Another one of those "Will I get in"...?

[MsBOOM]

Hello all,

I've been reading this forum for almost a year now and now am in the process of applying for graduate schools. Needless to say, I am FAH-REEK-ING OUT!

I'm a graduate of George Mason University, double-majored in Religious Studies and English (weird combo, no? Haha).

Graduated with a 3.82 GPA (on an A, A-, B+, B, B-... etc scale).

GRE scores are TBD - however, I'm am the worst standardized test taker in the world. So I am not expecting strong GRE scores.

Experience: I orally presented research titled "Liberating the Daughters of Eve" at the George Mason College of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Symposium in 2011. Other than that, I have barely any experience outside of the work I did in classes (I juggled one full-time and one part-time job while attending school full-time... never had time to do additional activities for my field).

Languages: I know English and Urdu fluently (Urdu might help in my Islamic Studies focus). Going to take Arabic classes beginning in January.

My letters of recommendation are also strong.

I am applying for an MA at these schools:

Duke

Harvard

NYU

Columbia

Temple

Claremont School of Religion

UNC-Chapel Hill was on my list until my former professor (who is now working at UNC) informed me that they normally do not accept MA-only students, rather their graduate students go are on track for a PhD. Halfway into the application, I'm considering revoking the entire thing.

My area of focus is definitely going to be Islamic studies - I am highly interested in inter-faith dialogue (between Islam and other traditions) and gender-equality studies.

Last, but not least, if you guys have any last-minute recommendations on schools that could offer me my focus(es), I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you!

Edited November 22, 2011 by MsSarahBOOM

[sacklunch]

You might take a look at WUSTL for Islamic studies (I think it's in their Near Eastern/Judaic Studies dept.)

Also, what MA is there at Columbia? I didn't think they had one outside of Classics. *edit* nevermind, I guess they do?

[spintosopranoofdeath]

Hey! I just applied for the Jewish Studies MA program at Columbia. Graduated from a SUNY school, majored in multiple subject areas, also including gender studies. Also freaking out.