MA/MDiv/PhD...What are my chances?

[RD_Paul]

Hello everyone! I am finishing my undergrad degree this semester from a fairly prestigious liberal arts school in MO. I am thinking of applying to a number of graduate programs in Religious Studies (specifically New Testament) or Theology, but I am getting married in June and taking a year off before going off to school. Here are the schools where I'll be applying:

Yale Divinity

Duke Divinity

Princeton Theological Seminary

Yale's PhD in NT (admittedly a long shot without the master's)

Candler

Notre Dame (Early Christian Studies)

I am also applying for the Marshall Scholarship to study at the Univ. of St. Andrews in Scotland

Here my "stats:"

Major: Philosophy & Religion; Minors: Classics, English

UG GPA: 4.0/4.0

Phi Beta Kappa, PKP, Eta Sigma Phi, Theta Alpha Kappa, Departmental Honors, Who's Who, UG Religion Student of the Year

Two year intern for my campus ministry

LoR: I've asked the four profs who know me best, so they should be pretty good.

GRE: yet to be taken, though I am doing so in August

Languages: two years classical Hebrew, two years Greek (will have three by the time I enroll in grad school), one year of Latin

Honors Thesis: a detailed exegesis paper on Romans 13.1-7, which will be my writing sample

And I will have been published research on Menno Simons in two undergraduate journals

Though my top choice is YDS MDiv or ConcMAR in Biblical Studies, I am very intrigued by Yale's PhD. But I don't think my chances of getting in are very good, especially without French or German under my belt at all. I would appreciate anyone's thoughts. How rare is it to be accepted directly to Yale's PhD program directly from UG? Is that even recommended? Or should I slow down and get my Master's first? This seems like the most logical/beneficial choice. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts.

[LisaTO]

It seems like most people do their master's first. Though one of my professors here at HDS said they do take people straight from undergrad if it seems like they will go straight to PhD work otherwise. I don't imagine you'd have trouble getting into a master's program.

Hello everyone! I am finishing my undergrad degree this semester from a fairly prestigious liberal arts school in MO. I am thinking of applying to a number of graduate programs in Religious Studies (specifically New Testament) or Theology, but I am getting married in June and taking a year off before going off to school. Here are the schools where I'll be applying:

Yale Divinity

Duke Divinity

Princeton Theological Seminary

Yale's PhD in NT (admittedly a long shot without the master's)

Candler

Notre Dame (Early Christian Studies)

I am also applying for the Marshall Scholarship to study at the Univ. of St. Andrews in Scotland

Here my "stats:"

Major: Philosophy & Religion; Minors: Classics, English

UG GPA: 4.0/4.0

Phi Beta Kappa, PKP, Eta Sigma Phi, Theta Alpha Kappa, Departmental Honors, Who's Who, UG Religion Student of the Year

Two year intern for my campus ministry

LoR: I've asked the four profs who know me best, so they should be pretty good.

GRE: yet to be taken, though I am doing so in August

Languages: two years classical Hebrew, two years Greek (will have three by the time I enroll in grad school), one year of Latin

Honors Thesis: a detailed exegesis paper on Romans 13.1-7, which will be my writing sample

And I will have been published research on Menno Simons in two undergraduate journals

Though my top choice is YDS MDiv or ConcMAR in Biblical Studies, I am very intrigued by Yale's PhD. But I don't think my chances of getting in are very good, especially without French or German under my belt at all. I would appreciate anyone's thoughts. How rare is it to be accepted directly to Yale's PhD program directly from UG? Is that even recommended? Or should I slow down and get my Master's first? This seems like the most logical/beneficial choice. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts.

[vega maudlin]

When I visited YDS a couple weeks ago, one of the HB professors said that Yale only takes 1-2 PhD students in each subdivision per year, and often tries to take them from the masters program at the Div School. So, only one or two NT PhDs per year, and you'd be competing against students who have not only done a masters, but have also done it at Yale with the professors you're applying to work with.

