Fall 2021 Religion PhD

[CafeConGabi]

14 minutes ago, amam said:

Waitlisted at BU school of theology. Disappointed. Not sure how hopeful I am of getting off the waitlist. Tired.

Ugh. I hear you. I would hate being wait-listed because there is not clear answer. At least with all the rejections letters I can have some peace. I hope you get off the wait-list though. ❤️ 

[Emory]

I haven’t heard anything from BU and I’m guessing no news is bad news. I saw someone post elsewhere of an acceptance call. But I hate that I haven’t received any emails or anything from BU to make the rejection for sure.

[happinessjones]

Only MA admissions, but just received an acceptance offer from UVA a few minutes ago! Have to believe at least some PhD admissions are out too, right? No funding, but I knew that going in. Best of luck to everyone here!

[_Athena_]

15 minutes ago, aaronminnick8 said:

Only MA admissions, but just received an acceptance offer from UVA a few minutes ago! Have to believe at least some PhD admissions are out too, right? No funding, but I knew that going in. Best of luck to everyone here!

Congratulations!! Really hope PhDs are not far behind...

Edited February 22, 2021 by _Athena_

[beorn1968]

12 minutes ago, aaronminnick8 said:

Only MA admissions, but just received an acceptance offer from UVA a few minutes ago! Have to believe at least some PhD admissions are out too, right? No funding, but I knew that going in. Best of luck to everyone here!

 Additional Congrats, it is a terrific program

[thiscalltoarms]

I also haven't heard from BU. I applied to both School of Theology and GSAS Religion. Obviously, I love BU. Hahaha... 

[cosmo92]

2 minutes ago, thiscalltoarms said:

I also haven't heard from BU. I applied to both School of Theology and GSAS Religion. Obviously, I love BU. Hahaha... 

i havent heard anything either, feeling a certain way rn lmaoo

[crossroadsph]

3 hours ago, amam said:

Waitlisted at BU school of theology. Disappointed. Not sure how hopeful I am of getting off the waitlist. Tired.

I do hope you get off the waitlist! Good luck.

[crossroadsph]

33 minutes ago, thiscalltoarms said:

I also haven't heard from BU. I applied to both School of Theology and GSAS Religion. Obviously, I love BU. Hahaha... 

I am particularly fond of the park outside Marsh Chapel. Hanging out there was one of the highlights of my visit as a prospective doctoral student in 2019. 

Good luck to everyone! This is another week of getting through the struggle.

[Emory]

2 hours ago, Emory said:

I haven’t heard anything from BU and I’m guessing no news is bad news. I saw someone post elsewhere of an acceptance call. But I hate that I haven’t received any emails or anything from BU to make the rejection for sure.

I just got my rejection email.

[zbsrdcdg]

Rejection letter from BU theology. This was my top choice. Who knows what they want?  I have held 3 research positions experience, I have a MA and MDIV, fluent in Spanish/french and various academic articles/reviews. I am definitely bummed, but happy for those that got in or waitlisted. Congrats! 

 

[thiscalltoarms]

27 minutes ago, Emory said:

I just got my rejection email.

Same here! Feels good to know, was my first choice originally but I’m molding to the environment a bit I guess!

Edited February 23, 2021 by thiscalltoarms

[_Athena_]

So sorry to hear about all of those who received bad news today! I'm wishing you all luck and hoping other opportunities will open up for you.

[Emory]

15 minutes ago, _Athena_ said:

So sorry to hear about all of those who received bad news today! I'm wishing you all luck and hoping other opportunities will open up for you.

Thank you. I only applied to two places this year because of family. I could only apply to a certain geographic area. Most schools in that area didn’t even accept applications for PhD this year. So, no doctoral work in my future for this fall.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Emory

[Emory]

20 minutes ago, zbsrdcdg said:

Rejection letter from BU theology. This was my top choice. Who knows what they want?  I have held 3 research positions experience, I have a MA and MDIV, fluent in Spanish/french and various academic articles/reviews. I am definitely bummed, but happy for those that got in or waitlisted. Congrats! 

 

Sorry to hear you didn’t get in.

[zbsrdcdg]

11 minutes ago, Emory said:

Sorry to hear you didn’t get in.

Thanks! Same to you too. All the best!

[amam]

Tough

[amam]

Sorry to hear of your BU rejections guys. It's been a sad year for applications. I don't even know what to say. I got in touch with my POI to inform him of my being wait-listed. He was empathetic, noting that they had over 150 applications this year and only had a slot for 5 students. I think that number is cruel to be honest. It's just a sad year to be applying. I'm honestly tired.

