ûl ʾašerātō
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Everything posted by ûl ʾašerātō
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Top schools for Biblical Studies and Early Christianity?
ûl ʾašerātō replied to khopkins227's topic in Religion
You should talk to Prof. Bob Cargill about what you're interests are. He is more than capable of pointing you in the right direction. -
You'll only be able to apply to one department within GSAS at Yale, unlike Harvard. So, you'll need to decide between applying to NELC (for Assyriology?) or Religious Studies (HB or Ancient Judaism probably). Obviously Troxel at Wisconsin would provide a good fit, and Hutton is going to be big time. Who would you work with at Berkeley/GTU or Harvard for LXX/DSS? Also, have you considered Brown? Between Olyan and a prodigious NT/Early Christianity/Classics faculty, you might be well served there. And, what is the state of HB at Duke presently? I've heard the Meyers are retiring. Do you work with Davis? Best of luck!
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Egyptology at Yale is definitely in a precarious position right now. Unfortunately, the scandal has also opened the GSAS to reduce the number of students in the NELC department, which has already been a shrinking department. Although the full extent of the damage remains to be seen, it is unlikely that the department as a whole will recover soon. I honestly can't imagine that the department will be able to legitimately move forward with both Darnell and Manasseh. I hope that the university will begin to make decisions to protect one of the best departments of its kind in the world, even though the administration probably has little regard for the humanities like most other Ivy administrations (just look at the state of the ancient program in NELC at Harvard).
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Qaus-gabri is absolutely correct. UT Austin has to be the top program in comparative semitics right now. I'd probably put Chicago second. Though 5 years ago Chicago was definitely at the top of semitics (under the supervision of Pardee), they're having a lot of faculty turn over right now, and it remains to be seen what the landscape will be like when the dust settles. You should take some time this summer to seriously consider what your interests are. You should especially consider job prospects in various fields after completing your doctoral studies. As everyone knows, the job market is dismal. This is especially the case for semitics PhDs. Right now, the best you could hope for with a semitics PhD is a renewable lecturer position. I'm at Yale right now, and both semitics professors here are in non-tenure track positions. In numerous conversations I've had with both of them, they have strongly recommended against getting a semitics PhD. If you have an interest in Hebrew Bible, you should look into HB/ANE programs (my list you refer to above is a good starting place). These programs will afford you the opportunity to study semitics and still provide you the remote possibility of getting a tenure track position somewhere (emphasis on remote). I'd be happy to recommend a few programs from my list for you to look into further. Best of luck with your applications.
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Sorry to hear about the Hopkins rejection. They have a great program on paper, but I feel like their admissions process is an enigma. Given their penchant for taking students into HB/NWS from a select number of masters programs, maybe it is largely based upon written recommendations. Who knows. Good luck with funding at UT though. As I've said before, Austin is a fantastic place to live!
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I'd say live in New Haven has its ups and downs. I'll assume you're familiar with weather in the NE (and Princeton would have basically the same weather), so I'll skip all if that. On the upside, New Haven has a lot of the perks of living in a larger city: numerous restaurants, bars, theaters, shopping, etc. I love New Haven pizza, which is had at a few well known places around town. Also, New Haven is very walkable for the most part (esp. with the assistance of the Yale shuttle services). There is plentiful housing in East Rock, which is the most popular place for graduate students to live. On the downside, New Haven is a lot like living in a large city: traffic, parking, crime, and high rent prices are all an issue here. Now, I should say that the crime is largely theft. So, it's not like living in Chicago, which had something like 500 homicides last year. You should expect to pay $1,100/mo for a livable one bedroom apartment in east rock at minimum. Most single graduate students who live off campus share 2-3 bedroom places to save money. In the end, I enjoy living in New Haven. I love the local restaurants (the Italian place 2 blocks down know our "usual" order, and always chat with us when e pick up our pie). There are a ton of university sponsored events going on all the time. Most of them include free wine/beer and food. But, I definitely wish living here was more affordable. I'd say that whether or not you'd like living here is largely contingent upon whether or not you'd enjoy living in a more urban environment. If you're OK with dealing with traffic, parking problems, a large homeless population, and minor crime (no one I know has had a problem since I've been here), you'll probably enjoy living here. If you tend to shy away from the drawbacks of city life, you might not like New Haven as well as you might like Princeton. I hope you will remember as you read this that it is merely my experience, and not necessarily indicative of everyone's experience. But, I hope you find it helpful all the same.
