PhD Applications Fall 2019 Season

[wilsonrg]

I was put on the waitlist for UVA's Religious Studies PhD on February 21st. Specifically the Modern and Contemporary Religious Thought AOI. My research is on the intersection of hermeneutics and ethics so Bouchard was an obvious choice. Based on the posts from last year I'm worried I won't hear back until mid-April. ?

[vivek1234]

has Notre Dame send out admits for Ph.D. 2019 fall for aerospace and mechanical program?

[Re-Donne]

3 hours ago, vivek1234 said:

has Notre Dame send out admits for Ph.D. 2019 fall for aerospace and mechanical program?

You might have more luck with your question in the Engineering topic: https://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/32-engineering/

(Edit: Though a quick results search suggests that they have as of February 16.)

Edited March 6, 2019 by Re-Donne

[FrigidSky701]

Anyone know if this email means that I should just count myself out? I sent an email saying that I was accepted to somewhere else and they are expecting to hear back from me by March 8th, and this is the reply:

Dear XXXXX,

 

Our Graduate Admissions Committee is in the final stages, but we do not have information to share at this time. As you may or may not know, all graduate programs in the U.S. abide by an agreement that no program can offer you funding contingent upon you taking it before the universal April 15 deadline.  Perhaps the school you have heard from is not a U.S. institution?  In any event, we do hope to have news soon.

 

This is from UC Santa Barbara, who did send out 1st Round Acceptance according to Oh No.

Edited March 7, 2019 by FrigidSky701

[xypathos]

No, it's a pretty standard email from UCSB. I got similar letters from Yale, Union, and Vanderbilt way back when too. Some schools are known to try and "encourage" applicants to accept before April 15th. Schools like UCSB which may not attract students locked on the east coast particularly suffer from some of these tactics.

[marXian]

@FrigidSky701 is the school that's telling you March 8 on this list?: https://cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGSResolution_RevMarch2019.pdf

If so, they can't rescind their offer for failing to meet a March 8 deadline. There's a Council of Graduate Schools resolution according to which participating member institutions agree to give admitted students until April 15 to accept or decline their offers of funding before deferring them to a waitlisted student or whatever. If they're on the list, March 8 may be the date they're strongly encouraging you to accept or decline by, but they can't rescind the offer.

Also, this resolution only applies to funding. A lot of people often get that twisted, thinking it has to do with offers of admission. Since funding and admission often go hand in hand, that's an easy mistake to make and the distinction is functionally meaningless, except if you have a non-funded offer from a school, like a seminary. Notice there aren't any seminaries or divinity schools on the list. So if your March 8 school is giving you a non-funded offer of admission, then it may very well be the actual deadline, since this resolution wouldn't apply to them.

[Theobuckeye]

I just found out that I was accepted to Georgetown's Theological and Religious Studies program! This is my third attempt at Georgetown and my seventh (yes, you read that correctly) application cycle. Never give up!

[FrigidSky701]

On 3/8/2019 at 5:23 AM, Theobuckeye said:

I just found out that I was accepted to Georgetown's Theological and Religious Studies program! This is my third attempt at Georgetown and my seventh (yes, you read that correctly) application cycle. Never give up!

Congratulations! Could you give me some advice on what you did between each cycle to 'up' your chances? I feel like I actually need to prepare for my second cycle, so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[exegete]

Has anyone been accepted off a waitlist yet this cycle? Just curious if there's been any movement, or if it's still too early. (I'm waitlisted at Baylor and Marquette.)

[Theobuckeye]

On 3/8/2019 at 11:41 PM, FrigidSky701 said:

Congratulations! Could you give me some advice on what you did between each cycle to 'up' your chances? I feel like I actually need to prepare for my second cycle, so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I did what many people do: Re-taking the GRE (multiple times), refining my Statement of Purpose, improving my CV with publications, etc. But what I believe helped the most was going back for a second Master's. I did my MDiv at a small seminary in my denomination. After my first two failed cycles, I did a ThM at a larger seminary in a different denomination. The ThM was more research oriented, but perhaps more important was the fact that my Letters of Recommendation were now coming from better-known scholars.

Furthermore, I made a real effort to build a relationship with the department chair and the professors who were working in my field. I made two self-funded trips and sent plenty of emails. As one of my former professors told me, don't underestimate the value of face-to-face contact. I think that my desire for a PhD was obvious to the admissions committee, and they knew that if I was going to put that much work into just getting in that I was going to complete what I started.