[Athanasius]

So sorry to hear about folks who didn't get in to their top choices, or, for some, any choices. Remember that a rejection doesn't reflect your potential or intellect. A couple of notes for encouragement:

I did my first masters at a TT school in the US; the Ph.D. program there is notoriously difficult to get into. A sort of true legend floated around there when I was attending. One student who graduated not long before I started was rejected outright from their PhD program in NT. He waited another year and applied again. He was accepted without funding and turned it down. He applied the third year and was accepted. 

Turns out, he was incredible in the program. He finished quickly, wrote an outstanding diss. and was immediately hired by one of the best schools in the world. He was one of the most successful students in recent years and yet he was rejected.

 

Many of the great scholars that have shared their application stories with me have told me about the many rejections they received. These same scholars have won awards, edited prestigious volumes, written groundbreaking monographs, etc. So, whatever you do, don't allow rejection to knock the air out of you for too long. If you care enough to anguish on grad cafe about this, you probably care enough to be good at this. Take heart fellow sojourners. 

[CafeConGabi]

Ahhhhh. Well, official rejection from UNC.

Low-key pissed because I had a good conversation with a professor and it was a school I genuinely considered--like i didn't just apply for the name. I looked at some of the current students and thought it could work out... Oh well.

Didn't get a rose so now I'm being sent home (been watching too much The Bachelor while I wait). ?

[SAM311]

Hi everyone! I am a history applicant, but my spouse is applying for PhD in religion at several places. Has anyone heard back from Harvard's religion department? It seems a little late for an ivy school! 

[_Athena_]

@SAM311 No word yet, but I think we should expect to hear back very soon! As @alizeh55 uncovered, the committee met on Feb. 9, and admissions results are usually released about 2 weeks later.

Edited February 23, 2021 by _Athena_

[alizeh55]

5 minutes ago, _Athena_ said:

No word yet, but I think we should expect to hear back very soon! As @alizeh55 uncovered, the committee met on Feb. 9, and admissions results are usually released about 2 weeks later.

I really do hope my analysis was correct! I just did a lot of unhealthy stalking on their website which led me to this conclusion, haha. I really don't think they'd go past this Friday, though. Or at least hope so. 

Also, I saw that someone posted an acceptance to NELC at Harvard but there were no rejections listed, which makes me wonder if the Religion dept. has already accepted their handful of students, but they just haven't posted their results... 

18 minutes ago, SAM311 said:

Hi everyone! I am a history applicant, but my spouse is applying for PhD in religion at several places. Has anyone heard back from Harvard's religion department? It seems a little late for an ivy school! 

If you type in just Harvard into the results page you'll see someone from Music explaining what's going on with GSAS. It seems like they were told late how many spots they have, so maybe that's why it is taking so long. I know this is for a different department but I would imagine it's a pretty similar story throughout GSAS this year. Pasting it here as well:

 

• Regarding not accepting composers this application cycle. To lift the veil and explain how/why: the music dept was given 4 spots by GSAS to accept new grad students across all the grad programs at the music department (5 departments). They also aren't told how many spots/how much funding is available until they start to review applications. It sucks but the faculty don't get any say in how many spots they can have for the entire dept. But with this shortage (only 4 spots), this means that there was a chance one, or more, of these accepted would have been composers into the composition department or, as happened, none accepted at all. Usually they are given more open spots for all the music dept but unfortunately that didn't happen this year. Partly because they are trying to support current students and students who have no funding opportunities elsewhere due to COVID (so even those who have recently graduated). It's not decided until all applicants have been reviewed for all the departments exactly how many of these spots will go to each department. All departments have to negotiate and it was particularly tough this year. This is why it's pretty fluid how many candidates get accepted each year, though usually the composition department, in previous years, usually ends up only accepting 1 or 2 grad students. It ended up that there were really strong candidates and these spots when to the CPCI (interdisciplinary music makers), music theory, and the rest but not composition. It sucks but hopefully this helps illuminate any questions.

Edited February 23, 2021 by alizeh55

[SAM311]

4 minutes ago, _Athena_ said:

@SAM311 No word yet, but I think we should expect to hear back very soon! As @alizeh55 uncovered, the committee met on Feb. 9, and admissions results are usually released about 2 weeks later.

Ooo! Good to know. Hopefully this week! The waiting game is becoming tiresome for us all, I believe! 

[SAM311]

1 minute ago, alizeh55 said:

I really do hope my analysis was correct! I just did a lot of unhealthy stalking on their website which led me to this conclusion, haha. I really don't think they'd go past this Friday, though. Or at least hope so. 

Also, I saw that someone posted an acceptance to NELC at Harvard but there were no rejections listed, which makes me wonder if the Religion dept. has already accepted their handful of students, but they just haven't posted their results... 

If you type in just Harvard into the results page you'll see someone from Music explaining what's going on with GSAS. It seems like they were told late how many spots they have, so maybe that's why it is taking so long. Pasting it here as well:

 

Wow! Thank you for flagging this for me! Is it "unhealthy stalking" if we all want to be researchers? hahah!