Yale MAR admissions/funding

[phoskaialetheia]

I am applying for the Fall 2011 cycle, and my top choice is the YDS MAR in Second Temple Judaism. However, I have no idea what to expect in terms of funding (nor indeed of admission for that matter, other than that I may stand at least a slim shot at getting in). How competitive is it? Would anyone in the program (or other YDS Masters programs) be willing to share their experiences with admissions, funding packages, and perhaps some vital stats to know where I might stand? YDS is by far my top choice as John Collins is there. I'm also applying to programs in the UK and the Netherlands, as well as Union Theological Seminary. Also, is my approach of applying exclusively to programs which don't require the GRE because I don't have much time to prepare for it somewhat misguided?

If it helps anyone to determine whether I might be competitive for admission or funding, here are my vital stats:

UGPA: 3.69, 3.76 major GPA (so far. These may go up slightly by the time transcripts are sent) in a Biblical Studies/NT BA

Languages: 4 years Greek (attic and koine), 1 year Hebrew, some Aramaic, 1 year Latin, 1 year German, fluent Modern Greek (of course, this is not exactly a useful research language)

Publishing: just in student journals

Experience: I volunteered for a couple years in Europe as a missionary for my church

I haven't taken the GRE as YDS, UTS, and a couple attractive programs in the UK don't require it (is this a mistake? Should I make time to cram for it?)

I'm not sure how strong my LoRs will be, as I haven't taken more than a class or two from any one professor, although I will be working on a proposal for a mentored research grant with one this semester.

I appreciate any and all advice you may be willing to give

[evanhill]

Hi there! I'm looking into the same program. I'm guessing that when you say 'Netherlands' you are looking into Groningen? I've looked into their program as well. Where in the UK are you looking? Oxford's program in the Oriental Institute has caught my eye. Also, not to interrogate you, but where did you do your undergrad, and why the present interest in 2nd Temple studies?

I've had the same questions, especially in regards to admissions. I can't seem to a get a number of applicants to the program anywhere, just broader admission statistics. Melissa Pucci of admissions wrote to me the following in response;

'We received 580 applications this year and 260 were admitted. The acceptance rate was about 44%. The acceptance rate in the Bible program was a little less than that, about 30%.'

But I am a little unsure of what is meant by 'Bible program.' Anyways, I also share your aversion to the GRE, but am applying to HDS as well (they have Levenson and FMC is an emeritus there), and so must take it. Bleh! When I asked Melissa if the GRE played any role at all at YDS admissions, she assured me they absolutely did not. I also visited last spring and sat down with Dr. Collins. He noted that the first thing he looks at is GPA. He told me that he has accepted students without any language prerequisites, but that they proved exceptionally bright and learned them (Greek and Hebrew) over an intensive summer course. However, he noted that languages are indeed helpful, and it seems to me that your language training will prove appealing. I myself have taken three years of Greek, two years of Hebrew (although about 19 credits, by the time I graduate), and a year of Aramaic. I've also had three years of conversational German in high school, which now need to be transferred into theological German. My present study of Aramaic was at the request of Dr. Collins, and he seemed especially insistent that I be able to read Hebrew unpointed!!! However, overall, i think your language experience will be helpful, and from what Colllins seemed to indicate, your GPA might pose some difficulties, but might still keep you competitive.

If you'd like to exchange papers, feel free to let me know. I'm curious as to what you are submitting for your writing sample. I'm scared out of my wits about it, and so I'm writing something totally new. I've started research on a form-tradition critical study on the myth of the Watchers, with an eye toward critiquing some proposals which have been made as to its Sitz Im Leben. If, when I finish, you'd like to critique it, let me know! Alright, hopefully some of my blabbing has helped. I really don't know much more than you, but I'll cross my fingers for the two of us. Best of luck!

[phoskaialetheia]

b

On 10/7/2010 at 4:16 PM, evanhill said:

Hi there! I'm looking into the same program. I'm guessing that when you say 'Netherlands' you are looking into Groningen? I've looked into their program as well. Where in the UK are you looking? Oxford's program in the Oriental Institute has caught my eye. Also, not to interrogate you, but where did you do your undergrad, and why the present interest in 2nd Temple studies?

I've had the same questions, especially in regards to admissions. I can't seem to a get a number of applicants to the program anywhere, just broader admission statistics. Melissa Pucci of admissions wrote to me the following in response;

'We received 580 applications this year and 260 were admitted. The acceptance rate was about 44%. The acceptance rate in the Bible program was a little less than that, about 30%.'