Best of luck to all!

[JHubbs]

On 3/3/2019 at 3:49 PM, Pierre de Olivi said:

Hi,

I'm actually on the Early Christian Studies M.A. waitlist, not the MTS waitlist. I got a personal e-mail from the director of the ECS program; from my understanding you basically just have to wait it out and confirm you're still interested by a certain deadline (mine was in early March, but I confirmed my interest pretty much right away). If you're on the waitlist and haven't gotten in touch with a POI or the department chair yet, you may just want to write to confirm you're still interest in the program.

Hello! I'm also waitlisted at the ECS program. Are you the one person who has posted their waitlist notification on the results page? Or is that an unknown individual? I wish we knew how deep the waitlist is.

[Pierre de Olivi]

Just now, JHubbs said:

Hello! I'm also waitlisted at the ECS program. Are you the one person who has posted their waitlist notification on the results page? Or is that an unknown individual? I wish we knew how deep the waitlist is.

I believe I am; I posted in late February pretty soon after hearing back and haven't seen anyone else post a waitlist from that program as of a week ago. I also wish we knew how deep the waitlist is, although I hear they have pretty consistently taken at least a few people off of it each year. Good luck!

[JHubbs]

Just now, Pierre de Olivi said:

I believe I am; I posted in late February pretty soon after hearing back and haven't seen anyone else post a waitlist from that program as of a week ago. I also wish we knew how deep the waitlist is, although I hear they have pretty consistently taken at least a few people off of it each year. Good luck!

Good luck to you as well! Is that the one you're holding out for? Or is another program more attractive? I see you're in at a PhD at Indiana! Awesome! I haven't even thought about applying to PhDs yet. 

[Pierre de Olivi]

10 minutes ago, JHubbs said:

Good luck to you as well! Is that the one you're holding out for? Or is another program more attractive? I see you're in at a PhD at Indiana! Awesome! I haven't even thought about applying to PhDs yet. 

Haha, I actually applied to Indiana for a Master's and got into the doctoral program! I'm mostly holding out on Notre Dame, although I also haven't heard from HDS or YDS yet. Barring Notre Dame's program I'm torn between CUA and Indiana -- both are great programs and I'm tempted by the opportunity to start a doctoral program soon, but Indiana doesn't exactly match my research interests or teach the approaches I hope to cultivate. So I've been doing a lot of research about my opportunities at each program.

Where else are you looking?

[JHubbs]

7 minutes ago, Pierre de Olivi said:

Haha, I actually applied to Indiana for a Master's and got into the doctoral program! I'm mostly holding out on Notre Dame, although I also haven't heard from HDS or YDS yet. Barring Notre Dame's program I'm torn between CUA and Indiana -- both are great programs and I'm tempted by the opportunity to start a doctoral program soon, but Indiana doesn't exactly match my research interests or teach the approaches I hope to cultivate. So I've been doing a lot of research about my opportunities at each program.

Where else are you looking?

Wow, that's nuts! That makes sense--any funding for you from CUA? That's what makes ND so attractive to me. If you don't mind my asking, are you coming out of an undergrad program or a graduate program? 

I turned down an offer for an MA(TS) at Princeton Theological Seminary, and am weighing offers at Duke Divinity (MTS) and University of Chicago Divinity (MA). 

[brokenrefreshbutton]

No luck on my end getting off any waitlists just yet (though I'm NES (Cornell)/NELC (Yale), I imagine many applicants here also applied to programs in Near Eastern Studies). I imagine most people have heard back from their programs by now and have maybe even checked out potential universities; I wonder, then, what the average date is by when they accept/decline and help us waitlisters move up a rung or two on this most slippery of ladders!

[CartesianDemon]

33 minutes ago, brokenrefreshbutton said:

No luck on my end getting off any waitlists just yet (though I'm NES (Cornell)/NELC (Yale), I imagine many applicants here also applied to programs in Near Eastern Studies). I imagine most people have heard back from their programs by now and have maybe even checked out potential universities; I wonder, then, what the average date is by when they accept/decline and help us waitlisters move up a rung or two on this most slippery of ladders!

