Fall 2021 MTS

[sorenerasmus]

1 hour ago, Isaac Bobron said:

Thank you for your swift reply! If you don’t mind sharing, are you on the waitlist for Religion PhD?

Of course! I am waiting for admissions results for the MA program (I’m finishing undergrad this spring). I hope there will be some movement if you’re waitlisted! It’s definitely rough to be awaiting results when decision deadlines are next week - but hopefully the waiting will be worth it ? 

[MaryHildegard]

On 4/7/2021 at 3:31 PM, Joey_Jawad said:

 

How's the vaccine rollout in your country? In my country I think it'll be impossible to get them before term starts, so I just pushed up my flight to early August so that I can get the two jabs before class starts.  Hopefully foreigners could get the vaccine at that point. Someone said people in the states can just go to CVS(!) to get the vaccine which sounds insane to me. Lucky lucky

You will be able to get the vaccine here, as long as you have an MA address to put down. You don’t need an American insurance card either. April 19th is when it’s open to everyone who lives here and I imagine by August they’ll be doing walk in clinics, which is already the case in some states. 

[Isaac Bobron]

On 2/2/2021 at 2:22 PM, CafeConGabi said:

I hope this helps someone. 

 

I got my MTS at HDS (class of 2018) and never got an interviewed for it. Also, if I remember correctly, the admissions letter came in mid March. Long wait! Honestly, I had zero expectation of getting in because my cumulative GPA was 3.6 and GRE score was super average. Plus, I got kicked outta my first college (circa 2009) for a low GPA. Oh, and I was 26 at the time of the application. What I think helped was majoring in religious studies and showing, vis-a-vis my courses and extracurriculars, that I was serious about a career in academia. I also met supportive professors who encouraged me to apply to research grants and attend conferences. These folks also wrote strong letters of recommendations. 

While I was in the HDS program we were constantly told that not all of us (my cohort had ~88 mts/mdiv students) would go on for a PhD so that we needed to be open to other career possibilities. Being hard-headed I ignored this advice and worked on tailoring my 2 years so that I would be a competitive PhD applicant. I am 30 years old now and just got into my top PhD program (outside of religious studies) last week. I will be 38 by the time I am done.  

 

TL;DR: Do not worry about age. Worry about being a competitive applicant.    

Hello! I’m wondering if you could offer me some advice. I’ve recently been rejected by all 7 PhD programs that I applied to. I had an interview with one, and was waitlisted. Got news yesterday that I was finally rejected. Having said that, would it be smart to pursue a ThM for next year in order to prepare for the next round? Thank you!

[CafeConGabi]

26 minutes ago, Isaac Bobron said:

Hello! I’m wondering if you could offer me some advice. I’ve recently been rejected by all 7 PhD programs that I applied to. I had an interview with one, and was waitlisted. Got news yesterday that I was finally rejected. Having said that, would it be smart to pursue a ThM for next year in order to prepare for the next round? Thank you!

Hey Isaac! I'll send you a message. 

[sorenerasmus]

On 4/9/2021 at 12:55 PM, sorenerasmus said:

Of course! I am waiting for admissions results for the MA program (I’m finishing undergrad this spring). I hope there will be some movement if you’re waitlisted! It’s definitely rough to be awaiting results when decision deadlines are next week - but hopefully the waiting will be worth it ? 

Hi all ~ is anyone else still waiting for official notification from Vanderbilt’s GDR? After contacting them twice, I received a response at the end of last week that I will receive a letter “by the end of the week” this week, but decision deadlines are Thursday and Friday for my other programs (as well as Vanderbilt, technically). I’ll likely go elsewhere, but I would like to know all of my options before deciding.

Does anyone happen to know anything about the inner workings of the department? The fact that they are two full weeks behind the graduate school’s own deadline for admissions results doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, especially since I received my other acceptances in late February and early March. 

[Isaac Bobron]

I was waitlisted for the GDR & received my rejection last Friday. I hope that helps. Good luck on your academic adventures! I wish you all the best!

[sorenerasmus]

On 4/13/2021 at 10:38 PM, Isaac Bobron said:

I was waitlisted for the GDR & received my rejection last Friday. I hope that helps. Good luck on your academic adventures! I wish you all the best!

Thanks again! I still never received a formal notice, but I ultimately called the grad school today and someone there was able to check on my status and inform me I wasn't admitted (the formal notice is going to be sent tomorrow, April 16 - yikes).

It's not all bad news though as I accepted my offer to Oxford, which was always the goal! Best wishes to you as well ~~

[MaryHildegard]

It’s the end of our first semester, so I wanted to ask how’s everyone doing? 

I got all As and I got a research assistantship! There’s been some challenging parts but I think overall it’s going okay. 

Next semester I’m taking New Testament, Church history from the English reformation to now, medieval church history, medieval theology, and piano.