Norman G

I'm headed to Vanderbilt. American Religious History and theology, as they intersect with warfare and theological ethics.

I'm 95% sure I'm going to Vanderbilt. Visited today and met with my POI, and it seems like an excellent fit. My wife also interviewed today at the medical center for a nursing position. She is the only hitch, she has to get her first nursing job before I can quit my career and we can move.

Have you visited either programs? Have you talked to students there? Does denomination affiliation matter to you? 
 
I do believe you would do fine going into non-profit work or ministry with the MARc. You will still be getting an MTS at BC, so the degree isn't necessarily any more pastoral or ministry focused, and it is still considered an academic degree. How do you figure that BC may be better for you if you have divergent interests? Because the MTS degree is less focused then a MARc in its coursework in terms of your specific field of study? 
 
One thing to consider is the alumni network at these schools as well as the opportunities given to students while at these institutions. I am sure both schools fair equally in terms of connections to non-profits, and ministry positions. Though the STM (not including IREPM's history) is a much younger school than YDS. The thing is that most MTS programs (as well as probably the MAR) don't fund these students for field study or ministry placements - as it is not a requirement of the degree. Depending on your specific school, perhaps you could use work study to say, get a ministry job part time, but I'm not sure about the rules and regulations at your school. Furthermore, work study funds will be greatly affected by the sequestration so who knows what they'll be offering next year. Thus, perhaps you could do internship or volunteer job part time while in school a few hours a week, but most students spend a considerably amount of time studying, of course. Most MTS and MAR students I am sure spend their summer learning languages, and getting ready to apply to PhD programs. I guess a question for you is really what program would allow you to investigate your divergent interests. Should you seriously be considering ministry, perhaps switching to the MDiv may be an option. MDiv's sometimes receive better funding than MTS's - though I am not sure if your funding package would change if you did this. 
 
With the market as it is, I am sure Yale MARc's fair pretty well during doctoral programs applications, comparatively. Again, the academy is so political and bureaucratic  its hard to say anything definitive, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I don't think BC STM students do that well during doctoral applications, but I can't speak from experience as I didn't go there. I can say BC's PhD program accepts many more students from ND's Masters program than from BC STM. BC accepted at least two students from Yale into its PhD this year. Also this year, BC accepted at least two individuals with masters from HDS. Obviously, YDS, HDS, and ND are very good schools. But, often, most doctoral programs accept many of their own masters students, and this makes sense. It happens often at HDS and UChicago, and I am sure at other schools, too. If you look at these schools doctoral students, like half of the admitted/current students are their own masters students.
 
I think one reason is that BC STM is NOT under the same faculty as BC's PhD program in Theology. It's a separate school, on a campus across the street, and isn't considered part of BC's graduate studies in arts and sciences, so you don't get to know the doctoral faculty. So, if a BC STM student didn't get into BC's PhD, then what are they chances they got into say, Harvard, Yale, or Notre Dame (of course, two completely different programs). I do know a STM student who got into UChicago but he does comparative religions/theology (something BC's theology faculty is good at, and he did his undergraduate studies at BC and knew some of the theology faculty really well, and also spent quite some time living in India) and will be doing his PhD in South Asian Languages and Civilizations. In short, I'll bet that BC STM MTS students don't do that well during the doctoral application process as Yale MARc students, since the MARc is a rather competitive degree itself. Since you did get into the MARc, I bet you're a fantastic student, and will do well at either place. 
 
HAVING SAID ALL THAT, (I'm sorry, I'm realizing that this post is convoluted), debt is a reality and serious burden. As this degree is obviously not something that one pursues to make the big bucks, going into debt for it is not a good idea, in my opinion. You have to consider your situation. Do you have undergraduate debt? It doesn't seem wise to go over 40k in debt for a degree in which you're not entirely sure what you'll do with it. Having worked at non-profits, the pay is rather low for an entry level position, should you decide to go that route after you finish your MA. Stipends for doctoral students in theology-- -- should you go that route--is around 20k, depending on the school, some more and some less. YDS estimates almost 16k for just living expenses for masters students - to give you an estimate of what living in the NE area will be like. So if you do pursue doctoral work, you'll still have this debt to deal with while not having much of an income to pay it off, and while having to make end's meet.
 
I apologize, this was the most bleak and depressing post, ever. I need to congratulate you, really, b/c you had a wonderfully successful masters application process! You have great options. 
 
Anyways, did you completely rule out ND?  
 
Feel free to message me if you have questions. I was accepted to ND, YDS, and BC two years ago, and decided to go to HDS instead, though my situation and interests are probably different than yours. Apologies for the typos. 

I do 19th/early 20th century theology/philosophy (Schleiermacher and Tillich mostly.) I'm also working on subdisciplines in critical theory and political theology.
 
*Shameless Plug*
If you're interested in American religious history, I highly recommend checking out Northwestern's RS department in the future as you consider PhD programs. We have some great people in the field (Robert Orsi, Sarah Taylor, Sylvester Johnson). We also have a fantastic working relationship with other humanities departments (philosophy, history, German, English, poli sci.) NU has a program called the Interdisciplinary Cluster Initiative/Certificate Program where PhD students from different disciplines can be involved in a "cluster" that is centered around a particular interdisciplinary field with the option to earn a certificate in that field (e.g. I'm a part of the Critical Theory cluster/certificate program as well as a certificate program in Religion and Global Politics, which is new this year.) The certificate goes on your transcripts, prepares you to do one of your quals in something related to it, etc. In other words, it's a fantastic place to be if you have interdisciplinary interests!

