2020 Religion Application Thread

[NyarkoSan]

Alright, I couldn't wait any longer, so here it goes:

How's everyone doing? I just submitted my first application and have never felt so stressed in my life. I hope that everyone is feeling a bit more confident and a bit more prepared than me. 

What degrees are you applying for and where? What's your background? Personally, I'm applying all over the place to a variety of programs, either Religion or Near Eastern Studies depending on which one provides a better match, and am mostly applying for PhDs straight out of undergraduate... We'll see how I fare!

[kenshiro]

Glad someone started this thread, it's been crickets in here for months.

Only applying to Duke ThD in Christian Systematic Theology, so two weeks left, and still waiting on my last LoR. So yes, stress is a constant companion.

[NyarkoSan]

On 12/2/2019 at 5:08 PM, kenshiro said:

Glad someone started this thread, it's been crickets in here for months.

Only applying to Duke ThD in Christian Systematic Theology, so two weeks left, and still waiting on my last LoR. So yes, stress is a constant companion.

I saw the information you posted on the NT thread, I wish you the best of luck this time around! Why are you focusing specifically on Duke, if I may ask?

[kenshiro]

4 hours ago, NyarkoSan said:

I saw the information you posted on the NT thread, I wish you the best of luck this time around! Why are you focusing specifically on Duke, if I may ask?

Wife's Duke faculty, so moving elsewhere is basically a non-starter.

[Wisconsinblue]

MDiv applicant hear. I'm waiting to hear from Candler and Duke (early deadline). I'm also applying to Yale, Vanderbilt, and maybe Union. So quiet in here!!

 

[NyarkoSan]

55 minutes ago, divdiv2020 said:

MDiv applicant hear. I'm waiting to hear from Candler and Duke (early deadline). I'm also applying to Yale, Vanderbilt, and maybe Union. So quiet in here!!

 

Good luck! Yeah, it really is. I haven't seen anyone in either the Religion or Interdisciplinary thread applying for Islamic studies personally, so mayyyybeeee there are less applicants this year overall haha. That'd be good for us.

What's the difference between an MDiv and MTS, if I may ask? Is MDiv geared more towards religious postions rather than academia?

[ChristoWitch87]

On ‎12‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 12:22 PM, NyarkoSan said:

What's the difference between an MDiv and MTS, if I may ask? Is MDiv geared more towards religious postions rather than academia?

Precisely. The MDiv is three years and generally includes a broad curriculum of scriptures, history, theology and ministerial (pastoral care, preaching, liturgy, etc.) courses to prepare candidates for ordination. An MTS (or MAR, as mine was called) is generally two years that is either focused on a particular field (systematic theology, early church history, etc.) or comprehensive (think smaller MDiv) and intended for lay ministries.

That said, a fair number of MDiv holders go on to get PhDs. The pathways certainly have some overlap. 

[NyarkoSan]

15 hours ago, ChristoWitch87 said:

Precisely. The MDiv is three years and generally includes a broad curriculum of scriptures, history, theology and ministerial (pastoral care, preaching, liturgy, etc.) courses to prepare candidates for ordination. An MTS (or MAR, as mine was called) is generally two years that is either focused on a particular field (systematic theology, early church history, etc.) or comprehensive (think smaller MDiv) and intended for lay ministries.

That said, a fair number of MDiv holders go on to get PhDs. The pathways certainly have some overlap. 

Ah, that makes sense, thank you.

[xypathos]

@ChristoWitch87 is 100% correct but I'll also add that M.Div programs can vary pretty wide from school to school. Vanderbilt let us largely customize our M.Div to our aspirations. I made mine largely academic and got to TA undergrad courses at Belmont University to get a feel for teaching and be able to write about those experiences in my SOP. Considering I wasn't interested in applying to TT research schools and wanted to focus on teaching, it's a gamble I took. From my experience looking back - the schools I applied to largely didn't care. The one benefit I had, my PhD program required a semester pedagogy class before a TA could step in and teach a session (if the prof was absent or if they wanted to let the TA teach for a period) - they exempted me from that semester course.

Vanderbilt has since also added a ton of certificates and customization to their curriculum so it's probably even more friendly. You're generally more likely to get a bit more freedom at a divinity school, as opposed to a seminary for obvious reasons.

[fingerscrossed1240]

New to the forum. Applying for NT PhD's. I have an M.Div and MABL from a conservative seminary and finishing a ThM at Duke. Here is the list:

Duke (PhD and ThD), ND, Yale, Chicago, PTS, Toronto, UVA.

