Religion or NELC?

[soitgoes]

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this (question is coming from an Islamic studies applicant): what's the difference between religious studies programs and NELC? For example, I applied to chicago divinity and there's also NELC. Same with Harvard's Committee on the Study of Religion and NELC. Is one more prestigious? Does one lead to better jobs? Does it matter?

[NyarkoSan]

Hey, same boat here. I applied to a variety of NELC and Religion programs, mostly going off of figures in the department more than anything else. I'd just check to see which section you fit better in with as a scholar and go from there.

[sacklunch]

It's difficult to speak in generalities here, but NELC programs are usually more focused on highly technical and material aspects of ancient cultures: e.g. inscriptions (epigraphy),  papyrology, archaeology, etc. I'm not saying these areas are alien to religious studies programs, but that they are not common in the larger scheme. Religion/religious studies as a discipline is simply broader and for this reason my guess is that a religion/religious studies PhD is more marketable, but you should check me on that, as I have never seen any statistic. NELC programs are few and far between and really only exist at top schools, so it's a bit unfair to compare the 'average' religion/religious studies PhD, since you cannot rule out if academic prestige plays a major role (studies show it indeed does); ideally, you would want to look at PhDs from one school in both departments, the best being Harvard and Chicago (esp. because there is overlap in students' research between NELC and religion/religious studies/classics).