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Ph.D. applications 2014-2015 chit chat


seroteamavi

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Were you the American Religious History "Interview" on the results page? 

I haven't heard anything yet from Yale (i'm Judaic Studies subfield), but I also spoke to half the department on the phone in Nov/Dec so I don't even know if they would request an additional interview, if interested (they told me just to write in my SOP that I spoke to them on the phone). 

Trends-wise, according to the results page, they seem to be all over the place with interviews and acceptances. Btw, they told me that they don't do acceptances by subfield anymore because they found that they were excluding some more-qualified candidates. They do it by professor nomination then by rankings. Good luck! Yale is my first choice. :)

Edited by Aubstopper
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Hi Aubstopper- yea, that was me. Yale is also my first choice! I've had some previous interactions with the professor who e-mailed me and who I hope to work with. I wish she gave me a date and time for the interview, I am on pins and needles! She even said "I apologize for the brevity of this note." Totally weird. 

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o...mg..... I can NOT believe it ..... I was accepted.... and they nominated me for the university-wide fellowship ........ I am BESIDE MYSELF...................... !!!

Congratulations! UCSB is also my top school (though for American Religion), and I'm curious about the details of your application/ their timeline for response. Could you PM me if you get the chance?

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Is it like the difference between Harvard divinity and Harvard GSAS?

Just for clarification, for the purposes of doctoral work at Harvard going forward, there is only Harvard GSAS. HDS has put the kibosh on the ThD and all future students go through GSAS.

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How does Cambridge divinity differ from the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies for the student of Islamic studies? Can one apply to both? Is there a difference in funding for international students?

 

Is it like the difference between Harvard divinity and Harvard GSAS?

 

Thanks!

I'm think they're different departments all together, so totally different candidates and funding processes. But this is just my guess :)

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I noticed some Emory news back in late Jan. Does no news at this point mean rejection? I ask because of the 4 posts, (3 of which are interviews), 2 were NT, and the other two didn't indicate subfield. Should we think that all of Emory's interviews have gone out? Or that they only went out for NT? Thanks!!!

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I noticed some Emory news back in late Jan. Does no news at this point mean rejection? I ask because of the 4 posts, (3 of which are interviews), 2 were NT, and the other two didn't indicate subfield. Should we think that all of Emory's interviews have gone out? Or that they only went out for NT? Thanks!!!

 

I believe that all of the interviews have gone out, but this doesn't necessarily mean that you have been rejected.

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I believe that all of the interviews have gone out, but this doesn't necessarily mean that you have been rejected.

Thanks, stevenmarq. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how could the first not imply the second? Do schools that interview ever accept people they didn't interview? I always thought they interviewed their shortlist?

 

Or are you indicating that I could be on their waitlist, and if their yield is low, they might take me, or something?

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Hi rlg, I got an Emory interview and I am not in NT. If they make me an offer I might not take it... so you're still in the running!

Congratulations! Best of luck in your decision-making.

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Thanks, stevenmarq. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how could the first not imply the second? Do schools that interview ever accept people they didn't interview? I always thought they interviewed their shortlist?

 

Or are you indicating that I could be on their waitlist, and if their yield is low, they might take me, or something?

Here is what Emory states on its website:

 

"Official notification for admission to the GDR is April 15. Every effort is made, however, to notify applicants of their acceptance as soon as possible. The chairs of the Courses of Study to which applicants apply will contact them during late January or early February inviting them to our annual recruitment weekend.  It should be noted, however, that an invitation to recruitment weekend does not guarantee admission, nor does the absence of an invitation mean an applicant has been denied admission.

 

Applicants who have not been invited to our annual recruitment weekend will be notified as early as possible that their applications are still under consideration. Applicants who cannot be accepted are normally notified in late February or early March."

 

The top applicants are invited to the recruitment weekend, but Emory may decide that it does not want to offer make an offer of admission to all of these top applicants. Additionally, interviewed candidates may take other offers, and this would open up more spots. If you have not heard anything yet it is probably an indication that they did not consider you to be a top applicant, but things could change over the next couple months.