Good luck everybody!

[Wisconsinblue]

*here. The typo on my previous post is driving me crazy.

 

Is anyone else expecting to hear back this week [submitted on/before Nov. 1st]?

[NTNerd]

I am applying for NT, which is obvious planning on Wheaton, PTS, Duke, Notre Dame. At this moment I am freaking out because one of my LOR writers has not responded to any of my follow-ups, and PTS app is due this Sunday. I've heard there's often a few days grace period for LORs, but I don't know how I can find someone with only days to spare ? 

[Wisconsinblue]

That's odd...have you called them? @NTGal

[NTNerd]

@Wisconsinblue i had sent 2 spaced out follow-up emails after the prof had agreed to do it, and never got a response. finally called today. and we are working things out. 

[kenshiro]

6 hours ago, NTGal said:

@Wisconsinblue i had sent 2 spaced out follow-up emails after the prof had agreed to do it, and never got a response. finally called today. and we are working things out. 

Had a similar issue that had by blood pressure up. Just got an email giving me proof of life, finally. Phew. PTS is due Sunday? Have they no respect for the sabbath???

[NTNerd]

19 hours ago, kenshiro said:

Had a similar issue that had by blood pressure up. Just got an email giving me proof of life, finally. Phew. PTS is due Sunday? Have they no respect for the sabbath???

haha! they are more holy than the ones who had Dec 1 due date!

 

[NyarkoSan]

Anyone on here interested in applying for Islam or Middle East-related degrees? It seems like everywhere I look Islamic studies doesn't have a very vocal pool of applicants...

[marXian]

2 hours ago, NyarkoSan said:

Anyone on here interested in applying for Islam or Middle East-related degrees? It seems like everywhere I look Islamic studies doesn't have a very vocal pool of applicants...

It's true that there are not many folks on this forum who are applying to or currently in Islamic studies tracks/programs. However, @Averroes MD used to post here fairly regularly, is at Harvard (I think?), and can probably answer questions if you have them.

[NyarkoSan]

1 hour ago, marXian said:

It's true that there are not many folks on this forum who are applying to or currently in Islamic studies tracks/programs. However, @Averroes MD used to post here fairly regularly, is at Harvard (I think?), and can probably answer questions if you have them.

Thanks for the tip off, I remember them giving me a lot of great insight awhile back... Thank you!

[NyarkoSan]

Just applied to UChicago and Georgetown for NELC and Penn for Religion. Honestly it just feels like I've made a mistake somewhere and my app will just be thrown out immediately haha. This stress is crazy, man...

[conraddy]

Hey all! I'm applying to MTS/MAR/MPhil programs, more towards the Philosophy of Religion side of things, with a focus on religion and literature, the secularization hypothesis, philosophy of sin, and philosophy of selfhood. I'm applying to Harvard, UChicago, Oxford, and Cambridge. Super nervous--wondering whether or not my atypical approach will find a proper home. I just have a BA right now, and I'm hoping to parlay the theology masters into a PhD in English Literature... fingers crossed. Best of luck to everybody!

[NTNerd]

9 hours ago, NyarkoSan said:

Just applied to UChicago and Georgetown for NELC and Penn for Religion. Honestly it just feels like I've made a mistake somewhere and my app will just be thrown out immediately haha. This stress is crazy, man...

NyarkoSan, I feel the same! ?

[fingerscrossed1240]

3 hours ago, NTGal said:

NyarkoSan, I feel the same! ?

 

13 hours ago, NyarkoSan said:

Just applied to UChicago and Georgetown for NELC and Penn for Religion. Honestly it just feels like I've made a mistake somewhere and my app will just be thrown out immediately haha. This stress is crazy, man...

so glad to hear I am not the only one

[NTNerd]

yeah, my GRE verbal score was pretty low by TT standards....even though I have strengths that should be able to compensate, I fear my app will be thrown out without a second look...you often hear that at TT schools that receive a ton of apps, their first filter to narrow the pool is GRE ?

[NyarkoSan]

57 minutes ago, NTGal said:

yeah, my GRE verbal score was pretty low by TT standards....even though I have strengths that should be able to compensate, I fear my app will be thrown out without a second look...you often hear that at TT schools that receive a ton of apps, their first filter to narrow the pool is GRE ?

I feel that... My scores were super lopsided and I really don't know how to feel about that. Like my verbal and writing were excellent, but my quant was... oof. I don't know why a religion program would care about the quant score, but it's just one more thing that has me bugging out.