newbietheologian Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 (edited) Hey all, Starting this thread to help each other and let one another know where we applied, got accepted, denied or wait-listed. Also feel free to provide any other information such as funding, choosing one school over another, reasons why rejecting etc. Here is my list of applications and updates so far: USA Yale Div - MARc Philosophical Theology/Philosophy of Religion (waiting) Duke Div - MTS (accepted w/ 25% funding) - any idea how to get more? Wake Forest Div - MDiv (rejected) - was surprised to find out I was rejected BU SoT - MTS (waiting) Canada Wycliffe College (UofT) - MTS (waiting) Regent College - MTS (waiting) UK U of Oxford (Wycliffe Hall) - MTh (waiting) U of Cambridge - MPhil in Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion (waiting) U Of Edinburgh - MPhil (waiting) U of St. Andrews - MTh (rejected) I'm also an international student, graduating with a B.A. in Theology from the historic Moody Bible Institute (Chicago, IL) Any ideas of funding available for international students? The idea of a loan kind of scares me. Best of luck everyone! Edited January 23, 2018 by newbietheologian
ChristoWitch87 Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 GPA: 3.74/4 GRE: 166v/162q/4.5w GRAD: MAR in Theology, some follow on coursework in psychology. Applying to M.Div programs to pursue military chaplaincy. Schools Union Theological Seminary Harvard Divinity School Best of luck everyone!
JDD Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 I mentioned a lot of this in another thread, but I'd love to help any lurkers who may have similar situations: GPA: 4.0 - Public Relations &Mass Communication B.S. I've applied for the M.Div program at all schools listed. Schools: Fuller Seminary - Accepted on Jan. 13 , no word on scholarships yet. I'm told to expect a letter in April Yale Divinity School - doesn't announce until March 15 Duke Divinity School - Waiting, no word on when I'll hear back, but the results section would have me believe mid-February Princeton Seminary - Waiting, with an interview scheduled for Friday. Good luck to my fellow applicants, we're all in this together.
xypathos Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 6 hours ago, newbietheologian said: I'm also an international student, graduating with a B.A. in Theology from the historic Moody Bible Institute (Chicago, IL) Any ideas of funding available for international students? The idea of a loan kind of scares me. Best of luck everyone! Funding for international students at the Master's level is going to be minimal, you will almost certainly depend on loans in order to complete a Master's degree in the US. Unfortunately, given the schools that you're applying to in the US - your undergraduate degree being from Moody won't cut you any favors, mainstream divinity schools in the US do not look upon Moody favorably. Duke is an exceptional school and if you do well there, it will open a lot of doors for you. You're going to come across the same funding issues in Canada and UK but that is also dependent upon your citizenship.
newbietheologian Posted January 23, 2018 Author Posted January 23, 2018 (edited) 39 minutes ago, xypathos said: Funding for international students at the Master's level is going to be minimal, you will almost certainly depend on loans in order to complete a Master's degree in the US. Unfortunately, given the schools that you're applying to in the US - your undergraduate degree being from Moody won't cut you any favors, mainstream divinity schools in the US do not look upon Moody favorably. Duke is an exceptional school and if you do well there, it will open a lot of doors for you. You're going to come across the same funding issues in Canada and UK but that is also dependent upon your citizenship. @xypathos thanks for your info. Yeah, I know that Moody falls under the conservative side of the spectrum. However, it is a great school to get started in your theological and biblical education. I kind of figured out that already, but I was just trying to see if there are any options that may not be available to the general public (no harm in asking, right?) Edited January 23, 2018 by newbietheologian
newbietheologian Posted January 23, 2018 Author Posted January 23, 2018 2 hours ago, JDD said: I mentioned a lot of this in another thread, but I'd love to help any lurkers who may have similar situations: GPA: 4.0 - Public Relations &Mass Communication B.S. I've applied for the M.Div program at all schools listed. Schools: Fuller Seminary - Accepted on Jan. 13 , no word on scholarships yet. I'm told to expect a letter in April Yale Divinity School - doesn't announce until March 15 Duke Divinity School - Waiting, no word on when I'll hear back, but the results section would have me believe mid-February Princeton Seminary - Waiting, with an interview scheduled for Friday. Good luck to my fellow applicants, we're all in this together. Nice! Forgot to mention that I also applied to Fuller too. But no word from them as of yet. Good luck in your interview!
bijou2017 Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 Hello all! I applied to a mixture of PhD and MA/MTS programs. For the latter, I applied to Syracuse (MA), IU (MA), Harvard (MTS), and Uni of Chicago (MA). I have not heard anything back from any of these programs yet, unfortunately.
