Febronia

When I applied for that fellowship, I was canonically resident in the diocese of Pennsylvania and we were without an acting bishop at the time.....which meant the best I could do was a retired Australian bishop who happened to be in the US and had never met me before! Truth. It was either him or some bishop from the Solomon Islands that some friends knew! But the bishop who wrote for me was very nice, and made an appointment for a long conversation with me and wrote a letter afterwards. So, honestly I don't think it matters a lot! If the bishop where you live now would be willing to meet with you and then write for you, I might do that (and even write him directly asking for a meeting). If he doesn't know you now, he would afterwards! But I certainly don't think it would be bad to ask your former bishop either. I'm not sure who your former bishop is (although I think you and I know each other!), but bear in mind that if he is bishop of a diocese that includes a major divinity school then he might well be writing for several other people, including people whom he knows better. That doesn't necessarily hurt you, but it's worth keeping in mind.

This year all departments at Yale are being required by the graduate school to interview students before offering them admission. http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2012/jan/11/grad-school-divided-over-interviews/ Some subfields of the program were already doing this. Although I don't know, I think these will almost certainly be telephone interviews in most cases.

I can think of a number of places that are strong for either Syriac -or- Ethiopic, but if you're wanting both of them, it's going to be a shorter list. The place that stands out the most in my mind is Duke. Lucas Van Rompay would be a wonderful person to study both languages with. The department of Semitics at CUA is also strong in both areas, although their funding is not the best. The list expands if you consider places with cross-registration/exchange agreements--for example, Brown for Syriac and Harvard for Ethiopic.

I wouldn't be surprised if the number of fellowships turns out to be higher than that, though. It says there was funding for 27 new fellowships last year, and if you look at the list of new 2010 fellows, there were actually 67. I received the Javits in August, after being on an alternate list, which seems like it may actually be pretty common... I know that sometimes fellows graduate, get other fellowships, or drop out, thus freeing up more spots over the summer months...But I honestly don't understand how it works...

There are several universities where you can do a dual M.Div./J.D. degree. At some of those, (Harvard and Yale for sure, probably others), you can apply to the M.Div. first and then apply for the JD the following year after you're already in the M.Div. program. You'd have to take the LSAT at that point, but not *this* year, if it's the timing that's the concern. The advantage to this would be that you might be able to take a few classes at the law school during your first year, which can help you make sure it's what you really want to do before taking on tons of debt, and may increase your chances of getting accepted to the JD program (assuming that you do well in those classes, of course.)

Getting two master's degrees is becoming increasingly common, although I don't know if I've heard of anyone doing a second MTS degree before. Usually it's a combination like MTS/ThM, MTS/MA, MTS/MPhil, etc.... I myself did the M.Div./M.Phil combination. That said, you do need to have specific goals for what you want to get out of the second master's that you were unable to accomplish in the first one. I think it would be hard to convince an admissions committee to admit you in order to study the same thing that you studied for the first master's... In the cases where I have seen this strategy work well, the person used the second master's either to switch focus to a different, but complementary, area of study, or else to do a more specialized degree in one aspect of their previous study. In my case, I did one master's degree in contemporary Eastern Christianity, and the second one in ancient and medieval Eastern Christianity. I also know people who have, for example, done one master's in ancient Christianity, and a second one in ancient Judaism. That makes a lot of sense, for someone with those research interests, in a way that two master's degrees in a single area of study really wouldn't. I also know someone who wanted more language preparation and so did a second master's degree in classics. All of that being said, don't despair. BC is a respected program, and their placement rate for doctoral programs seems to be good. The most important thing is to focus on doing the best job that you can while you're there, instead of thinking about doing a second master's at a "better" program. It's also good that you're taking classes at Harvard. That gives you a chance to take some classes with those professors and show that you can excel in that environment as well, without going to all of the trouble of a second master's degree.

It depends on the individual school. I went to HDS, and the rule for us was 50% of our courses at HDS. But each school has its own policies.

I would strongly recommend one of the schools of the Boston Theological Institute, because then you can take classes at any of the others. They are very different places, with a very broad spectrum of theological approaches, but that makes it a great place for ecumenical work. And they all have different strengths, so if you went into any of these programs focused on taking classes throughout the consortium in the areas strongest for specific schools, you would come out with an incredible education, probably better than any individual school could give you. There are some individual programs that would be considered stronger than the individual BTI schools, but I think it would be hard to find anything that would compare to the strength of the consortium as a whole. Of course, this advice assumes that you actively scross-register at the different schools. Too many students don't. Andover Newton, Boston College, Boston University, Episcopal Divinity School, Gordon Conwell, Harvard Divinity School, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Saint John's Seminary

Ancient Christianity at Yale

I received an email from the program today saying that I'm an alternate.

Yes, I'm finishing up my last semester now. I've really loved it here, so I definitely highly recommend it.

Your chances are very good, but obviously there are no certainties in this game.... Areas to improve? GRE. Harvard might be the only program you're applying to that requires it, but at most others you can choose to submit it, and if you score well then it's a good plan to do so. This is worth spending some time on, because scores are good for 5 years, and there is much to be said for not having to retake it again later.....! Languages. Honestly, Latin is probably sufficient to be admitted....I applied to M.Div. programs with hardly any language background...but I would start another language (Greek or German or French) in the fall if you can. It not only looks good, but it will save you trouble down the road....! If anything, more ministry experience would probably help you, but I don't think it's essential, and I'm not sure what to recommend. Probably the most important thing will be to really spend some time with your statements of purpose. You're applying to some very different programs, which is fine, but you'll probably want to be crafting quite different statements of purpose for them, rather than a generic one with a "fit paragraph".

I got an email last night saying that I was wait listed. It's a little disappointing, especially after such a wonderful weekend, but at the same time, I do have a couple of other good offers. At this point, I think that I will probably accept one of those rather than remaining on the wait list and drawing out the uncertainty...

Just sent you a message!

I applied and was accepted this year! I haven't decided yet where I'm going to go next year, but my interactions with the program have all been extremely positive. Their students seem to be doing very interesting research, and I'd certainly encourage any applicants with an interest in religious pluralism to seriously consider them. It seems to be a fantastic program.