Paraclete

Hi folks! Congrats on the UChi admissions--it's a magical place. Just to answer a general question or two, here are the dates for the upcoming autumn quarter: 
 
Autumn 2015 Date Event/Deadline Sunday, September 20 College Orientation Wednesday, September 23 Incoming Student Registration (College) Monday, September 28 Autumn Quarter Begins Thursday–Friday, November 26–27 Thanksgiving Break Thursday–Friday, December 3–4 College Reading Period Friday, December 11 Convocation Saturday, December 12 Autumn Quarter Ends
 
 
(Link: http://www.uchicago.edu/academics/calendar/#year)
 
And as for on-campus student jobs, here is where you would find the official listings: https://studentemployment.uchicago.edu/index_jobs.php
You do, however, need a student log-in to see the actual listings, but you'll be receiving that very soon from the school because they issue that to you before you either accept or decline precisely because they know that you'd like to have access to this kind of information. Since y'all are in the Div School, the Dean of Student's weekly newsletters actually have a lot of relevant information for jobs that don't get posted to the official student employment page that I just gave you. Pay ranges from $9.50-$15ish/hour as far as I know. The coffee shot in the basement of the Div School, for example, are constantly looking for students to hire, and they pay $10/hour.
 
Finally, work-study is not that competitive to get. The general range seems to be about $2500-3000 for the three quarters of the academic year. On top of whatever you've been offered on your admission process, there will be just one university-wide grad student financial aid application (it's really simple) that you'll also be getting access to soon, though you can view information about it here: https://sla.uchicago.edu/page/graduate-financial-aid. You'll also gain access to this application with the same ID that you'd use to get a look at the student employment page. 
 
Finally (wait, finaally..?), here's a database that can be used to search for outside funding: http://grad.uchicago.edu/fellowships_funding/fellowship_database/
 
Hope this helps a bit!

The best packages are going to be something along the lines of 5 years full tuition plus a stipend that is dependent upon the region of the country and health insurance. If you're in Bloomington, IN or Milwaukee, etc., your stipend is not going to be as hefty as those who are in New Haven or NYC. But since it's far more expensive to live in those latter places, the amount of the stipend isn't always the best indicator. You want to look at the other particulars.
 
- Do they fund summers? If so, how many? This can be huge down the road of your program. Some schools offer 3 summers, some 4, some zero.
 
- What's the breakdown of the funding (i.e. the split between university fellowship and TA/GAship)? Some schools afford their first year students the tremendous luxury of not having to teach (and being on fellowship) while other schools have their students TAing right away. Some schools are flexible about how that breakdown is divvied up. For example, say you have two years of fellowship (no teaching) and three of TA. Following the first year (usually fellowship in this scenario), a program might allow a student to teach just one term per year for the next two years, "banking" terms of TAship, while spreading out the remaining year of fellowship over those two "half" teaching years. If you're the sort of person who might want to focus all of your energy on your exams (for example) then the ability to take off the term you'll be studying for those might be attractive. Some schools may not allow students to do that until the third year. Other schools may not allow that at all, setting the whole schedule in stone from the beginning (e.g. year 1 fellowship, years 2 & 3 TAship, year 4 fellowship, year 5 TAship.)
 
- You're also going to want to know what the policy is if you win an external fellowship/grant to go do research for a year somewhere later in your program. In some situations (I think most), if a student wins external funding, that award defers the normal funding to the 6th year. So, for example, if I'm planning on using my second fellowship year (in which I wouldn't be teaching) in my 4th year, but instead I win a Fulbright grant to go abroad for that year, that fellowship year gets pushed back, and (assuming the program is flexible) I get to decide if I want to use the last fellowship year for my fifth or sixth year (and the other would be TAship.) That's crucial, because there may be some funding situations where that doesn't happen (though I'd honestly be pretty surprised). In addition to the deferral of funding, some universities offer students additional money on top of what the grant pays because, depending on your school's location, the monthly grant payment may be less than what your stipend would have normally been. So the school "tops off" your grant so that you're still making what you would if you stayed (in order to incentivize applying for these sorts of awards.)
 
I know that's a lot to take in and it might be hard to give it that much forethought, but these are definitely important things to know about the packages you've been offered and the policies of the schools that offered them.

I finally accepted a great fellowship offer for the MDiv at UChicago yesterday and turned down another generous offer at HDS. Great way to finish off the season.
 
Onward!

Yay! Congrats on the decision! It must feel good to put the suspense to bed. As for me, I'm still hanging in the balance between the two. Maybe I'll see you at orientation at HDS!
 
 
A third of HDS' what? Admitted students? I did a count of the main faculty of HDS, and 10 out of 42 listed on the HDS handbook's faculty section has their PhD from U of C (maybe one or two was M*, I don't recall right now...)

Like I said team jealous Bitch over here and not caring! I actually would wish worse things on them but I don't want the bad karma

We're almost at 100!
 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhvTDVbklJMddGpWTEZWRW9fdWVESW1lYnA5NEJZRmc&usp=drive_web#gid=0
 
Now, if only we can convince the Department of Education/FLAS that "dead" languages can also be related to national security....

Considering our specialized needs, I figured I'd start a thread for putting our heads together and compiling a semi-comprehensive list of language resources for our purposes as religious studies students. While there are tons of texts out there for studying modern languages, I wanted to focus on texts that mainly helps one pass a reading/translation exam. A lot of the ancient languages I'm having a hard time pinning down texts, and I'd love to be able to pick your brain for resources, if you have experience in the specific language. I'll go back and compile the list peridiocally, and please feel free to mention what languages I've forgotten. It probably says a lot about me that I can think of more dead languages off of the top of my head than modern ones, haha
 
Well, here goes! I'm throwing on what texts I can think of to get us started. Whee!
 
