RD_Paul

Congrats to everyone invited to Baylor. I'm a first-year NT student. Baylor's a good place. Rigorous, theological, good cohort of students. 
As for Wantingtogetinsomewhere's question about SBC students, I don't know of any students from SBC seminaries in any of the four subfields. Honestly, I'm not sure they'd want to come here anyway. That being said, we're a diverse student body that leans (in my opinion) progressive Evangelical, at least that seems to me the case with this fall's incoming class. There are certainly exceptions to that, but at least in the NT subfield, we are all at least somewhat interested in theological/ecclesial questions. I'm one of the more interested in those questions among those currently taking coursework. I'm Anabaptist, and I only feel a bit out of place.
As for advice for preview weekend, I'd say the biggest thing is just to relax. You've made it to preview weekend, so they're intrigued by what you might add to the department community. It's cliche, but true: be yourself. Expect to get lots of questions about your interests and your SOP. The faculty are relatively easy to talk/connect with. 

As a current Baylor student, let me just say that wantingtogetinsomewhere doesn't really know what s/he is talking about. There are current students from all over the map in terms of liberal to conservative. We've had incoming cohorts with students from Yale and DTS in the same group.

For what it's worth, I had a 163V and a 156Q with a 4.5AW. I retook it and improved my writing to a 6.0. My other scores didn't improve, so I applied with 163V, 156Q, and a 6.0 (all my schools took composite scores), and I got into 4/5 programs. I'm convinced that my improved writing made a huge difference. I would definitely retake the test and focus on improving your writing. 

Congrats!

When I interviewed with PTS, they told me that they had hired a new Paulinist, but they weren't read to share his/her identity yet. I'm guessing it's Michael Gorman. He's there as a Luce Fellow this year, and he is a PTS alum. I also heard today that they hired Mark Smith (OT/HB/ANE) from NYU. 

Committed to Baylor! So excited to get started. Very difficult choice, but I am glad I made it.

Committed to Baylor! So excited to get started. Very difficult choice, but I am glad I made it.

Committed to Baylor! So excited to get started. Very difficult choice, but I am glad I made it.

Committed to Baylor! So excited to get started. Very difficult choice, but I am glad I made it.

Committed to Baylor! So excited to get started. Very difficult choice, but I am glad I made it.

Committed to Baylor! So excited to get started. Very difficult choice, but I am glad I made it.

I hope the best for you my dude but if it doesn't work out and if you really want it then hit it for a third time.  Took me three years of applying but was finally accepted to UPenn and NYU, and still waiting on a few more.  
 
Never give up, never surrender. 

I really hope you hear good news from Baylor!

What they said. The rejections this year have really taken a toll on me and the tone of the post was so insensitive to those of us who are genuinely struggling with what the next step is. For me, academic study of religion is pretty much the only thing I can see myself doing, but this is the second round of (probable) rejections despite doing pretty well in the application process (I know I've been in the top applicants at the programs I'm most interested in via my POIs). And I know plenty about the job market and about how hard the process is going to be but I still feel like it's what I need to do. The reality is that the job market is pretty crappy no matter what you're doing (I have friends in law school and med school saying the same things about their job markets). I guess what I'm getting at is consider the audience, try to remember that some of us are sincerely dealing with emotional (maybe even spiritual) issues and depression about watching our dreams fade away.

Turned down Emory for NT. After getting into Baylor and now Duke, Emory was a clear third for me. I hope this opens up a spot for someone else!

Got a call yesterday from Duke Divinity. Accepted to the ThD program. 

Got a call yesterday from Duke Divinity. Accepted to the ThD program. 

Got a call yesterday from Duke Divinity. Accepted to the ThD program. 

Got a call yesterday from Duke Divinity. Accepted to the ThD program. 

Got a call yesterday from Duke Divinity. Accepted to the ThD program. 

Accepted to Emory, Bob Jones, Princeton U, and an online program (Capella) so far.  PhD in NT except for the online program. Really waiting to hear from Regent and Harvard. 

Only raging masochists incur debt for a PhD in religion. $180,000 for Oxford is just insane considering the degree won't be worth much more than $40k per year salary.  

Got a call this morning from Emory. Admitted into the NT program!

Got my acceptance e-mail from Baylor this afternoon! Beyond thrilled about this!
Good luck to everyone else!

Notre Dame's interviews are competitive. I got into their MTS program last year, and Vanderkam told me while I was there that they always invite more prospective PhD students than they can take.