Master's Admissions 2018 (MA, MTS, ThM or Mdiv)

[newbietheologian]

1 hour ago, rejectedndejected said:

It seems like whenever I've applied to anything in my life, I always get a courteous letter explaining to me that I'm one of the finest human beings ever, but that unfortunately, that year was the most competitive year in human history, and that a whole host of even finer human beings applied, so they can't let me in--despite my superlative fineness.  For once in my life, I'd like to get a letter detailing that, although I'm super mediocre and have little talent to speak of, the applicant pool was filled with even bigger losers, so the institution has been forced to approve my lousy application under protest.  I'd much prefer the latter to the former.  No such luck as yet.

@rejectedndejected @kaaat

I applied for the MARc in Philosophy (Philosophical Theology/Philosophy of Religion). I really hope my proposal was unique/interesting enough to get me in. Though it focused a little bit on continental philosophy, after doing some research, I found out that Yale is not a big fan of continental philosophy and rather prefers analytic. But that is within their philosophy department, which I really hope does not apply too much to their Divinity department.

But yes, I'm surprised there's not much activity on the forum the night before. What everyone else's proposals on? What do you wish you could have done or not? C'mon people ... share the love, struggle, nerves ... we are all in the same boat (at least until tomorrow)  ...

 

 

[kaaat]

5 minutes ago, newbietheologian said:

@rejectedndejected @kaaat

I applied for the MARc in Philosophy (Philosophical Theology/Philosophy of Religion). I really hope my proposal was unique/interesting enough to get me in. Though it focused a little bit on continental philosophy, after doing some research, I found out that Yale is not a big fan of continental philosophy and rather prefers analytic. But that is within their philosophy department, which I really hope does not apply too much to their Divinity department.

But yes, I'm surprised there's not much activity on the forum the night before. What everyone else's proposals on? What do you wish you could have done or not? C'mon people ... share the love, struggle, nerves ... we are all in the same boat (at least until tomorrow)  ...

 

 

Well my SOP and writing sample were both completely unrelated to one another. It wasn't well thought out, I just used part of an old term paper. I figured the writing sample was just to see that you're somewhat coherent and have the capability to formulate an argument/an academic paper and the SOP was to establish fit, highlight general interests and demonstrate some knowledge of the specific program, professors you'd like to work with, etc. I know for PhD applications it's a completely different animal. 

[HoyaX17]

I applied to the Religion and Ecology concentration at Yale. I'm Native American and grew up in a syncretic religious environment with grandparents who practised Catholicism and yet still maintained their indigenous beliefs regarding the spirit world and nature. My father is also a shaman who uses his understanding of both nature and the spirit world to help heal members of his Indian Reservation.

The relationship between nature and spirituality in many different religious traditions is interesting and I thought my own experiences and interest in developing the theoretical background could help drive me towards further research in the area at the Ph.D level.

I have no expectation of getting in, so an acceptance would be spectacular.

[Absurd'sTheWord]

17 minutes ago, newbietheologian said:

@rejectedndejected @kaaat

I applied for the MARc in Philosophy (Philosophical Theology/Philosophy of Religion). I really hope my proposal was unique/interesting enough to get me in. Though it focused a little bit on continental philosophy, after doing some research, I found out that Yale is not a big fan of continental philosophy and rather prefers analytic. But that is within their philosophy department, which I really hope does not apply too much to their Divinity department.

But yes, I'm surprised there's not much activity on the forum the night before. What everyone else's proposals on? What do you wish you could have done or not? C'mon people ... share the love, struggle, nerves ... we are all in the same boat (at least until tomorrow)  ...

 

 

I applied to the MAR in Philosophy. I am interested in both analytic and continental philosophy of religion, as well as the history of philosophy and historical theology after Kant. Thus, I felt that YDS offered something unique to my particular interests in both philosophy and theology. I wasn't trying to pitch anything really profound in my SOP, and my writing sample wasn't a hardcore analytic piece. My advisors encouraged me to be thorough and honest and not to try to "blow them away" with something profound. I tried to be honest in my desire and intentions in the program. Don't know if that advice was correct, but I guess I will find out tomorrow!

Any school doing contemporary theology will--to some extent--interact with Continental philosophy. Also, I don't buy into the myth about Yale necessarily being partial to analytic. I met two really cool Yale MAR Philosophy students doing work in Phenomenology, if that makes you feel any better. 