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went to Columbia today for the religion department interview; they're very strong! great up and coming Islamic studies program. If anyone here has applied already, or is interested in applying for next year, PM me

Edited by doobiebrothers
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went to Columbia today for the religion department interview; they're very strong! great up and coming Islamic studies program. If anyone here has applied already, or is interested in applying for next year, PM me

I was accepted in '11 for the 2011-2012 season (and declined, to work) and my experience was that Columbia's program (especially in regards to modern Jewish Studies) is in a bit of a flux. It's nice to know that they're rebuilding, because the opportunities available there (taking classes at JTS and Barnard) are incredible. 

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I received an email today from a professor at Univ of Chicago asking me for a skype interview next week.  Does anyone know if PhD interviews at Univ of Chicago (div school) are competitive?  (That is, is this part of their narrowing down process or is it a "just to make sure" kind of thing?)  Thanks.

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Here is what Emory states on its website:

 

"Official notification for admission to the GDR is April 15. Every effort is made, however, to notify applicants of their acceptance as soon as possible. The chairs of the Courses of Study to which applicants apply will contact them during late January or early February inviting them to our annual recruitment weekend.  It should be noted, however, that an invitation to recruitment weekend does not guarantee admission, nor does the absence of an invitation mean an applicant has been denied admission.

 

Applicants who have not been invited to our annual recruitment weekend will be notified as early as possible that their applications are still under consideration. Applicants who cannot be accepted are normally notified in late February or early March."

 

The top applicants are invited to the recruitment weekend, but Emory may decide that it does not want to offer make an offer of admission to all of these top applicants. Additionally, interviewed candidates may take other offers, and this would open up more spots. If you have not heard anything yet it is probably an indication that they did not consider you to be a top applicant, but things could change over the next couple months.

Thanks! This is helpful and informative.

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I was accepted in '11 for the 2011-2012 season (and declined, to work) and my experience was that Columbia's program (especially in regards to modern Jewish Studies) is in a bit of a flux. It's nice to know that they're rebuilding, because the opportunities available there (taking classes at JTS and Barnard) are incredible. 

 

Agreed! First of all the Jewish studies courses (at least those offered this year) are off the charts, and include great stuff like judeo arabic and even judeo-persian! second of all they are actively trying to build their islamic studies strength, and Haider/Anidjar/Ivanyi/Ewing are wonderful, wonderful scholars and people. I went into the interview very skeptical, but I left re-arranging my school choices a bit. Who did you apply to work with? Anidjar?

Edited by doobiebrothers
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Lurker drawn in by the discussion of Judeo-Arabic at Columbia - my focus is Israel studies so I have an application in at NYU Hebrew and Judaic Studies/History, because that's where Israel studies is, and at Columbia MESAAS (with Gil Anidjar). Anyone else applying to either program? No idea if this thread is even the right place for NYU Hebrew/Judaic Studies applicants.

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I'm applying to work in comparative religion with Anidjar as my advisor. Have you met him? He's crazy intimidating! Brilliant. But scary.

 

on a happy note, it's february! by the end of this month we will all know our futures! I've been waiting my whole life for this month, it feels like.

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I haven't met him, but his writing makes me want to weep, it's so brilliant. We communicated a bit about MESAAS via email. My area of research is Middle Eastern and North African Jewry, so Anidjar is a useful advisor especially for theory, even if he hasn't written much specifically on my subject. He was supportive, if understated (understandably as I think MESAAS admits ~2 students a year), of my project, so I am looking forward to hearing decisions and having the stress of where I'll be the next five years off my back.

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I actually cried when I read  http://asiasociety.org/jew-arab-interview-gil-anidjar. We talked about it all day yesterday. He's even better in person. But like I said--very sharp, very sarcastic, very intimidating. My advice is that if you do get it, don't let him scare you--he will try!

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Lurker drawn in by the discussion of Judeo-Arabic at Columbia - my focus is Israel studies so I have an application in at NYU Hebrew and Judaic Studies/History, because that's where Israel studies is, and at Columbia MESAAS (with Gil Anidjar). Anyone else applying to either program? No idea if this thread is even the right place for NYU Hebrew/Judaic Studies applicants.

I applied to NYU's Dept of Hebrew/Judaic Studies but specifically for Hebrew Bible/Ancient Near East studies.  Have not heard anything yet.

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