Modern
German
- German Quickly: A Grammar for Reading German, April Wilson (haven't actually used this, so can't personally vouch)
- Modern Theological German: A Reader and Dictionary, Helmut W. Ziefle
- Introduction to Theological German: A Beginner's Course for Theological Students, J. D. Manton
 
French
- French for Reading, Karl C. Sandberg
- Reading French: A Guide for Students of Religion and Theology, K. Janet Ritch
 
Spanish
 
Hebrew
 
Tibetan
 
Ancient
 
Greek (Koine)
 
Greek (Attic)
- Athenaze: An Introduction to Ancient Greek, Maurice Balme
 
Latin (Classical)
- Wheelock's Latin
 
Latin (Eccliastical)
 
Ugaritic
 
Arkadian
 
Coptic
- A Coptic Grammar: With Chrestomathy and Glossary, Bentley Layton
 
Arabic (Quranic)
 
Ugaritic
 
Phoenician
 
Aramaic
 
Hebrew (Biblical)
 
Sanskrit
- Devavanipravesika: An Introduction to the Sanskrit Language, Robert P. Goldman

Blergh. My hands are stiff. Okay, if any one has suggestions for additions, please either email me or comment straight on the Google Doc. I didn't give anyone access just because I wanted to keep it clean. Let's keep this going!
 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhvTDVbklJMddGpWTEZWRW9fdWVESW1lYnA5NEJZRmc&usp=sharing

Blergh. My hands are stiff. Okay, if any one has suggestions for additions, please either email me or comment straight on the Google Doc. I didn't give anyone access just because I wanted to keep it clean. Let's keep this going!
 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhvTDVbklJMddGpWTEZWRW9fdWVESW1lYnA5NEJZRmc&usp=sharing

Blergh. My hands are stiff. Okay, if any one has suggestions for additions, please either email me or comment straight on the Google Doc. I didn't give anyone access just because I wanted to keep it clean. Let's keep this going!
 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhvTDVbklJMddGpWTEZWRW9fdWVESW1lYnA5NEJZRmc&usp=sharing

Also: why must language texts always cost an arm and a leg. Whyyyyy!!!

For those that got into HDS and are more than likely going to go there, by all means, if you have any questions about the school, the area, living situations, the like, please do let me know. I may not reply incredibly quickly (I'm finishing out my last semester of the MTS here at HDS... and trying to finish out strong to apply to PhD programs later this year), but I will eventually reply.
 
I made a lot of mistakes coming in and also felt so completely lost my first semester here, so I would love to help those who get so overwhelmed!

Off the top of my head:
 
German
Sandberg, German for Reading (essentially the same as his French book; excellent but out of print)
 
Spanish
Sandberg, Spanish for Reading (not as detailed as the French or German books)
 
Latin
Harrison, Millennium: A Latin Reader (A.D. 374-1374) (texts from the period indicated with light notes)
 
Koine Greek
Randall Buth's living Koine Greek materials
Decker, Koine Greek Reader: Selections from the New Testatment, the Septuagint, and Early Christian Writers
Christophe Rico's Polis: Parler le grec ancien comme une langue vivante (introductory Koine text almost completely in Koine; also available in Italian and German)
Whitacre, A Patristic Greek Reader (selections from various writers, ranging from Ignatius to Gregory of Nazianzus; copious notes for intermediate students)
 
Classical Greek
Hansen and Quinn, Mastronarde, JACT Reading Greek, and Athenaze are some first-year courses.
 
Biblical Hebrew
Randall Buth's living Biblical Hebrew materials
Mansoor, Biblical Hebrew
Weingreen, A Practical Grammar of Classical Hebrew

Adding to Greek and Hebrew
 
Koine Greek
Randall Buth's living Koine Greek materials
Decker, Koine Greek Reader: Selections from the New Testatment, the Septuagint, and Early Christian Writers
Christophe Rico's Polis: Parler le grec ancien comme une langue vivante (introductory Koine text almost completely in Koine; also available in Italian and German)
Whitacre, A Patristic Greek Reader (selections from various writers, ranging from Ignatius to Gregory of Nazianzus; copious notes for intermediate students)
Stanley E. Porter & Jeffrey T. Reed, Fundamentals of NT Greek (text and workbook).  This in my opinion is the best introductory grammar.
 
Classical Greek
Hansen and Quinn, Mastronarde, JACT Reading Greek, and Athenaze are some first-year courses.
 Andrew Keller and Stephanie Russell, Learning to Read Greek 
 
Biblical Hebrew
Randall Buth's living Biblical Hebrew materials
Mansoor, Biblical Hebrew
Weingreen, A Practical Grammar of Classical Hebrew
 Duane A. Garrett and Jason S. DeRouchie     A Modern Grammar of Biblical Hebrew

OMGHEHEGHEHHEF. JUST RECEIVED EMAIL: UChicago MDiv admitted via email! Surprised it was this soon. Tears and (a little) snot.
 
 

OMGHEHEGHEHHEF. JUST RECEIVED EMAIL: UChicago MDiv admitted via email! Surprised it was this soon. Tears and (a little) snot.
 
 

OMGHEHEGHEHHEF. JUST RECEIVED EMAIL: UChicago MDiv admitted via email! Surprised it was this soon. Tears and (a little) snot.