But I am a little unsure of what is meant by 'Bible program.' Anyways, I also share your aversion to the GRE, but am applying to HDS as well (they have Levenson and FMC is an emeritus there), and so must take it. Bleh! When I asked Melissa if the GRE played any role at all at YDS admissions, she assured me they absolutely did not. I also visited last spring and sat down with Dr. Collins. He noted that the first thing he looks at is GPA. He told me that he has accepted students without any language prerequisites, but that they proved exceptionally bright and learned them (Greek and Hebrew) over an intensive summer course. However, he noted that languages are indeed helpful, and it seems to me that your language training will prove appealing. I myself have taken three years of Greek, two years of Hebrew (although about 19 credits, by the time I graduate), and a year of Aramaic. I've also had three years of conversational German in high school, which now need to be transferred into theological German. My present study of Aramaic was at the request of Dr. Collins, and he seemed especially insistent that I be able to read Hebrew unpointed!!! However, overall, i think your language experience will be helpful, and from what Colllins seemed to indicate, your GPA might pose some difficulties, but might still keep you competitive.

If you'd like to exchange papers, feel free to let me know. I'm curious as to what you are submitting for your writing sample. I'm scared out of my wits about it, and so I'm writing something totally new. I've started research on a form-tradition critical study on the myth of the Watchers, with an eye toward critiquing some proposals which have been made as to its Sitz Im Leben. If, when I finish, you'd like to critique it, let me know! Alright, hopefully some of my blabbing has helped. I really don't know much more than you, but I'll cross my fingers for the two of us. Best of luck!

Good to hear from you! I noticed your earlier post right after I had already posted this, and am still going through the mondo bizzaro-esque shock of seeing such a strong parallel of interests, especially in this field! We'll have to keep in touch. Yeah, I am interested in working with Mogliano-Tromp in Groningen, but am also looking at Leiden to work with Popovic. I share your interest in the MSt in Judaism in the Greco-Roman World at Oxford (I have a friend who just finished a masters there and really enjoyed working with Martin Goodman). I also like Durham, and when I visited campus over the summer met with Hayward, and have since been in correspondence with Barclay who was on sabbatical, both of whom are extremely genial and interested. As for my undergrad, I'm finishing up my undergrad, which doesn't suffer too much from grade inflation, but a 3.7 (though indicative of a distinct upward pattern) may indeed require some padding. My interest in the Second Temple period arose from the abundance of extant texts in this period and the more solid critical potential of addressing texts from a period about which we have a good amount of context, as well as the potential of tapping pseudepigrapha etc. that have a heck of a lot less written about them than HB or NT pericopes (not to mention the freedom associated with addressing non-canonical texts even in a conservative environment). I studied English and History before I switched to the Ancient Near East program, so I am more interested in working with texts and Sitzen im Leben thereof than anything else. I originally wanted to do Hebrew Bible, but serving a church mission in Greece and Cyprus for a couple years immersed me in Greek sources which really aroused my interest in the confluence of Judaism and Hellenism and the interplay between the modalities thereof, and so I switched to GNT when I got back and have since read a LOT of Gruen, Collins, Barclay, Goodman, etc.

So I have decided as of a few days ago to also apply to HDS, necessitating the GRE, partly to cast a wider net for funding, but also because there are faculty at each of the programs I would love to work with. HDS is appealing because in addition to FMC and Levenson, whom you mentioned, Shaye Cohen teaches several divinity courses that I would love to take. I actually met with an HDS admissions officer just a few hours ago at an admissions info session in town, and she said that although the GRE is required as a result of a particular faculty initiative, it means almost nothing and in some ways helps us because the requirement is shrinking the applicant pool. She also said that admission to the relevant MST concentrations isn't much--if any--more competetive than that of the other Masters programs. She was very candid and actually categorically said that every admitted applicant with demonstrated financial need gets at least a 50% funding package, for which as a married student I would be eligible, and many of the students get 75% or full tuition + stipend, which I had heard hinted at, but not explicitly given as a matter of practice. This makes the div schools more attractive all the time, as a funded Masters is so rare now. The only thing that worries me is the complacence of a lackluster GRE and better chances of admission that would weaken the PhD applications. With regard to YDS, I've also been in touch with Collins to some degree, who is supportive. I'll have to see what he says when we meet at the SBL Annual Meeting in Atlanta. Its good to know, however that the GRE doesn't appear to help or hurt the YDS application. Thanks for passing that along, as well as the information Dr. Collins shared with you.

I would like to exchange papers, although I am also going to start from scratch and try to do some very solid research. I am thinking either something with 2 Baruch/4 Esdras or perhaps some things that have caught my eye in the Artapanus fragments.

Anyway, keep in touch. Maybe we will eventually collaborate in the same program. Good luck with the rest of the application process!

[11Q13]

If there's one thing I wish people would have told me earlier on was how important languages were at this level. My experience is that having those languages will prove very beneficial for your application, sell them.

I would also tell you to go ahead and take the GRE if you have the money and are interested in Harvard Divinity, even if it's just to wing it. It's only a formality, and I got in with a very low GRE.