That's why I laughed a bit when all this snow stuff went down on the east coast -- we got like 13 inches one day and we still had class!

OK time for the whole "cover your butt" disclaimer. I am 1. not being elitist 2. not being butthurt 3. not being a prick to those of you who got in. I was hurting pretty hard last week about this. "How did X get in instead of me---what the heck? This clown? This chump? This undergrad?!!!!" --- I came to the conclusion that I don't know dick about any of you, or you of me. I don't know if you're white, yellow, red, brown, male or female. BUT I can say that I'm a white, midwestern, middleclass, protestant, married, male in my twenties (liberal, yes) -- which doesn't have the same effect on an adcom as other underrepresented peoples. Me? I'm the majority in the states. I am not underrepresented in colleges/graduate schools. I've come to the conclusion that it's a crap shoot. It's HDS. They've got a prerogative just like any other school. I have served on advisory counsels for my journal and I know what goes into "picking" authors/people to represent us: can he/she bring some underrepresented perspective into this journal/institution? You think that little "box" next to nationality/ethnicity/sex/married-unmarried doesn't make a difference with applications? Wrong. These things are behind closed doors. But that's besides the point for our purposes here. Trust me, the distance between you and the hegemony helps. A few months ago upon asking for references, one of my professors told me, "Dude. HDS? Throw away your money man, throw it away. Just finish your MDIV here and surrender your MAR and finish it in a year." He's a very well known, well-written professor of OT in the US, so I should have listened to him. The reason he told me this was NOT because HDS is a bad school--it's because I have ALREADY been trained. Yes, I've already been trained for four years of grad/postgraduate school. The thing is this: even if I would have gone to HDS at this point, come to think of it, there's nothing really that can be taught to me that I can't learn on my own. I've been trained. Ergo---I'd be a poor investment for another school to dump thousands and thousands of dollars into. So, if you've ALREADY been trained to read/write/research/study -- if you've been trained to do languages, do Bible, do ministry (AT A GRADUATE LEVEL) -- then you're probably not what they're looking for. I wish I would have thought about that a bit more 100 dollars ago and days worth of proofing/editing silly admissions stuff. Undergrad can train you for some of this stuff, but it's not the same -- it's far more cursory (at least in my experience). I don't want to sound like a jerk, but good for you if you got in and can afford it. If you can't, good luck paying it off some day. I hope HDS serves you well in TRAINING YOU. I can say, though, that in my current program that I have HDS M.Div graduates and they are not any different than any other seminary student around me. We are smart, articulate, and capable people--some of us just bring some more "attractive trappings" to our institutions statistics. That IS a component. Appealing to the schools liberal/social justice sensibilities? Whether you did it or not, that's part of the game too. So, congratulations if you got in and are going. But don't pat yourself on the back too hard. That is, DON'T take on the pretentious attitude of a stereotypical Harvard student from some crappy tween movie. You're still the same person--you're just going to the Divinity School. If you didn't get in, don't be too butthurt. You'll get in some where some day. You've got to ask yourself this: Who am I?

Hi So my wife and I have been having some chats about Candler lately and we are kind of wondering if anyone knows anything about the neighborhood. We need to find a place that allows dogs/cats--nothing too big, no kids yet! In addition, we are wondering about transportation to and from the campus. Does anyone know whether or not its in the middle of the city or a suburb or what? Let me know if you get a chance. Shalom

If the Apostle Paul pulled it off -- I sure as heck can. I, too, am now going through my list of options. Until I find out about YDS on Monday/Tuesday I can't send any emails about lining up work at Candler, but I can at least prepare myself.

I understand the debt situation. It's bittersweet to get in and not be funded proper, but at least you were accepted! I don't know if I can ask my wife to quit her job and "come follow me" to Atlanta especially if I don't get any decent funding. Without Leadership Candler, I can't hope for decent funding. I'm not a Methodist either. The only "pull" for the school is that I wanted to do my PHD at the GDR and maybe, just maybe they'll notice me. That's a big time commitment and a lot of "ifs" though. There's a powerful scene from LOST season 1 where John Locke pounds his fists on a buried hatch in the jungle and cries out, "I've done everything you ever wanted me to do -- so WHY did you DO THIS to ME?" That's how I feel right now. Four years of graduate work for naught. I can't get a job with an MA and MTH in Hebrew Bible. I could surrender my MA and finish an MDIV at my current school, without funding, of course. But what's that worth? Apparently not much to HDS. OR any of the PHD programs that I applied to.... What am I? Too bourgeois for them? It just totally blows to get rejected by 7/9 schools so far....there's no greater hurt than realizing that I did OK as an undergraduate, pulled myself out of the depths of Sheol for four years to get stellar grades in graduate school, and still, STILL am not as appealing a candidate as a young sprout who is fresh out of a BA program. There's no greater hurt than the life-canceling capacities of an admissions council.

Candler if they don't screw me with funding. YDS if I get in -- which seems unlikely given I can't even get into HDS with a masters and post-masters degree. I might as well suck it up and pay full tuition (or so I assume I will be doing) for Candler, finish up and become a pastor and accept my role in life as someone who had to fall short of his dreams.

I give up. Spat in the face for 5/6 PHD applications and 1/3 MDIV applications. Spat in the face....

HDS rejected.... I don't get it.

Damn. I was hoping to NOT develop an ulcer this weekend.

Stupid friend sent me a text and I almost poo'd.

I hope its for the MAR/MTS and not MDIV if you're getting calls. I can't take another rejection this season.