NTstudent

Seriously funny comment. Also, I agree that UToronto is the better bet, unless you think you'd fit at McGill better for some reason.

I think this really depends on who you're working with at St. Andrews and whether or not he/she has connections stateside. Generally speaking, you are right that UK degrees open UK doors and vice-versa. So, while you might be spending more on your MTS at Duke it might ultimately open up doors for you stateside that you wouldn't otherwise have. Of course, you might consider trying to defer your Duke offer for a year (if that's possible), go to St. Andrews for a year then reapply to other MTS programs. Then, you become a very attractive PhD candidate with two Master's, international relationships and a MTS from a top US school. Just a thought.

If your thinking about German, pick up April Wilson's "German Quickly." I worked through it at a rapid pace and feel pretty strong. I'm now going through my second German grammar and feel like Wilson prepared me very well. If you google "Theological German" and "Andy Rowell" you will find a website that provides some helpful resources on summer langauge courses (including some online options), reviews of grammars and some very helpful general tips. Rowell is finishing his ThD at Duke and the website is very helpful. For the money Wilson's grammar will teach you what you need to know to get reading. I'm glad to have the recommendation for Sandberg's French for Reading.

For languages I would echo what everyone else has already said in terms of the more languages the better both for speed in aquisition and getting into programs. In terms of whether to focus on Latin or Greek first it just depends. With your extensive french knowledge I might suggest starting with Latin. There is summer intensive program that's online, but very effective. Google "Erasmus Academy NY Summer Language Program" they provide courses in German, Latin, Greek, French and I think some others. They also provide the ability to prove your language skill with a language for reading credit. Some school accept their course in place of their credits. They focus on reading languages for the humanities, so it's the kind of language study that will help you get into texts quickly. As always, however, there is no subsitute for time at task. Hope that helps

TC is a growing subfield. I would try to work with a particular text critic if I were in you shoes. Also, it really depends on whether you're talking NT or HB/LXX text criticism. As a NT person, I can't really speak to where would be best for HB/LXX, but Germany is probably the most likely. John's Hopkins would probably be good too, but their focus would perhaps be more in epigraphy? As far as NT goes, the best place right now is University of Birmingham. D. C. Parker is doing some of the most interesting work in the field and they are working diligently to utilize technology for the collation of manuscripts. If you want to stay stateside, there is UNC Chapel Hill and you could work with Ehrman, but I don't know how likely you are to spend time with Ehrman, as he is publishing at a feverish pace. If you're definitely wanting to stay stateside and you're wanting to work in a faith context, as it sounds like you are. You should really look into Dallas Theological Seminary. Dan Wallace is doing some of the best work stateside on new manuscripts. Just food for thought.

I spoke with the directer of the program at Marquette today and recieved an offer of full tuition and a TA assistantship. My track is JCA with primary interest in New Testament. After two rounds of applications this is a glorious day.

I noticed an SMU rejection on the results list. Anyone know the subfield or heard anything else? I'm dying to hear from them.

Anyone know what's going on at SMU?

What was his field?

It's been eerily quiet on here the last few days. I'm still waiting to hear back from Marquette and SMU who are both, it appears, sending out offers rather late this year. Who else is still waiting to hear? Anyone made their decisions yet?

I did my SBL presentation in my "off" year after a less than ideal first application cycle. It wasn't really "off" because I worked hard to improve my CV and become a better scholar. Don't worry about your actual program status when you submit. Just remember that the submission deadline for an annual meeting presentation is next Thursday at 11:59 pm. Best of luck if you decide to submit something.

I spoke with a friend who is currently in the PhD program at Marquette (Systematics) and he thought offers for new students would go out next week.

The SBL annual meeting requires all first time presenters, regardless of their status as masters or PhD students to submit their entire manuscript. Last year I submitted a chapter from my thesis.It got accepted because it happened to be a good fit. But, as near as I can tell I won't have to submit my entire paper again because I have already presented there. As a side note, one of the papers presented in the session I was in was so astonishingly bad, I couldn't believe that anyone would give the guy a PhD. Also, as most people know, SBL papers are a very mixed bag. Some are really fantastic, some are sleepers and others are so bad that you sit there wondering if the presenter is joking. I think requiring first time presenters to provide their full manuscript is designed to prevent this sort of thing.

I clearly misunderstood the question. I think it's easier to get an abstract into SBL than accepted to a top-tier PhD program, but neither is easy.

I would say that it certainly can't hurt to have a presentation mark on one's CV. In fact, I think it is a very good barometer of one's ability to produce original research and an awareness of cutting-edge research in the field. For those reasons I wish it was weighed more heavily, but I don't think it makes or breaks an application. What would be great, but more difficult to orchestrate, is to get your POI at your presentation. I had a couple of POIs who were interested in my presentation last year but because of the size of the convention center were not able to make it, or at least that's what they told me. I actually thought one was sitting in the audience, but then it turned out to be someone else. From my limited perspective I'm seeing more and more applicants to PhD programs with an article published or a regional meeting presentation. I think annual meeting presenations are more rare just because you're competing with minted PhDs, but I could be wrong. Anyone else want to weigh in here?