SO. I would probably skip the PhD application. (Although who knows? Visit and ask if you're curious for their take). Instead, focus on making your application to the Yale MAR/MDiv the best it can be. If you stand out in the application process (and in particular make sure you're a good fit for the school/NT professors), they may already have you pegged as a student they'd like to keep on in the PhD program. Plus, better application = possibly better funding. You clearly have excellent stats, but focus on your statement of purpose and research the programs you want to attend in the meantime.

And congrats on getting married!

Hello everyone! I am finishing my undergrad degree this semester from a fairly prestigious liberal arts school in MO. I am thinking of applying to a number of graduate programs in Religious Studies (specifically New Testament) or Theology, but I am getting married in June and taking a year off before going off to school. Here are the schools where I'll be applying:

Yale Divinity

Duke Divinity

Princeton Theological Seminary

Yale's PhD in NT (admittedly a long shot without the master's)

Candler

Notre Dame (Early Christian Studies)

I am also applying for the Marshall Scholarship to study at the Univ. of St. Andrews in Scotland

Here my "stats:"

Major: Philosophy & Religion; Minors: Classics, English

UG GPA: 4.0/4.0

Phi Beta Kappa, PKP, Eta Sigma Phi, Theta Alpha Kappa, Departmental Honors, Who's Who, UG Religion Student of the Year

Two year intern for my campus ministry

LoR: I've asked the four profs who know me best, so they should be pretty good.

GRE: yet to be taken, though I am doing so in August

Languages: two years classical Hebrew, two years Greek (will have three by the time I enroll in grad school), one year of Latin

Honors Thesis: a detailed exegesis paper on Romans 13.1-7, which will be my writing sample

And I will have been published research on Menno Simons in two undergraduate journals

Though my top choice is YDS MDiv or ConcMAR in Biblical Studies, I am very intrigued by Yale's PhD. But I don't think my chances of getting in are very good, especially without French or German under my belt at all. I would appreciate anyone's thoughts. How rare is it to be accepted directly to Yale's PhD program directly from UG? Is that even recommended? Or should I slow down and get my Master's first? This seems like the most logical/beneficial choice. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts.

[RD_Paul]

Thanks for the advice. That was my assumption, but I wanted to make sure. YDS looks great. How was the visit?

When I visited YDS a couple weeks ago, one of the HB professors said that Yale only takes 1-2 PhD students in each subdivision per year, and often tries to take them from the masters program at the Div School. So, only one or two NT PhDs per year, and you'd be competing against students who have not only done a masters, but have also done it at Yale with the professors you're applying to work with.

SO. I would probably skip the PhD application. (Although who knows? Visit and ask if you're curious for their take). Instead, focus on making your application to the Yale MAR/MDiv the best it can be. If you stand out in the application process (and in particular make sure you're a good fit for the school/NT professors), they may already have you pegged as a student they'd like to keep on in the PhD program. Plus, better application = possibly better funding. You clearly have excellent stats, but focus on your statement of purpose and research the programs you want to attend in the meantime.

And congrats on getting married!

[vega maudlin]

The visit was great! The place has a fantastic atmosphere, and several of the professors I talked to were lovely (the HB ones in particular). Of course, I visited and subsequently decided to go elsewhere, but that was partly because of funding, partly because my interests didn't align as well as I thought they would.

Thanks for the advice. That was my assumption, but I wanted to make sure. YDS looks great. How was the visit?

[EcoBren]

Hi RyanD, I realize you posted this a year ago so I thought I would check to see how it all worked out for you, seeing as I am currently in a very similar situation. I have practically the same stats and am very interested in Yale, although I graduated two years ago and have been working at an environmental think tank since. Just curious, did you inquire further about applying for the Ph.D. with just an undergrad degree? I'm specifically interested in religion in America from a historical standpoint, specifically how religious practices were affected by the landscape of the American West in the 19th century, which makes me feel like I would be a better fit in the Religion Department than in the Divinity School. I am trying to figure out if I should even bother applying to the Ph.D. program, and based on Vega Maudlin's recommendation it does seem like my chances are slim, but I don't seem to fit comfortably into any field of the concentrated MAR. Any thoughts anyone has on this would be much appreciated!