Strange, my PowerPrep II verbal scores for the two practice tests were 160 and 162. My actual score was 168. That's quite a difference. My quant score was 4 points lower for PowerPrep, too.

http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/score_level_descriptions

Seems like a 1 or 1.5 to me.

I didn't think I was being harsh. I thought the passage was too short in length and too shallow in content. I thought the awkward vocabulary lacked precision and that the grammatical errors made the passage generally unclear. Additionally, I didn't really see how any of the examples provided support for the conclusion. Pointing to a couple of historical examples of one person or idea influencing another may establish a descriptive fact about how the past can affect the future, but in no way does it establish the normative claim that the past ought to ground our future decisions. On this note, the author doesn't indicate any possible counterexamples or develop at all the matter of how we are actually supposed to apply our past "learnings." By what criteria do we choose to follow the example of Gandhi but not Hitler? What is stranger is that the author concludes the significance of Gandhi, King, and "Mendla" by saying that we must learn from our past mistakes. Also, as you observe, the Steve Jobs reference is irrelevant, and, along these lines I count no fewer than three sentences which add zero value to the passage but actually hurt it by reading as trite and obtuse.

So, I stand behind the 1/1.5 evaluation, since the passage contains not just the minimum of "at least one," but all of the following problems: (1) "content that is...mostly irrelevant to the assigned tasks"; (2) "serious lack of analysis or development"; and (3) "errors that obscure meaning."

If it makes you feel better, for those of us that don't have a religious affiliation this truly is all we have. If I don't get into a doctoral program my options are 1. teach high school or 2. work at Walmart. I'm sort of joking...but then again...I'm not.     

Still nothing for me either. I assume I'll be offered admission but, at this point, I doubt it will be accompanied with a nice scholarship. 

Sending transcripts: $30
Application fee: $75
GRE study books: $120
GRE registration fees (x2): $350
One solitary word, 'Denied', on the web site, with no email or generic note: Priceless.
 
There are some things money (and grad students) can't buy. For everything else, there's mastercard.

I didn't receive a rejection e-mail from Oregon...yet. Maybe I got Vanderbilt'd?

How I feel knowing that the Loyola acceptances have gone out:


 
 
Congratulations again, Theo-Be!

Is anyone willing to claim one of the five full-ride scholarships that Duke awarded to MDiv applicants last month?

I just feel like humanities students are the most pathetic forms of people. Humanities are easy and pointless and that's why the field is so flooded. Sciences (such as physics) are what really impacts the world and changes things and helps people. What do humanities really do?

The students are pathetic too. They are miserable because they tried to do what they loved but society hated it. Society hates them because they are just writers and 99.9% of writers are pathetic too. Even the Simpsons hates grad students. Those poor grad students, they can't even watch the simpsons to escape their woe!

Idk, I loved humanities and thought they were great but now I realized that I was wrong to enjoy them and that writing, and humanities are bad, their practitioners are pathetic and that sciences are the only way, even if you don't enjoy them, because they are the only way to actually do things.

Maybe I'm just cynical.

Ya'll (how southern of me)
 
I applied to Emory's HB program and I haven't gotten a rejection yet either. So far I've only seen 1 person put that they were rejected on the results forum- it doesn't seem "widespread"... yet anyways. I don't know what to think of it. Anyone else hear anything from Emory? Anyone willing to say what sub discipline they were rejected from? JW. thanks.
 
Also, realistically we will all know pretty soon as their invitation weekend is this weekend so the hatchet will come down probably sooner rather than later.
 

 
That's not Isaac, that's my future 

Also, you should derive a certain amount of confidence from jdmhotness' avatar. Be like Nyan Cat and reach for your dreams.

Like you said, I think it mostly depends on whether the application deadlines for your respective programs has already passed. If so, I would probably avoid the urge to send an updated CV as it would be inconvenience to the department (and, imo, it might cause the department to re-question the original strength of your CV). You don't want to raise an unnecessary red-flag at this point in the game.

Like you said, I think it mostly depends on whether the application deadlines for your respective programs has already passed. If so, I would probably avoid the urge to send an updated CV as it would be inconvenience to the department (and, imo, it might cause the department to re-question the original strength of your CV). You don't want to raise an unnecessary red-flag at this point in the game.

Every GRE test you have taken for the past five years will be reported to the schools you decide to send your results to. This means that even if you should score V=169, Q=169, AW=6.0 on your second test, the schools would receive these scores along with your previous scores. How the schools choose to interpret your GRE scores, however, is not something anyone can answer.

Those smarty pants ( ) members have their own section for PhD applications, so I figured we needed one for MA/MTS/MAR/MDiv/ThM apps!

Please post your acceptances, interviews, rejections, thoughts, et cetera!

Did anyone else slip in a few dirty words into theirs, just to make sure the admissions committee was actually reading, or...?   

Really Meredith? Those are not bad scores.

Oh, well I didn't know that you also had a stipend. If the stipend is around 10-15k you should be fine with the $4500. And, you might even have enough to bring a car!!!!!!!!

Alternatively, I don't think it would be inappropriate to inform the schools, at some point in February, that you have a acceptance deadline for one or more program on March 1st. Yet, at the same time, you wouldn't want to influence their decision on your application by informing them that you have offers elsewhere. So, maybe your method is the safest.
 
(This thread might help some)

It has to be fake. I was told by admissions that decisions for the MDiv would be made, at the earliest, on the third week of February. I have wondered, after suffering a great deal of stress due to a fake-result post last year, if perhaps the individuals who post false data on the result page do so in an attempt to "stimulate" the admission decisions at certain schools. Whatever the reason, the fake results certainly cause a fair amount of stress.