I am submitting. I did last year as well.

I wrote my thesis on a text from Romans, so it was easy to read everything. Honestly, I think you should probably think in terms of narrowing your project rather than expanding. Focus on proving your point and find every flaw or possible rebuttal to your idea and just demolish it. Obviously, this is assuming you're actually right . But there is no sense in re-working your entire argument at 30 pages in, unless your just dead wrong. Originally, I wanted to write a thesis that was a major research undertaking that could have spawned into a monograph (it may one day). But my wise advisor cautioned against it, why not tackle this [a problem we had been discussing and I had come up with a reasonable explanation]. When it came to writing I made it my job to know the text better (or as good as) anyone. Obviously, this advice is for a text-focused project, but in general: Narrow, narrow, narrow your focus. Write, read, re-write, read, repeat.

Thank you for the clarification. I suppose initial offers may be making their way out this week, but the person I spoke with indicated that the waitlist is not finalized at this point. She may have been attempting to avoid telling me I was rejected or, more likely, she probably doesn't have any idea who is on the wait-list. But I would imagine that the professors have a fairly clear idea at this point. I don't think I'm on it, but who knows. Just out of curiosity, what is your concentration?

I called UVa this morning and found out that all the offers for admission have been sent out, but they have not yet received any response from the elect. The committee is supposed to meet again on the 8th of March to finalize the order of the waitlist. This was an administrative person, not a faculty member. So, there is probably more to the story, but at the least it indicates if you haven't heard something yet then you did not receive an initial offer.

Congrats on the acceptance. I'm assuming your page looks like this: "APPLICATION STATUS: ACCEPTED" All mine says is "APPLICATION STATUS: SUBMITTED" then below that it says "APPLICATION STATUS: Incomplete," but I don't know what that means. I turned everything in and all my recommendations are there . . . ??? Ah, I didn't expect an acceptance at UVa anyway, but still I wish I knew something.

That is brutal. Last year I got a call from a central Indiana area code and I was sure it was Notre Dame because, while I live in central Illinois, I never get calls from Indiana numbers. It turned out to be one of the undergraduate students where I teach adjunct calling about an assignment. Talk about a disappointment. I got an e-mail from one of my recommenders today informing me that SMU inquired about his recommendation. I think that's probably a good sign, shows that they are looking into me at least. Regarding SMU's notifications, I have no idea how they operate other than what is listed in the results forum. It looks like they have used snail mail in years past as well as phone calls and e-mail. Still, the most common form of notification appears to be old fashioned post . . . We've got to know by the end of the week right? Next week at the latest.

Harvard's stipend is as high as I've ever heard. Yale, also, is very high. I think most top-tier programs in the US offer something close to $15,000 - 20,000 a year, give or take. However, as some folks have already mentioned the cost of living is a significant factor. At Baylor for example, the $17,000 a year stipend is enough to live on in Waco, TX and I know a number of grad students who can even afford to purchase homes. Some programs, on the other hand, have varying degrees of funding like Marquette where offer for tuition only funding are given to PhD students they want but cannot afford to offer full funding, but I think that is less common. I believe ND stipend is a little less than $20,000 a year and Duke's is probably comparable. UVa is something like $18,000 a year.

Thanks for the info, this is quite helpful. I assume you are also applying, but in systematics? I guess it doesn't matter if there are six spots. Still, I would imagine that they have to diversify their acceptances to balance the teaching loads. It make me feel like I have less competetion, even if it's not true. In related news I got a call from a Dallas area code this afternoon and my heart stopped. I only saw the call after I missed it. No voicemail. Assuming it was probably a telemarketer I called back just few minutes later to be sure. I was greeted by a female voice, "Religious Studies Department." Hoping for the best I stammered, "Yes, I just received a call from this number. My name is . . ." "Ah yes. I was calling to see if you could send your writing sample because we didn't have it for the committee meeting today. But, then I found it and placed it in your file." I didn't know what to say. "Oh, . . . so there is no need for me to resend it?" "No everythign is fine. Thank you." "Thank you. (?)" END CALL I learned that SMU is meeting to make decisions and I would assume we can see some results this week based on results from years past. Does this information look good for me, neutral, or bad??? I'm obsessing over it so I thought you all could join me.

Does anyone have any information or heard anything about SMU? I am particularly interested in those who have applied in the NT/Historrical part of the program, which is from what I gather much smaller than their theology program.

Well, it indeed appears as if the knife is raised and unless an angel of the Lord appears to stay the hand of Emory's admissions committee many of us will be sacrificed. In order to pass the time I am reading German and working on articles for presentation and publication. Today's reading is from Luke 18 (from Luther's translation with a few ammendments) and it seemed especially appropriate to read it in light of my present circumstances: When Emory looked at my application it was said: "Es fehlt dir noch eins." Da ich aber das hörte, war ich traurig. Everyone on gradcafe said: "Es ist leichter, daß ein Kamel gehe durch ein Nadelöhr, denn daß ein Mann in Emory komme." We all think: "Wer kann denn berufstätig werden?" Yet we believe the words of German Jesus: "Was bei den Menschen unmöglich ist, das ist bei Gott möglich."