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I'm in Hebrew Bible so I cannot speak with any authority on which place would be better for your academic interests. But, I will say that if you're interested in teaching at a university or seminary I'd recommend Yale. Yale has a number of options for people in your situation. You can choose a considerable amount of your curriculum in the MDiv program, which is a big advantage over a number of other programs. Also, many students continue on after the MDiv an additional year for the STM, which allows them to have an additional academic year before pursuing doctoral work. You have full access to the resources of Yale University, as the div school is a professional school within the greater university. If you desire to pursue ordination, the option would remain open to you. As for living in New Haven, I will say it is manageable, though not the most desirable. If you live in East Rock (the most popular neighborhood for grad students) your toddler (assuming he/she will begin school while you're here) will be in the Hooker school district, which is the best elementary school in the city. Living in New Haven is very similar to living in a larger city (I somewhat compare it to my time in Chicago), despite the fact that New Haven itself is relatively small. I haven't been to Princeton, so I am not aware of what living there is like, though I get the impression that it would be much more suburban. If you're seriously considering doctoral work and pursuing an academic career, I would recommend Yale over PTS. Best of luck making your decision.
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Congrats! Toronto is a great place to be!
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I'm a current MARc student at YDS studying Hebrew Bible. Firstly, I think you were wise to apply to UGA's program. Though you're right that it is relatively unknown, Dick Friedman and Baruch Halpern are first rate. I would not have expected a public school to have offered such generous funding for masters students (though I do see that you are in state, which probably helps). While YDS is undoubtedly much larger than the Religion department at UGA, your cohort for Hebrew Bible at YDS is probably much smaller than you might think. I believe that there are currently 3 Hebrew Bible students in my 2012-14 cohort (not counting Second Temple Judaism students who generally take the same classes as HB students). So, I have gotten to know the HB professors here quite well in my first 1.5 semesters. So, do not operate under the assumption that you will simply be some anonymous student at Yale. Additionally, Yale puts their graduates into top PhD programs every year. This year alone the second year students have received offers from top tier institutions (including Yale and Harvard). Every top-tier program in which you'd want to study HB currently has graduates from YDS: Yale, Harvard, Chicago, Hopkins, Emory, etc (I realize there are excellent programs that don't have YDS grads, like Texas, UCLA, etc., but you get my point). So, while UGA would be a great place to study HB, I do not believe it will offer you the same opportunities as Yale. Good luck in making your final decision. If you have any further questions about the program, feel free to PM me.
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I'm sorry, I don't know how he heard. My guess is e-mail or post, but I'm not sure.
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It sounds like YDS would be an excellent fit for what you're talking about. They offer ordination for Episcopalians and are among the top schools in academics. With the exception of a professor here or there, I don't believe you can expect to get a better faculty. The MDiv program is a 3 year program with ministry requirements, but they also offer considerable flexibility for you to pursue academic interests. Additionally, they also have the STM degree, which is a 1 year academic masters degree that a number of students who decide they want to go on to doctoral work end up pursuing before applying to PhD programs. Given that it might be the case that you pursue a PhD then go into ministry, having your two masters from YDS would be a fantastic set up for academia and ministry. Also, if you decide to go down somewhat of a middle route, and seek to teach at a very small undergraduate college or something where they are heavily focused on ministry, many of these schools (as well as a large number of seminaries) require a professional ministry degree for their faculty. If you end up getting enough financial aid to make 3 years possible at YDS or HDS or Chicago (though you've already said they only offered 50%), I would highly suggest pursuing that option for you. Good luck making your decision!
