M* applications for 2012-2013 chit chat...

[sacklunch]

Don't think anyone else applied, but finally got denied from UMinnesota Religions in Antiquity MA.

Negative feedback for posting a result???

[ûl ʾašerātō]

Negative feedback for posting a result???

I gave you the thumbs up to try to even everything out!

[Guest]

Just sent in some final material to my dream school in hopes of getting off the wait list. I am optimistic but I certainly want to solicit your prayers as I wait to hear back. I spent 12 hours editing the one-page document I sent. lol

[shokoasahara]

Will be going to NYU for their Religious Studies grad program.

[O_Porcupine]

No funding for MA at Marquette-- looks like Duke or wait a year. Who's headed to Durham?

[sacklunch]

Whelp. I guess I'll be creating a new account. Someone has made it their purpose to (each day) give me negative points. There was once a time when I was positive. Not anymore. I'm not really sure why this person hates me so much, considering one can only give so many negative points each day. Oh well.

I hope everyone is well .

[cadences]

I think someone's going around being a douche just because he/she can......

[Marcone]

Hey Porcupine,

I'll be heading to Duke in the Fall along with jdmhotness alan farnes up there. Would love to chat with all of you about where you might be living etc.

Edited April 19, 2012 by Marcone

[Balatro]

Whelp. I guess I'll be creating a new account. Someone has made it their purpose to (each day) give me negative points. There was once a time when I was positive. Not anymore. I'm not really sure why this person hates me so much, considering one can only give so many negative points each day. Oh well.

I hope everyone is well .

PM an admin about it. This was going on a little over a year ago as well and the admins looked into it, saw the person was flagrantly downgrading for no reason and were subsequently either banned/blocked (as the downgrading stopped literally overnight).

Edited April 19, 2012 by Balatro

[MsBOOM]

Ahahaha, I should check into who is doing that to me as well! I'm at -114 -.- lmao

[Guest]

Hey guys, I am here to let you know that I have been accepted into Duke!

A short section for random excitement typing:

kdshkeg;w oiw hoi vrohivw o vwnocw no vwoin f2jp cg

eqrqeqerqeylkjqegrijqeggihcw iw iwoi hw higjqegljqeggrljkqegrjklqegrkjl

Ok now that that is over with I hope to see many of you at Duke and meet the rest of you perhaps via AAR/SBL meetings! Soooooooooo excited.

[sacklunch]

Hey guys, I am here to let you know that I have been accepted into Duke!

A short section for random excitement typing:

kdshkeg;w oiw hoi vrohivw o vwnocw no vwoin f2jp cg

eqrqeqerqeylkjqegrijqeggihcw iw iwoi hw higjqegljqeggrljkqegrjklqegrkjl

Ok now that that is over with I hope to see many of you at Duke and meet the rest of you perhaps via AAR/SBL meetings! Soooooooooo excited.

YAY!!!

Perhaps a GC meetup is in order come August/September?

See you this fall, Wind.

[Guest]

Yeah it sounds like a good cohort from this year's applicants are headed on over to Duke. A GC meet-up sounds great to me!

[MsBOOM]

Hey guys, I am here to let you know that I have been accepted into Duke!

A short section for random excitement typing:

kdshkeg;w oiw hoi vrohivw o vwnocw no vwoin f2jp cg

eqrqeqerqeylkjqegrijqeggihcw iw iwoi hw higjqegljqeggrljkqegrjklqegrkjl

Ok now that that is over with I hope to see many of you at Duke and meet the rest of you perhaps via AAR/SBL meetings! Soooooooooo excited.

YES, YES, YES!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! esoFJE

FUE#U@w@!!!!

[drechie]

For students just coming out of college planning on either entering into m.Div/MTS/MA programs... is your proficiency in a language critical in your application? should we focus on languages that we hope to pursue in grad school? or is the language thing not a big deal?

[Balatro]

For students just coming out of college planning on either entering into m.Div/MTS/MA programs... is your proficiency in a language critical in your application? should we focus on languages that we hope to pursue in grad school? or is the language thing not a big deal?

It honestly depends on the program/degree, school, and field.

Language requirements for an MDiv (as an applicant) is almost completely unheard of - sure Christian based schools will generally require Greek and/or Hebrew during the program, but not before acceptance. Harvard on the other hand just requires 3 semesters (I could be wrong on the required semesters) in a single language (You can use anything from French, to Aramaic, to Tibetan, and anything inbetween).

For an MA, it depends on the strength of the department/school, imo - HYP, Chicago, etc generally expect some language experience applying for an MA but it doesn't have to be overboard, probably 2+ years worth in the major language(s) would show that you're a serious applicant. Most colleges seem to offer official courses or an independent study in Greek and/or Hebrew. Even more schools offer French and German which a reading level in one or both languages (esp. for PhD programs) will be required. Some fields within religious studies if you're interested in a PhD are going the route of multiple MAs - it's becoming more and more common for PhD students to have completed 2-3 MAs before they're accepted (it's not the norm, sure - but the rate of such students seems to be increasing).

Most schools won't permit a student to enter into a MST without having completed an MDiv or equivalent first, so presumably there is already a language foundation.

[drechie]

Great - thank you so much for your information. How valuable / interesting would a candidate with Greek experience be, compared with, Latin, or Arabic for the rigorous Chicago or HDS? Are there certain languages that are more unique and will always grasp an admin's attention that most students simply dont have any experience with?