JDD Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 @newbietheologian Great work on Duke - I'd investigate scholarships outside the Duke network. Look for scholarships offered by your denomination, your home church & partner churches, as well as organizational scholarships from clubs/organizations you've been a part of. Hopefully this helps!
newbietheologian Posted January 24, 2018 Author Posted January 24, 2018 14 hours ago, JDD said: @newbietheologian Great work on Duke - I'd investigate scholarships outside the Duke network. Look for scholarships offered by your denomination, your home church & partner churches, as well as organizational scholarships from clubs/organizations you've been a part of. Hopefully this helps! Thank you!
LotusFlower Posted January 25, 2018 Posted January 25, 2018 Hello lovely people and potential future classmates/colleagues! So we all applied to the best of the best programs, but did anyone apply to less popular programs which would still be a great backup option? I myself played it safe and did. On that backup list are Indiana University Bloomington, Rice, UC Santa Barbara, and University of Washington. (ALL MA programs). Let’s let each other know when we hear back. Best of luck to us future Scholars of Religion!
newbietheologian Posted January 25, 2018 Author Posted January 25, 2018 @LotusFlower Yes. My backup option is to go back home to Dublin, Ireland. I applied to an M.A. (Theology) at Dublin City University. I was fortunate to meet a professor from there and he recommended the course. He is a very good scholar in the field of what I want to study in the future, and he agreed that I could study under him if I choose to go back. Therefore, I would say that my backup options are: Regent, Wycliffe, Fuller and Dublin City University (DCU). I like your options though. Best of luck to all, and I really hope we all get our top picks.
Pierre de Olivi Posted January 26, 2018 Posted January 26, 2018 I'm going to apply in the next cycle (Fall 2019) but some of my prospective "safety" Master's Programs are IU Bloomington and Rutgers. Rutgers is particularly appealing because I'd be in-state and able to cheaply commute.
JDD Posted January 29, 2018 Posted January 29, 2018 I had my interview with PTS on Friday. I spoke with their head of admissions over the phone (we couldn't get Skype to work) for about 30 mins. The conversation was pleasant and very helpful, as he was able to give me a very clear picture of what PTS is all about and how I might fit. It only served to reinforce what I already liked about PTS. He mentioned that PTS is experiencing a very bizarre situation currently: close to 1/3 of the staff are currently on sabbatical. He said they hadn't planned this, but it meant that every professor is extremely busy and therefore can't necessarily provide all of the resources to applicants that PTS is accustomed to. He mentioned that the admissions committee should be meeting at least once a month to review and decide on current applicants (my app being among those) and that they pride themselves on being able to provide a response quickly. Still, I didn't feel comfortable trying to pin him down on an exact date as to when current applicants might expect a response. My guess is that some of the first Fall 2018 decisions will go out in the next 2 weeks - at least for M.Div applicants. If anyone else has had interviews at either PTS or other schools, do let the rest of us know about your experience!
newbietheologian Posted January 29, 2018 Author Posted January 29, 2018 4 hours ago, JDD said: I had my interview with PTS on Friday. I spoke with their head of admissions over the phone (we couldn't get Skype to work) for about 30 mins. The conversation was pleasant and very helpful, as he was able to give me a very clear picture of what PTS is all about and how I might fit. It only served to reinforce what I already liked about PTS. He mentioned that PTS is experiencing a very bizarre situation currently: close to 1/3 of the staff are currently on sabbatical. He said they hadn't planned this, but it meant that every professor is extremely busy and therefore can't necessarily provide all of the resources to applicants that PTS is accustomed to. He mentioned that the admissions committee should be meeting at least once a month to review and decide on current applicants (my app being among those) and that they pride themselves on being able to provide a response quickly. Still, I didn't feel comfortable trying to pin him down on an exact date as to when current applicants might expect a response. My guess is that some of the first Fall 2018 decisions will go out in the next 2 weeks - at least for M.Div applicants. If anyone else has had interviews at either PTS or other schools, do let the rest of us know about your experience! @JDD That's awesome bro! I hope everything goes well! Also, got an email from Fuller to let me know that I was accepted. Glad that I have at least 2 options from where I can choose now. But still waiting for others to get back to me.
