samsarictraveler

11Q13, Don't fret yet... remember that a 1200 GRE can mean very different things depending on the distribution of the scores. Religious Studies departments (at least at the PhD level) don't care about your quantitative scores. A 1200 seems low by SAT standards but if its really a 650V/550Q or a 700V/500Q, then with an otherwise strong application, you could be an excellent candidate.

The basic trick is not to write a reflective self-analysis. No analysis is needed in your personal statement; merely write what you want to study, why you want to study it (briefly if at all), and why you are prepared to study it. That's all that grad schools care for. In other words do not include childhood experiences or work history. Don't even try a cute or interesting essay form. Write something really easy. That will probably be best.

You're gpa is higher then the average at Harvard. Depending on your GMAT and work experience, there is no reason you could not get into a top school.

A piece of advice given to me by a professor in the div school at the University of Chicago; "the only thing you want to write is who you are, what you want to study, and why you are prepared to study it." Personally, I'd start in the middle, just try to articulate exactly what you want to study, whether that's Barthe's theology, or the social context of ancient egyptian christianity, or early medieval Indian religious narrative literature. Once you've written that, I discovered, at least for myself, that everything else sort of falls into place.

MA acceptance rates arn't as scary as PhD acceptance rates. Even the best programs accept about half of their applicants (in Religious Studies!) And if you learn anything on this site, its that mere numbers are not the most important part of you package. a 3.0 GPA is quite low it seems for people who apply to top program, but if your major GPA is much higher (perhaps because you took lots of engineering courses) then you could be a strong applicant. What really matters are your recs and your Statement of Purpose (SOP). In general, getting into a top program in any field is tough, however...

I'm attending Yale for Asian Religions. My stats are GRE: 730v/790q/5a uGPA: 3.7 (with a lot of grad courses) I also have French (which is much more important than german in my field), and four years or so of Sanskrit. If I were to go through this process again, I would probably apply for outside fellowships. Its really no skin off your back to apply even if you have little chance, and if you get one, programs that are extremely expensive like Chicago's MA program suddenly become reasonable.

I'm not a physicist myself (anymore!) but I still have a lot of friends in physics. The thing to remember is that you don't have to impress anyone, you don't have to do well, all you have to do is pass. The thing to remember is that this is physics you already know. Comps are intense for everyone in every field.

To all those who got in to Yale: Congratulations! Hope to see you around! (and of course also congratulations to those who were accepted to HDS!)

One person so far seems to have heard, or at least one person has posted. Its not surprising to me its taking so long... the Hyde Park post office is extraordinarilly disfunctional!

It really depends on the school and the field. If you're in theology, it seems you really need an MA first. If you do sociology of religion (or comparative, or ancient Judaism\christianity) then it really depends on the program. Yale, Princeton, and Columbia accept people with just a BA in these fields (and Yale, at least, really does. I know three people in religious studies who came with just a BA). Chicago, for instance, does not. Check the programs' websites!

Yes... but it sounded different in my head when I wrote it... I meant it in a tragi-comic vein, sort or as if it were said with a sigh. Reading it now it makes me look like a complete asshole... I just hope no one reading this blog figures out who Wendy is! (though I fear that's too much to ask)

Hi all! Congrads on getting in to Yale. I'm going for Religious Studies. Anyone here happen to work on South Asia (in any way, shape, or form!)

I do know a person in PR at Chicago who transfered from an MA-PhD program in Sanskrit at Harvard. However, grad school transfers usually occur when a student finishes their MA. If you transfered from one PhD program to another in religion, you probably would have to start all over again! It might happen, but its probably exceedingly rare. The only reason I can see is if an advisor leaves one program for another, and takes her grad students with her.

No, but I doubt I was accepted. I work on Purana (both in Sanskrit and Tamil), and of course Jack Hawley does Moghul era northern Bhakti... I only only applied because I admire his work so much.

The GRE is basically only useful as a sorting device. Graduate get large numbers of applications from hugely unqualified individuals. It saves time and money to weed out people using a single number (ok 3 numbers).