Calling 2011 Applicants: The Decision Thread!!!

[Phenomenologist]

The Boston Theological Institute, which is a consortium of theology schools in the area that allow cross registration, including Harvard.

Thanks, I knew it had to mean something like that from the context I always see it used in -- similar to the Toronto theology consortium.

[aselfmadewinter]

Thanks, I knew it had to mean something like that from the context I always see it used in -- similar to the Toronto theology consortium.

LOL! Yeah, people at TST never know what to call the school we attend, and only we seem to know what the acronym means. To everyone else, it's just theology at Toronto.

[LeftField]

Money and waitlisting are hampering my movement at this point. I've been accepted to Temple, which is ok, but without funding. I'm waitlisted at Syracuse, and I'd really rather go there, especially if there's a possibility of ANY funding whatsoever. But waiting on them is killing me. I want to wait for Syracuse, because if they say yes I'm going there. But if they say no and I end up at Temple, I need to be hunting for scholarships and grants yesterday! bah.

[aselfmadewinter]

Money and waitlisting are hampering my movement at this point. I've been accepted to Temple, which is ok, but without funding. I'm waitlisted at Syracuse, and I'd really rather go there, especially if there's a possibility of ANY funding whatsoever. But waiting on them is killing me. I want to wait for Syracuse, because if they say yes I'm going there. But if they say no and I end up at Temple, I need to be hunting for scholarships and grants yesterday! bah.

Money is mostly my problem as well. I originally wanted to go to McGill (as I've said elsewhere, I only applied to Canadian schools), but got accepted without funding. The chances of somehow getting funding are almost nil, since they are infamous for having been continually underfunded. However, I have full funding at UBC and McMaster. McMaster seems like a really good choice, since Schuller and Westerholm are there, but it's hard to give up my dream school after being accepted there. McGill is allowing me to wait until I hear about external funding from the SSHRC competition, but my other offers will expire before then.

Maybe it's time to let the dream go and accept one of the generous funded offers I've been given.

[new mexico]

is anyone else having a REALLY hard time deciding which program to attend? I know I am...

[aselfmadewinter]

is anyone else having a REALLY hard time deciding which program to attend? I know I am...

Yes. I'm sure alot of us are. You're not alone!

Edited March 17, 2011 by aselfmadewinter

[new mexico]

Yes. I'm sure alot of us are. You're not alone!

I guess we have till April 15, right?

[aselfmadewinter]

I guess we have till April 15, right?

Not in Canada... my deadlines are almost all April 1.

[retiredwaif]

Graduate Department of Religion, as opposed to a Divinity School.

And thanks for your thoughts on Chicago, it's definitely appealing. We'll see if Yale comes through with decent financial aid.

Yale has a wonderful religion department in the graduate school; a number of us take classes there. I'm not sure where you'd have heard otherwise?

[sacklunch]

For those considering Boston schools, they just sent out an email saying Hebrew College has been added to the BTI. Another good school added to our available courses!

[phoskaialetheia]

Yale has a wonderful religion department in the graduate school; a number of us take classes there. I'm not sure where you'd have heard otherwise?

Indeed, I realize that Yale's Department of Religious Studies is fantastic. I am particularly excited to take some courses down the hill with Dale Martin, Steven Fraade, and others in the Rel. Studies Dept. I believe in the response you were quoting I was answering someone's question about what GDR stood for. With Chicago I was talking more about who confers the degree, and since their Div School and Religion Dept are one and the same, the distinction doesn't apply. Sorry about the confusion.

I think at this point, I am 90% certain that I will choose Yale over Harvard, Chicago, Vandy, Emory, and Durham. It kills me to turn down offers at some of these programs (I honestly think this is the hardest part of deciding--having to shut some doors), but I am too excited about the fit and opportunities available at Yale to not go there. The Judaic Studies MARc is my dream program at the MA level.

[Owlrus]

I am 95% sure I am headed to BU in the fall for the MTS.

[new mexico]

For those considering Boston schools, they just sent out an email saying Hebrew College has been added to the BTI. Another good school added to our available courses!

that's wonderful news

[new mexico]

I am 95% sure I am headed to BU in the fall for the MTS.

That's wonderful. I was admitted to the MDiv, and I think I may attend.

[Thanks4Downvoting]

I'm choosing between YDS (full tuition, 5k stipend) and HDS (full tuition, 15k stipend). I'm leaning heavily towards Harvard b/c of the funding and because it has been my first choice for years. I'm 95% sure I'll be accepting my HDS offer by April 1st. Good luck all!

[new mexico]

I'm choosing between YDS (full tuition, 5k stipend) and HDS (full tuition, 15k stipend). I'm leaning heavily towards Harvard b/c of the funding and because it has been my first choice for years. I'm 95% sure I'll be accepting my HDS offer by April 1st. Good luck all!

can't go wrong with that HUGE stipend!!! i need to decide by April 1 too. I'm heavily leaning towards Boston U. (MDiv, full funding + 6k stipend) or Brown (MPH, $10k scholarship / year, but it will still cost $90k in loans...)

[Trin]

I'm choosing between YDS (full tuition, 5k stipend) and HDS (full tuition, 15k stipend). I'm leaning heavily towards Harvard b/c of the funding and because it has been my first choice for years. I'm 95% sure I'll be accepting my HDS offer by April 1st. Good luck all!

Well, if you go with HDS, we'll have to have to have a big Southern dinner for classmates sometime. I'm a great cook, and it sounds like you'll be able to afford someplace with a kitchen. :-)

[new mexico]

Trin, count me in for that big Southern dinner this fall because i just made my decision to attend Boston University STH (which is like 2.5 miles away)!!!!!

[Trin]

Trin, count me in for that big Southern dinner this fall because i just made my decision to attend Boston University STH (which is like 2.5 miles away)!!!!!