Best of luck to you! 

[newbietheologian]

12 minutes ago, FearNTrembling said:

I applied to the MAR in Philosophy. I am interested in both analytic and continental philosophy of religion, as well as the history of philosophy and historical theology after Kant. Thus, I felt that YDS offered something unique to my particular interests in both philosophy and theology. I wasn't trying to pitch anything really profound in my SOP, and my writing sample wasn't a hardcore analytic piece. My advisors encouraged me to be thorough and honest and not to try to "blow them away" with something profound. I tried to be honest in my desire and intentions in the program. Don't know if that advice was correct, but I guess I will find out tomorrow!

Any school doing contemporary theology will--to some extent--interact with Continental philosophy. Also, I don't buy into the myth about Yale necessarily being partial to analytic. I met two really cool Yale MAR Philosophy students doing work in Phenomenology, if that makes you feel any better. 

Best of luck to you! 

Thank you! Yep, I'm interested in both analytic and continental too. At the time when I wrote the proposal, I just felt compelled to write something on continental, more specifically on phenomenology. It's awesome that there are students doing Phenomenology work at YDS. It really gives me more peace now (to some degree). 

Best of luck everyone! 

 

[MattSolo]

Oh God. This is definitely a tough night. So nervous. Glad to see some fellow Yale-hopefuls here. Maybe, God-willing, some of us will be classmates soon... 

I applied to the MARc in Second Temple Judaism, which I believe is also a highly competitive program. I think it only accepts 5 students? YDS is THE place to study the subject and one of the only to offer a concentration (Oxford also offers an MPhil in it).

My life, as I'm sure its true for others, will change forever tomorrow. 

[LochNess]

I have what might be a dumb question, will we be getting an email from YDS or should we be checking the application status on the application page? I'm currently checking the application status page and it's not saying anything, but where should i be looking for the status update? all the page says is the items they've received 

[newbietheologian]

5 minutes ago, sruobera said:

I have what might be a dumb question, will we be getting an email from YDS or should we be checking the application status on the application page? I'm currently checking the application status page and it's not saying anything, but where should i be looking for the status update? all the page says is the items they've received 

I can only assume that their process is similar to other schools. That is, they will most likely email us with the decisions first and your application status should change a few minutes/hours later ... At least that was my experience with other schools ... 

[LochNess]

ah ok thanks, I didn't know!  I only applied to one other school so I wasn't sure what the standard protocol was 

[HoyaX17]

25 minutes ago, sruobera said:

I have what might be a dumb question, will we be getting an email from YDS or should we be checking the application status on the application page? I'm currently checking the application status page and it's not saying anything, but where should i be looking for the status update? all the page says is the items they've received 

It will say "Status Update" with a date and a hyperlink in blue that will take you to your decision letter. I applied and was rejected before and I have been reviewing that letter a lot lately.
It's identical to HDS's software if you have applied there also.

[ChristoWitch87]

52 minutes ago, MattSolo said:

Oh God. This is definitely a tough night. So nervous. Glad to see some fellow Yale-hopefuls here. Maybe, God-willing, some of us will be classmates soon... 

I applied to the MARc in Second Temple Judaism, which I believe is also a highly competitive program. I think it only accepts 5 students? YDS is THE place to study the subject and one of the only to offer a concentration (Oxford also offers an MPhil in it).

My life, as I'm sure its true for others, will change forever tomorrow. 

Not sure if this is still the case, but when I attended it was fairly common for MAR applicants to be accepted to the comprehensive track if YDS wanted them but lacked the spots for a specific concentration.

[LochNess]

HoyaX17: ah ok thanks! no i didn't apply to HDS, the other school I applied to was the Courtauld Institute and usually there, they tell you at the end of your interview if you've been accepted. 

CristWitch87: I applied for both the YDS concentrated MAR as well as ISM/YDS concentrated MAR. How difficult is it to get into the ISM?

[MattSolo]

14 minutes ago, ChristoWitch87 said:

Not sure if this is still the case, but when I attended it was fairly common for MAR applicants to be accepted to the comprehensive track if YDS wanted them but lacked the spots for a specific concentration.

I pray, I pray that this is still the case! Thanks for the heads up! 

