Fall 2021 Religion PhD

[alizeh55]

Hey guys, wondering if anyone else is applying to PhD programs for fall 2021. Starting this thread to deal with the next month or two. 

I applied to Harvard's Committee on the Study of Religion PhD, Islamic Studies track and have an MA from Columbia in Islamic Studies.

 

 

[KungFuKenny]

Yes, I’ve applied to Yale, UChicago Divinity, Emory, and Vanderbilt for the PhD in theological studies. Anxiousness led me to grad cafe. Here’s to favorable decisions over the next few weeks/months!

[Pierre de Olivi]

I'm applying to a mix of RS/theology, history, and interdisciplinary programs from an RS background. Good luck all!

Does anyone have a sense of which departments do interviews, and when they contact you about them?

[amam]

Also waiting it out. Applied to Baylor, Boston School of Theology, Notre Dame ( 2 programs) . I've heard back from Baylor with a preliminary interview. Still waiting for the others. Has anyone heard back from any of the above schools?

[crossroadsph]

Also waiting it out. Applied to BC, Yale, Toronto School of Theology, Duke Divinity, and Drew. No word yet from any of them, but I'm not expecting any movement until next week.

[KungFuKenny]

6 hours ago, Amama said:

Also waiting it out. Applied to Baylor, Boston School of Theology, Notre Dame ( 2 programs) . I've heard back from Baylor with a preliminary interview. Still waiting for the others. Has anyone heard back from any of the above schools?

I’ve not heard anything back from the four I mentioned yet. Based on posts from previous years, mid-Feb—mid-March seems to be the admission decision hotspot.

[crossroadsph]

Yes, it's usually mid-Feb to mid-March for decisions, but I honestly don't know when schools will hold interviews. That's what I've been wondering about.

[alizeh55]

On 1/9/2021 at 12:58 AM, crossroadsph said:

Yes, it's usually mid-Feb to mid-March for decisions, but I honestly don't know when schools will hold interviews. That's what I've been wondering about.

Harvard doesn't do any interviews, have you checked if your schools do?

[alizeh55]

On 1/8/2021 at 2:07 PM, KungFuKenny said:

I’ve not heard anything back from the four I mentioned yet. Based on posts from previous years, mid-Feb—mid-March seems to be the admission decision hotspot.

Yep! I wonder though if PhD decisions work similarly to MA. Do they have an internal wait list sort of thing? Meaning that if their first choices reject the offer, they accept their second choices? If so, I'd imagine the decision would come out later.

[crossroadsph]

4 hours ago, alizeh55 said:

Harvard doesn't do any interviews, have you checked if your schools do?

Yes, they do. I spoke with someone at one of the schools I applied to, and he confirmed that this was the case in that school. He added that this is pretty standard. From past entries in the Grad Café survey, I can tell this is the case with some of the schools with which I have applications. 

Re: wait lists, Ph.D. programs often do have them, and they let people know if they are on them. Past entries on the survey indicate when schools let people know that they are wait listed, and I noticed that it often comes at the same time when the schools inform people of their acceptance.

[TylerJarvis]

I'm applying for Hebrew Bible programs.

Had an interview with UT Austin today that I *think* went well enough. Haven't heard back from any of my other programs yet, but that's not a surprise. It's still early.

[CafeConGabi]

6 hours ago, TylerJarvis said:

I'm applying for Hebrew Bible programs.

Had an interview with UT Austin today that I *think* went well enough. Haven't heard back from any of my other programs yet, but that's not a surprise. It's still early.

Wow, Tyler! That's so cool! Were you interviewed by your POI?

I was totally going to apply to UTA's doctoral program in Religious Studies but decided to apply to the history dept instead. 

[TheWiggins]

There are a lot of interesting things others have written on here. I just finished my MA in medieval studies at UC Irvine and am waiting out my 2021 PhD apps (UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, and UChicago - Brown and Columbia didn’t take anyone but otherwise would have applied there  - ). I am waiting out the time as a 7th grade history teacher! A strange time to be 24, but hopefully I can get back in school soon.
 

Waiting sucks, but waiting to start something you’ve wanted since you were in high-school is hard. 

[CafeConGabi]

10 hours ago, TheWiggins said:

There are a lot of interesting things others have written on here. I just finished my MA in medieval studies at UC Irvine and am waiting out my 2021 PhD apps (UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, and UChicago - Brown and Columbia didn’t take anyone but otherwise would have applied there  - ). I am waiting out the time as a 7th grade history teacher! A strange time to be 24, but hopefully I can get back in school soon.
 

Waiting sucks, but waiting to start something you’ve wanted since you were in high-school is hard. 

Way cool, TheWiggins! I was looking at Columbia too! I was bummed they didn't take applications this year. : /

Grr. They wait! >.< 

[CafeConGabi]

Ha! Guess i'll share. 

I applied to Religious Studies (at UNC Chapel HIll and Univ. of Denver), History (at UT Austin, Yale, and UIC), and Chicano Studies (at UCLA and UCSB).

I made sure to contact my POI via email before applying.

My stats are pretty average. 

I have some research experience,

and a master's in theological studies. 

 

 

Ahhhh! And now i have to wait. >.< 

 

[TylerJarvis]

Nice!

I applied for Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill too, but in my subfield (Hebrew Bible), I know they've interviewed some people already and I wasn't one of them, so I'm not expecting anything there.