I'm also on a couple waitlists (not for NES though). From what I've been told, it's difficult to predict exactly when waitlists will shift. Part of the difficulty is due to the fact that admitted students sometimes wait until the very last possible moment to make decisions. Last year, for example, there was a student who sat on ALL his/her schools until April 15 (!!!!). Of course that caused chaos for everyone; departments hate it as well. What's worse, it can all cause a domino effect because, for example, I won't turn down another school Y where I'm currently admitted until I hear from school X. So everybody on the list for Y is waiting around too. So that's the hard reality. On the other hand, I do know of people who get off waitlists relatively early, even in early March. . .

[brokenrefreshbutton]

The difficult in predicting is also something highlighted to me by both schools. 

If on the results page I see an individual being admitted to a program in mid-Feb and another being admitted in mid-to-late March, I assume the latter came off the waitlist....but,at least for these departments, most people don't usually designate whether their late admission is in fact due to having been waitlisted. 

 

[Re-Donne]

Have y'all reached out to express your continued interested after you've been waitlisted? My friend (in a program) is recommending it, but I'm dubious.

[brokenrefreshbutton]

I did reach out but I wonder how much effect that has on my chances of being admitted. Obviously I hope it has a lot but I imagine a lot of waitlisted people ask professors (at a steady pace lest they come across as annoying) or hint that they are still interested with silly questions they don't really need to ask in the first place. 

Do all waitlists have a ranking system? I wonder if it's too forward to ask where I am on that ranking....

[CartesianDemon]

8 hours ago, Re-Donne said:

Have y'all reached out to express your continued interested after you've been waitlisted? My friend (in a program) is recommending it, but I'm dubious.

I did reach out to my POIs at the two institutions where I'm waitlisted. In each case I received kind responses. But I'm almost positive that it in no way helped me get higher up the waitlist totem pole. The list is already "set" by the adcom. 

I also think one has to be really careful to avoid coming across as annoying/desperate. I had already communicated with one of the POI prior to applying, and I learned (from a friend) that the other POI is happy to answer questions. So, I knew that they wouldn't be put off by a short email. In those cases, it may be possible to craft a friendly email thanking the POI for reviewing your application, mentioning that you look forward to the results, and that's about it. I suppose that at least puts your name "out there." And nah, I wouldn't ask what position you occupy on the waitlist. He/she may end up telling you. But it seems too straightforward to ask.... imho. 

[exegete]

15 hours ago, brokenrefreshbutton said:

Do all waitlists have a ranking system? I wonder if it's too forward to ask where I am on that ranking....

Some do, some don't. I asked one professor if he was able to give me any indication of my chances of admission off the waitlist. He responded that it was impossible to say because they're looking to put together a diverse cohort and thus they will make determinations only after they find out who has accepted their first round of offers.

[balaamsdonkey]

On 3/7/2019 at 2:23 PM, Theobuckeye said:

I just found out that I was accepted to Georgetown's Theological and Religious Studies program! This is my third attempt at Georgetown and my seventh (yes, you read that correctly) application cycle. Never give up!

Dude! Congrats! This is super inspiring and encouraging for me to hear. 

[xypathos]

21 hours ago, brokenrefreshbutton said:

Do all waitlists have a ranking system? I wonder if it's too forward to ask where I am on that ranking....

Just about all schools have a ranking system but how it works tends to fall into two categories: 1) Church History (example) has two offers out and three waitlisted candidates. If one of the offers declines it goes to #1 for Church History. Often in these cases waitlisted candidates are ranked by the next professor to "get a student." If Professor Xavier does Reformation History and its been three years since they took in a newbie, they'll likely have a candidate that they made an offer to, and then a waitlisted candidate, just in case. This stacks the deck that they'll get a student. Often this simply rotates so everyone gets a new student every X-years. 2) Departments have 10 scholarships and they accept their 10 preferred students, regardless of discipline. If an Ethics applicant rejects their offer it might go to another Ethics applicant or it could very well go to Homiletics.

In reality option #2 is #1, they just lie about it and say they accept the top applicant regardless of field. From personal experience, there's always some kind of rotation or faculty trading their slot so they can accept a specific student. I know a professor at VDS that passed on his turn in order to grab a former student they taught in undergrad that was applying the next year - it happens, there's nothing you can do about it.

[EarlyXianity]

Did anyone else who was rejected from Emory get an invitation to their ThM program? I'm just wondering how broadly that email was sent.  

Thanks!