Alright, so it sounds like we need to plan a GradCafe Southern dinner this fall. :-) Bonus points if you bring Prothero with you. :-) :-)

[phoskaialetheia]

So I think I have finally decided to accept Yale's fairly generous offer. It kills me to turn down some of the other offers with their associated opportunities, but the fit and financial aid both seem to be calling me to New Haven.

Now I just have to turn down offers. I'm putting it off due to chronic indecision. Does anyone know if Harvard, Chicago, Vandy, or Candler have waitlists at the master's level? If so I will do this soon so my spots can go to the anxious waitlisted asap.

[Tahuds]

I've just accepted Yale's offer. It'll mean 40K in loans, but I don't know what else to do.

[phoskaialetheia]

I've just accepted Yale's offer. It'll mean 40K in loans, but I don't know what else to do.

Great!! See you there! I hope you find a way to make the finances work out. I may have to take some loan money too, even with work study and a spouse with a full-time job. At least we aren't entering a second completely unfunded master's like some have to do. Debt is butt-ugly, and I respect your healthy aversion to it. Next year in New Haven!

[KreacherKeeper]

I've just accepted Yale's offer. It'll mean 40K in loans, but I don't know what else to do.

Tahud, I think you made a fine choice. Good luck at Yale!

[new mexico]

I've just accepted Yale's offer. It'll mean 40K in loans, but I don't know what else to do.

Congrats on making a decision!

I've just mailed my admissions confirmation form to Boston University School of Theology for the M.Div.

[andovernewtton2011]

Hi Sky Pilot, as a current M.Div. candidate at Andover Newton graduating this May, and as someone who was facing a similar decision between Andover Newton and Harvard three years ago as you are now (was accepted both places), let me throw a few thoughts into the kettle:

1) While certainly Harvard has lots of amazing interreligious programming, Andover Newton is no slouch in this department. We share a campus with Hebrew College, a rabbinical school, and that proximity is utilized with a strong relationship between the institutions, including interfaith classes offered jointly between the two schools, an interfaith organization that has a half-time director (who is also an associate professor of interfaith studies at Andover Newton), and much interfaith programming. Not the same interfaith environment as Harvard by any means, but not lacking in that area either.

2) I am also Unitarian Universalist, and I have really enjoyed my experience at Andover Newton. We're not perfect in supporting UUs as a Christian seminary, but we're pretty good, and the support from UUCANS, the UU fellowship group on campus, is phenomenal. UUCANS is the most active fellowship group on the Andover Newton campus, and they/we offer lots of great programming throughout the year, much of is offered to and attended by other UU students in the BTI, including UUs from Harvard.

3) You mention academic rigor, as does the person who responded to you. While I am not an expert on Harvard classes, and while I would guess that Harvard classes are indeed more rigorous than Andover Newton's (based on the handful of classes I sat in on while in my decisions-making process), it has been far from my experience that our classes are not rigorous. Just because they might not be as rigorous as Harvard's doesn't mean that aren't rigorous. I have attended some elite institutions during my academic career, and Andover Newton is no slouch. I have felt plenty challenged and learned a great deal here, no complaints from me.

4) In terms of your respondent, Andover Newton, is of course more geared towards producing practicing ministers than Harvard is. It depends, I think, on what you're looking for. If I was planning on being a professor and pursuing a PhD, I would have picked Harvard hands down. I was and am much more interested in ministry and the art and practicalities of ministry, however, and so Andover Newton was and is a much better fit for me.

5) Though your user-profile says you're looking at the M.Div. program, it doesn't say whether you're looking to be a minister (as I am). I have served on a search committee in a UU congregation, and I can tell you the place where the candidates went to seminary was barely discussed at all in our group. Having done some brief informal surveys of other lay leaders about this, I can report back that in search committees where it did get mentioned, it was a very small part of the discussion. Folks are much more focused on your words (the UUA requires a lengthy set of responses as part of the application process) and your experience, than where you went to school. So practically speaking, it's cool to get to say you went to Harvard, but probably doesn't have as big an impact in the world of getting a job as a minister (or at the very least a UU minister) as it might in other professions. If you're looking to do something else with your M.Div., the Harvard name is much more likely to make a difference.

You say "money aside, Harvard is my first choice." I get that. I ended up spending a lot of time agonizing between Harvard and Andover Newton, but only because I faced a similar situation as you with my first choice (which was Union Theological in NY). I loved many things about Union, but the money from them was way less than at the other two, and I just couldn't justify to myself going an extra $45k into debt to go to my first choice, when I had two other excellent options available (Harvard and Andover Newton) for a much lower cost.

I don't know that I have any advice per se for you, except to you tell you that I went with my "second choice" that cost me a lot less, and I have loved it and had an amazing experience. Is it the same experience I would have had at Union? Absolutely not. But I can tell you I honestly don't regret it -- my time at Andover Newton has been really great. And I am very glad not to have that additional debt. That was my choice though, and not necessarily the "right one" for you or anyone else.

One other "decision-making" thought -- the advice your first respondent gives about the BTI could also cut the other way. If you're worried about cost, you could go to Andover Newton and take a whole bunch of classes at Harvard. You wouldn't get the name on the degree, but you could get a fair chunk of the experience.

In terms of funding, if you're in the M.Div. program and planning to enter the UUA's ordination process, you should do that ASAP. While they aren't huge scholarships, they do offer yearly financial aid to folks in the ordination process who are in seminary, and every little bit helps.

Regardless of where you end up, you will get an excellent education, so in that sense at least you're in a win-win situation. Good luck with your decision-making, I know how tough it can be!

-Soon-To-Be-Andover-Newton-Alum

Edited March 23, 2011 by andovernewtton2011