Rankings (Overall, By Sub-Discipline, etc.)

[pcato1]

Hi Everyone,

 

As people start to hear back (or begin preparing for Fall 2016 applications), I was wondering if anyone knew of resources regarding or had general knowledge of rankings for religious studies programs - whether overall, by discipline, degree, etc.

 

I know religious studies is a very diverse/complex field of study, but I know that if/when I narrow down my list of choices rankings will have to play some role, but I haven't found a place to turn. I found the following websites from NRC but they are old (one is from 1995! - it just now hit me that that was 20 years ago!), and I'd love any help with this aspect going forward.

 

Thanks a lot!

[Maccabeus]

What subfield are you interested in? Any list of "best" religion programs is going to have a bias, so you always have to keep that in mind when looking at these lists.

[pcato1]

Oh of course1 I don't know why I left that out: 19th-20th continental philosophy of religion/religious thought/theology

[Lux Lex Pax]

When someone poses a question like this, it's almost inevitable that people will shill for their own programs. So beware.

There's this: http://chronicle.com/article/nrc-religion/124664/

I believe the info there is the most up-to-date; it's the most recent - the data was gathered in 2005-06, though.

Also, rankings are pretty meaningless unless you specify your criteria and the relative weight you want to give each one. What do you care about and how much: prestige, funding, quality of faculty, faculty support and investment in grad student formation, job prospects, methodology, philosophical commitments, departmental collegiality, subject matter specialization, theology versus religion program etc. All these matter. But they'll matter to a different extent for everyone. You have to figure that out for yourself. If you give us some of this information, maybe we can help you figure it out.

[pcato1]

As I've already applied to most of my programs and am now simply waiting to hear back I guss my central concern is prestige – though information on "faculty support and investment in grad student formation," "methodology," "philosophical commitments," and "departmental collegiality" would be very helpful as well.

 

I'm sorry for asking such a broad question, but right after I got my first acceptance I turned back into a cynic and began to worry about the program's prestige and such, even though I knew it to be a great fit (I also still need to hear back from the other 12 schools I applied to haha).

 

Thanks a lot!

[xypathos]

I'd wait til you hear back from all of your programs before worrying too much.

 

Coincidentally, Dr. Byrd at VDS gave a talk to interested PhD applicants this morning about applying. His advice as a former student - wait til every offer comes in and then look at two things: 1) Prestige: Will the reputation of this school and my advisor(s) strengthen me in an already rough job market, and 2) funding.

 

He did stress though that as applications start coming in, if you get a second acceptance that is better than a previous one, extend that lesser regarded school some professional courtesy and let them know that you're declining the offer. Nothing irritates a school more than finding out that a student had 2+ offers and didn't notify them until April 15, and now they have to cross their fingers that an alternate is available or simply not admit someone in the field because an accepted student waited til the last minute to notify them that they're not taking the offer.

 

So grats on your acceptance pcato1! Just hang out til at least one more acceptance comes in, and if it's better or worse (presuming it's a clear distinction), notify the school you won't be attending

[Kuriakos]

Placement is what really matters.

[GREman]

Hi Everyone,

 

As people start to hear back (or begin preparing for Fall 2016 applications), I was wondering if anyone knew of resources regarding or had general knowledge of rankings for religious studies programs - whether overall, by discipline, degree, etc.

 

I know religious studies is a very diverse/complex field of study, but I know that if/when I narrow down my list of choices rankings will have to play some role, but I haven't found a place to turn. I found the following websites from NRC but they are old (one is from 1995! - it just now hit me that that was 20 years ago!), and I'd love any help with this aspect going forward.

 

Thanks a lot!

 

The link Lux Lex Pax posted is as close ass you can get to a ranking system. The problem with ranking religious studies programs is it is pretty much impossible to do. The field is simply too big and, if you begin including institutions that do more confessional work, you have to think about the spectrum of theological viewpoints represented in rankings. For these reasons, rankings have largely been dismissed as being meaningful ways to measure program quality.

 

The real key is probably, for you as the student, how much the program covers your tuition and living expenses. Tuition + Stipend = Top Tier (with few exceptions). Research output on the part of the professors is also important and can be reflected in rankings, but even that isn't necessarily the case since your POI will have her/his own particular rate of publications.

The real key, and here I agree with Kuriakos, is placement. Every doctoral program will have other institutions within its networks where its graduates often end up. The goal is to end up in the right network.