[Divinitynerd]

So anxious about today and YDS; I mentioned before that I was accepted last year when I was still in the ordination process, but was asked to defer by my sponsoring denomination after moving up here when my partner and I separated a couple of days before enrollment. In order to remain in the ordination process I did as I was asked. I moved off campus and took a nonprofit job, and was unable to defer and asked to wait and reapply; I was unexpectedly terminated from the ordination process six months later. So I gave up Yale to remain in the process only to lose both my place in the process and Yale.

 

im so anxious about being readmitted.

[Absurd'sTheWord]

I decided to take the day off and wait by the phone/computer. Couldn't sleep last night. How is everyone else passing the time?

[ChristoWitch87]

1 hour ago, Divinitynerd said:

So anxious about today and YDS; I mentioned before that I was accepted last year when I was still in the ordination process, but was asked to defer by my sponsoring denomination after moving up here when my partner and I separated a couple of days before enrollment. In order to remain in the ordination process I did as I was asked. I moved off campus and took a nonprofit job, and was unable to defer and asked to wait and reapply; I was unexpectedly terminated from the ordination process six months later. So I gave up Yale to remain in the process only to lose both my place in the process and Yale.

 

im so anxious about being readmitted.

I think you need a new denomination. Just saying.

[ChristoWitch87]

10 hours ago, sruobera said:

HoyaX17: ah ok thanks! no i didn't apply to HDS, the other school I applied to was the Courtauld Institute and usually there, they tell you at the end of your interview if you've been accepted. 

CristWitch87: I applied for both the YDS concentrated MAR as well as ISM/YDS concentrated MAR. How difficult is it to get into the ISM?

ISM is way outside my expertise (My MAR was in Theology, focused on Patristics) but from what I saw it was one of the most difficult. That said, a lot of folks who get dinged from their concentration of choice get picked up for the comprehensive (warning: old info, 2009-2011).

[αξιοδακρυτος]

14 hours ago, rejectedndejected said:

Also, I still have not heard from Notre Dame.  So I am assuming with some degree of certitude that I was dinged.  Is this a justifiable assumption, or is there still a glimmer of hope?  I'm pretty sure they called the chosen few double-secret-probation applicants in February.  I guess I can hope for the waitlist...

Nor have I, friend... Hopefully something is communicated soon.  Good luck to everyone with Yale today!  

[LochNess]

Did anyone else hear back from Yale? I just received my status from YDS/ISM and was accepted. I literally ran to my boss and we squealed for like 10 min. I only applied to one other school and it was in London, so this was above and beyond my first choice from the moment I visited the campus 

[Absurd'sTheWord]

10 minutes ago, sruobera said:

Did anyone else hear back from Yale? I just received my status from YDS/ISM and was accepted. I literally ran to my boss and we squealed for like 10 min. I only applied to one other school and it was in London, so this was above and beyond my first choice from the moment I visited the campus 

Haven't heard anything yet, but this gives me hope that word will arrive soon. Congrats on your acceptance.

[Weston Combs]

18 minutes ago, sruobera said:

Did anyone else hear back from Yale? I just received my status from YDS/ISM and was accepted. I literally ran to my boss and we squealed for like 10 min. I only applied to one other school and it was in London, so this was above and beyond my first choice from the moment I visited the campus 

Did you get an email, or did you just check your status page?

[LochNess]

I got an email which led me to the status page. That being said this was from the ISM, I also applied to just YDS and I have not received a response back from them yet 

[kaaat]

53 minutes ago, sruobera said:

Did anyone else hear back from Yale? I just received my status from YDS/ISM and was accepted. I literally ran to my boss and we squealed for like 10 min. I only applied to one other school and it was in London, so this was above and beyond my first choice from the moment I visited the campus 

Many congratulations!!!

[MattSolo]

1 hour ago, sruobera said:

Did anyone else hear back from Yale? I just received my status from YDS/ISM and was accepted. I literally ran to my boss and we squealed for like 10 min. I only applied to one other school and it was in London, so this was above and beyond my first choice from the moment I visited the campus 

Congrats!

This anticipation is literally murder. In past years, it appears that YDS sent out their updates by 9am and 10:30 (PST)... but this year... its clearly going later. 11am here we come...

Edited March 15, 2018 by MattSolo

[Absurd'sTheWord]

What happens if we don't hear something from YDS today? Is that a sign that we've (I've) been rejected?