[Balatro]

Great - thank you so much for your information. How valuable / interesting would a candidate with Greek experience be, compared with, Latin, or Arabic for the rigorous Chicago or HDS? Are there certain languages that are more unique and will always grasp an admin's attention that most students simply dont have any experience with?

That depends entirely on what you want to study (field of study, time period, etc) and what degree (I assume you're more interested in the MA?). If you're wanting to study say Early Christianity - Greek and Latin will be more important than Arabic (generally) and Greek would hold more importance than Latin (again, generally speaking).

It's my opinion that studying Greek on an undergraduate level gets more attention than Latin only because Latin is still fairly commonly taught in schools (I'm referring to public schools specifically), so some of the people who study it in college got the foundation in HS and just kept with it. Whereas, the students who take Greek in college are generally self-selecting, that is, they studied it because of a genuine interest and it's usually important to their major and/or career prospects. I don't mean to imply that the kids who go from HS to college and stick with Latin aren't doing the same but they obviously have an advantage over Freshman level Greek students.

Really, it's hard to answer the question without knowing what you're interested in studying further. Yes, Greek and Latin are helpful but they won't be if say your aim is to study Religion in Americas, for example.

[DivSkool]

Great - thank you so much for your information. How valuable / interesting would a candidate with Greek experience be, compared with, Latin, or Arabic for the rigorous Chicago or HDS? Are there certain languages that are more unique and will always grasp an admin's attention that most students simply dont have any experience with?

I posted about language prep in the other thread about Chicago specifically, but just as an NB for if you're thinking of pursuing the MA at Chicago - one of the requirements of the MA program is that you pass the university reading exams in either French or German, in addition to strengthening whatever languages you'll need in your chosen field. I honestly don't know anybody in the current cohort who came in without significant background in the languages they would need, especially in Islamic Studies and History of Religions. Also pretty much everyone I know is spending their summer picking up an additional language that is relevant to their field of study.

[drechie]

Hey Divskool - actually your post in the chicago thread prompted me to post my question here. Thank you again for your awesome insight, it is much appreciated. I wanted to follow up with the FLAS scholarships/funding - do you know any general information about this...and how competitive these might be to receive? It seems like I would pursue a track geared towards one of these languages if there is a good chance for funding. Thanks again!

[Balatro]

FLAS Fellowships are rather competitive to come by but this in large part depends on the school, the competition, the language being studied, etc.

Getting a FLAS Fellowship to study Modern Greek is definitely doable, but graduate programs in religious studies are going to be more interested in your familiarity with Koine Greek. Latin is probably out of the question entirely since FLAS Fellowships are (I believe) only given for the study of modern languages and area studies.

Arabic is claimed as the language a lot and would be a possibility, again though your studies would probably be pretty strictly limited to modern times.

I'm getting the impression that you aren't really sure what you're interested in studying, would this be correct?

Edited July 29, 2012 by Balatro

[drechie]

Yes - I'm expecting to apply to M.Div programs, and didnt' realize I would have to draft my application geared toward a specific track. I have been very much interested in the wide array of courses I have taken, covering many different fields of a typical undergrad R.S program. Of course, if there was a track that typically had more chance for funding, I would pursue that as finances are really what is the final determining factor between me and div. school/seminary.

[drechie]

Also - what are the general differences between M.Div and M.A applicants? Is one more rigorous than the other, in terms of academics or tacit prerequisites?

[Balatro]

Yes - I'm expecting to apply to M.Div programs, and didnt' realize I would have to draft my application geared toward a specific track. I have been very much interested in the wide array of courses I have taken, covering many different fields of a typical undergrad R.S program. Of course, if there was a track that typically had more chance for funding, I would pursue that as finances are really what is the final determining factor between me and div. school/seminary.

Harvard doesn't require you to outline the courses or a plan of study you plan to undertake - they do require you to submit an essay though, which is really more of a "Why do you feel the call to an MDiv and why ours." When I did it a couple years back, I used it as more of a personal reflection essay and it seemed to go well. Harvard only requires an abstract of courses from ThD applicants. I can't speak for Chicago since their MDiv program is a bit funky nowadays.

If you're looking for an MDiv that will prepare you for graduate school (further study - PhD), I'd stick with places like Harvard, Yale, Union, Duke, Vanderbilt, Claremont, Chicago, and maybe 2-3 others if you had a geographical preference. I know Harvard, Yale, and Duke are VERY generous with financial aid - every student I knew at Yale was given at least a 50% tuition waiver and a lot of us were given free rides.

Also - what are the general differences between M.Div and M.A applicants? Is one more rigorous than the other, in terms of academics or tacit prerequisites?

Coming into the program, more is expected of an MA applicant than an MDiv since the MA is entirely academic whereas the MDiv can go either way (academic or 'service') so the MDiv requirements/expectations are a little lower. This is in some part due to MAs are required to do in 1-2 years what an MDiv does in 3, but in the MDiv program there are so many electives that creating an MDiv program with an academic nature is easy to accomplish and becoming more and more common.

Getting into a MA program is much harder than an MDiv at any school I listed (save Chicago) - I'd say acceptance rates for the MA are somewhere around 20% and the MDiv has commonly fluctuated between 30-50%. Funding for an MA is usually significantly lower than the MDiv too.

[Balatro]

Add PTS to that list of div schools that prepare students for further PhD work - amazing school and resources, I just overlooked it when haphazardly penning the reply before I had to head into the lab.