Otherwise I applied in the Middle Eastern Studies dept at UT Austin (As mentioned above, I had an interview with three professors in the dept. this week. All people I'd be thrilled to work with. They said we'd hear back in the next few weeks), the NELC program at UCLA, both the Religious Studies and the Divinity School at Duke, the Committee for the Study of Religion at Harvard, and the Theology department at Boston College.

So far I've only directly heard back from UT Austin. Hoping to hear more over the next few weeks.

I feel like my "stats" are fairly mixed. I think I'll be helped by my letters of recommendation, but it took me until a couple of years into my undergrad to figure out that I actually liked school, so that GPA is lower than I'd like. My first masters was better and my second masters doesn't have a GPA, but the grades themselves are high. So who knows? All-in-all, I'm cautiously optimistic. But if it doesn't happen, at least I can say that I tried. The waiting is the worst though, huh?

 

[CafeConGabi]

On 1/14/2021 at 10:34 PM, TylerJarvis said:

Nice!

I applied for Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill too, but in my subfield (Hebrew Bible), I know they've interviewed some people already and I wasn't one of them, so I'm not expecting anything there.

Whaaaaaat???? UNC did interviews???????? *internally dies* No?! 

In all honesty, I haven't heard from any of the schools. I reached out to my Letter Recommender (2 weeks ago?), in the Latinx Religion field, and she said interviews are not likely... Possible but not likely. Wow. Well, I guess now I have time to reconsider my life path ?.    

Quote

Otherwise I applied in the Middle Eastern Studies dept at UT Austin (As mentioned above, I had an interview with three professors in the dept. this week. 

OMG. How was that interview at UTA? Had you contacted them before you applied? 

I hope you get into your programs! Eek!

 

[Sleepless in skellefteå]

I am applying to a mix of history M.A's and Divinity school MTS/M.A's (Chicago and Harvard)! A little intimidated by everything I have heard about admission rates dropping due to covid, but hopeful due to the fact that I think I have a strong profile. I think my one weakness might be my letters of recommendation. I did a year of exchange studies in the middle of my bachelor so I did not really take any classes with any professor for more than one quarter. Good luck to everyone!

[alizeh55]

On 1/14/2021 at 10:34 PM, TylerJarvis said:

Nice!

I applied for Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill too, but in my subfield (Hebrew Bible), I know they've interviewed some people already and I wasn't one of them, so I'm not expecting anything there.

Otherwise I applied in the Middle Eastern Studies dept at UT Austin (As mentioned above, I had an interview with three professors in the dept. this week. All people I'd be thrilled to work with. They said we'd hear back in the next few weeks), the NELC program at UCLA, both the Religious Studies and the Divinity School at Duke, the Committee for the Study of Religion at Harvard, and the Theology department at Boston College.

So far I've only directly heard back from UT Austin. Hoping to hear more over the next few weeks.

I feel like my "stats" are fairly mixed. I think I'll be helped by my letters of recommendation, but it took me until a couple of years into my undergrad to figure out that I actually liked school, so that GPA is lower than I'd like. My first masters was better and my second masters doesn't have a GPA, but the grades themselves are high. So who knows? All-in-all, I'm cautiously optimistic. But if it doesn't happen, at least I can say that I tried. The waiting is the worst though, huh?

 

That's awesome--please do share if/when you heard from CSR at Harvard. According to older stats, it seems like we should hear by end of February, but this year is a COVID year and I assume all the professors are home-based so maybe that will speed the process up? Not sure. 

 

Waiting is definitely the worst, and also knowing that we are the first COVID applicant cohort is even harder, because everyone you ask who is already in the program will explain that things have drastically changed due to COVID.

 

SIGH. 

[Averroes MD]

On 1/17/2021 at 6:08 PM, alizeh55 said:

That's awesome--please do share if/when you heard from CSR at Harvard. According to older stats, it seems like we should hear by end of February, but this year is a COVID year and I assume all the professors are home-based so maybe that will speed the process up? Not sure. 

 

Waiting is definitely the worst, and also knowing that we are the first COVID applicant cohort is even harder, because everyone you ask who is already in the program will explain that things have drastically changed due to COVID.

 

SIGH. 

If you don't get in this round, ask them to waive the 3-strike rule based on COVID and your diminished chances due to that

[NTEJGuy]

Does anyone want to claim the waitlist post for Duke's PhD? Does anyone know of anyone who received an offer of admission at Duke's GPR yet? 

[AnxiousinSyriac]

Man, I am anxious! Fellow religious studies friends, I think grad cafe is making me more anxious, haha. Two days ago, I received an email from my top choice saying that my application was missing my writing sample. Luckily, I got that squared away. I don't know whether to take their reviewing of my application as a good thing, in that perhaps, I'll hear something from them soon? Man, oh man... I wonder what my chances are...

[Impostor]

5 hours ago, NTEJGuy said:

Does anyone want to claim the waitlist post for Duke's PhD? Does anyone know of anyone who received an offer of admission at Duke's GPR yet? 

I know one person who received a Duke GPR offer.

[NTEJGuy]

Just now, Impostor said:

I know one person who received a Duke GPR offer.

Do you know which subfield? 

[Impostor]

Just now, NTEJGuy said:

Do you know which subfield? 

New Testament.