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A friend was offered by GSAS Religion Committee and he will be turning it down. So, there may be some hope for the Religion waitlist.
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A friend was accepted to GSAS Religion, not NELC. I expect he will be turning it down.
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Last year they accepted 1 doctoral student in Assyriology. He was an external candidate. This year there was at least 1 (probably 2) internal candidates applying for Assyriology. I have no idea who was accepted this year, but it seems likely to me that either candidate would accept if offered. Given how small Assyriology is at Yale, I would expect that the decision will be made sooner rather than later. So, if I were you, I'd stick it out on the waitlist for a couple of weeks, unless you don't plan to come anyway.
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Yale has already made an offer for HB and he will accept. Since Hebrew Bible never gets more than one spot, it seems like HB is all wrapped up for this year. I've been advised not to apply to Harvard because of the uncertainty there. It seems that the administration isn't interested in maintaining the strength of the ancient field. I think that Huehnergard and Hackett saw this coming 5 years ago, and so they retired to Austin. Indeed, Hackett told me as much. Since they are obviously in no hurry to replace Huehnergard and Hackett, I'm not sure why they would be in any hurry to replace Machinist or Stager. It's unfortunate really. Harvard has been at the top of HB/ANE for several decades, but now it seems that in 5 years they may not even have a program (at least not in NELC). At least places like Chicago and Texas are building their programs so people will continue to have first rate places to study.
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Is your classmate intending to matriculate at Hopkins? Or, is Hopkins a back up for him/her? If you know. Thanks!
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Anyone want to claim the Hopkins interview? I'm interested in your sub field, especially if your HB/NWS. Thanks!
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I think you'll enjoy being at Brown (if you end up matriculating). The dept has great resources for its students, and has been producing some top quality work of late. Congratulations!
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That's fantastic! I think you're going to love ucla and working with Schniedewind. Congratulations!
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By "the archaeology program" do you mean Levantine archaeology with Burke?
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Top notch religious studies programs that offer archeological education?
ûl ʾašerātō replied to belichick's topic in Religion
As always, it depends on where your interests are. But, if you're interested in the ancient Judaism side, UCLA would be an excellent place to consider. Schniedewind is top notch in Hebrew Bible, DSS, and ancient Judaism. Boustan in ancient Judaism is also very good. They have multiple connections to digs in West Asia, especially the cultural heritage project at Jaffa, of which Aaron Burke is a co-director. UCLA, unlike most of the other UCs, generally won't accept students they cannot fund (at least in the NELC dept), which is a bit of a double edged sword (if you get in you get funding, but they don't take many students). Also, UCLA has an excellent reputation, especially in the western half of the US, where there is much less NE/Ivy bias (which is another conversation entirely). -
All of the departments in the Graduate School are required to have some sort of interview with candidates. I expect that visiting would count. Most of the interviews are done via Skype. A number of the departments are not particularly thrilled with the interview requirement, including Religious Studies. As I mentioned, things might not be on the regular schedule this year due to the shake up in Egyptology. So, I wouldn't read too much into delayed information.
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It is definitely true that HB/NWS programs are extremely competitive. Spots are very limited, and the applicant pools are huge. It seems that what you need to get into a PhD program in this area of study is what you would have finished with 20 or 30 years ago. Brown has an interesting program, especially if you're interested in doing comparative work. I'm glad to hear your visit went well. Hopefully you'll hear some good news.
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I see that you're in the Boston area. Did you visit the RS department at Brown? I'm interested to know what you thought of the department if you did.
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You shouldn't necessarily consider yourself rejected this early for NELC at Yale. The NELC dept. at Yale has had a bit of a shake up in Egyptology that has the department spread quite thin. Frahm is now the DGS for the NELC department, the chair of Assyriology and acting chair of Egyptology. Since Yale has a requirement in the Graduate School to interview every candidate who will be offered admission, I'm sure things are moving more slowly this year.