ChristoWitch87 Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 Anyone know anything about Intersections at Union? I got invited but can't go (military).
mangoparty Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 Anyone here also applied to MTS program at HDS? My application status says my documents have not been checked and verified yet. I wonder if it is just me.
xypathos Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, ChristoWitch87 said: Anyone know anything about Intersections at Union? I got invited but can't go (military). I went in 2014. It’s mostly a meet and greet of their top accepted students. It’s a way for the school to now sale themselves to you. They have their top faculty on hand, they bring in big name alumni, wine and dine you at some really nice restaurants. Some of us went out drinking with some of their faculty and they showed us their favorite spots in Manhattan, Harlem, and Brooklyn. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it moved Union to the top of my list but was offered a far better package elsewhere. Edited January 30, 2018 by xypathos
ChristoWitch87 Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 11 hours ago, mangoparty said: Anyone here also applied to MTS program at HDS? My application status says my documents have not been checked and verified yet. I wonder if it is just me. I'm an M.Div applicant but mine say the same thing. I speculate that won't go green until they actually begin to review our documents for admission.
jmarvin_ Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, ChristoWitch87 said: I'm an M.Div applicant but mine say the same thing. I speculate that won't go green until they actually begin to review our documents for admission. 15 hours ago, mangoparty said: Anyone here also applied to MTS program at HDS? My application status says my documents have not been checked and verified yet. I wonder if it is just me. I applied to MTS and mine says that things have been checked and verified, green check mark and all. However, my application was manually submitted by the admissions folks after PhD rejection, so that may explain the difference. EDIT: Update, just got an email from one of the admissions people that we will hear from them "in mid-March." Edited January 30, 2018 by jmarvin_
ChristoWitch87 Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 3 hours ago, jmarvin_ said: I applied to MTS and mine says that things have been checked and verified, green check mark and all. However, my application was manually submitted by the admissions folks after PhD rejection, so that may explain the difference. EDIT: Update, just got an email from one of the admissions people that we will hear from them "in mid-March." Yea, based on the results section of grad café HDS seems very uniform in providing its decisions around March 16th. Also I think you are likely right. I am a re-applicant (from 2009 granted) but I recall only going green right around the time they would have actually been looking at applications.
kaaat Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 I'm applying this cycle for the MTS at HDS and all of my documents have been verified, I just checked. I submitted my application in late-December.
HoyaX17 Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 21 hours ago, mangoparty said: Anyone here also applied to MTS program at HDS? My application status says my documents have not been checked and verified yet. I wonder if it is just me. That is odd, my application documents went to verified on 01/18/2018, submitted on 01/16/2018 with literally 3 minutes left until the 5pm EST deadline. Finished my financial aid application as soon as it was available. I don't want to take any chances.
mangoparty Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 32 minutes ago, HoyaX17 said: That is odd, my application documents went to verified on 01/18/2018, submitted on 01/16/2018 with literally 3 minutes left until the 5pm EST deadline. Finished my financial aid application as soon as it was available. I don't want to take any chances. That's really fast! 11 hours ago, ChristoWitch87 said: I'm an M.Div applicant but mine say the same thing. I speculate that won't go green until they actually begin to review our documents for admission. When did you submit your application?
ChristoWitch87 Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 2 hours ago, mangoparty said: That's really fast! When did you submit your application? I submitted in December but a couple of my recommenders didn't submit until the day before (Jan 15th) it was due.
mangoparty Posted January 31, 2018 Posted January 31, 2018 4 minutes ago, ChristoWitch87 said: I submitted in December but a couple of my recommenders didn't submit until the day before (Jan 15th) it was due. Thanks for sharing. I submitted mine a week before the deadline date. Maybe I should just wait a little bit more...I hope there is nothing wrong!
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