Anyone know any Iliff Ph.D. students?

[Postbib Yeshuist]

Iliff School of Theology was my only outright acceptance, it looks like I'll be headed there this Fall. Does anyone know any Iliff Ph.D. students I might contact to get a sense for things like campus life, academic rigor, financial questions, etc?

[anp22fab]

Iliff School of Theology was my only outright acceptance, it looks like I'll be headed there this Fall. Does anyone know any Iliff Ph.D. students I might contact to get a sense for things like campus life, academic rigor, financial questions, etc?

I don't know of any but I will anxiously watch your thread. I am trying to decide between Iliff and Union (NYC). I know plenty at Union but none at Iliff!

[Infinite Monkeys]

I don't know any, either, but I'd love to know the answers to those inquiries as well, seeing as how Iliff's TPCT PhD is now an option for me, too. I just got the word on Monday. If the funding is good and my other apps don't pan out, that's where I'll be in the fall.

Their letter was a bit... dismal, though, warning me that there won't be any jobs in my area of interest (American religion & literature) and that their faculty aren't actively researching in it, either. I'm wondering why I got accepted if the outlook is so poor, but I'm afraid to ask and screw things up. I mean, I'm not just about books, but about other areas of culture often "read" as literature: movies, television, music, and comics (webcomics in particular). Religion and pop culture has a solid presence, and I'm already meeting and greeting with faculty in that area, so... what's up with this?

...sorry. Bit off-topic there for a minute. I'm not used to acceptances, so it's hard to curb the inherent "I'm not good enough!" paranoia when it actually does happen.

Edited March 18, 2010 by Infinite Monkeys

[Postbib Yeshuist]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Do you mind excerpting the "discouraging" part of the letter? I've never really heard of an acceptance letter that wasn't anything but "you're the best."

[Infinite Monkeys]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Do you mind excerpting the "discouraging" part of the letter? I've never really heard of an acceptance letter that wasn't anything but "you're the best."

"I want to emphasize one point to you very clearly, so that you embark on your Ph.D program with your eyes wide open. Your application outlined a study largely in the field of religion and literature. You should know that there are almost no jobs in academic departments in this specific subfield. Further, while we have faculty who have personal interests in this field, none here specializes in this."

It does get more upbeat, encouraging me to frame my project in different ways and take advantage of media studies faculty (which I fully intend to do), but still. Not quite what I imagined an acceptance letter to be.

It's nice that they were honest, though. It's not a wildly popular subfield, although it seems intuitive to me; American literature IS American religious history. And I do already have an eye toward eventual marketability, since I chose to do the MA in English to ensure that, in California at least, I can teach at least part-time in a college or university setting.

...not that there's a heck of a lot to choose from there right now, either.

[Postbib Yeshuist]

Yeah, that's definitely... honest.