Duke, Virginia, Fuller PhD/ThD, what matters?

[mamastudent]

Positives, perhaps but maybe not?

-Christian College, not Wheaton, magna cum laude (the magna part, at least)

-BA in Biblical and Theological Studies

-non-degree coursework in ancient languages and theology at a seminary and Catholic university

-A.M. from the Religion Dept at Duke

-great references

-a topic that a few advisors have shown interest in

-proficiency in Hebrew, background in Greek, Spanish, and German

Negatives, or weird things

-My degree at Duke was a 2 year degree. I thought I wanted to go into the area of early Judaism / Christianity but realized half way through I was much more interested in theology. Audited several classes, went on to take more theology coursework. Oh my kingdom to go back and do the MDiv. There is a lot of overlap between Religion and Div at Duke. Will the AM be a negative?

-The first year at Duke, the Religion Dept was still on a non-traditional grading system. They only had 3 grades, something like E, A, and G. The second year they switched over to regular grades. So I have no GPA. And my transcript looks CRAZY! weird, weird, weird.

-610 verbal. I know most programs say the cutoff is 600 but in reality they toss anyone under 700. Retake? I'm sure you'll say retake. But....

Other considerations

-I'm a stay at home mom now. The app process is already a financial toll on my family. There will be no getting an extra degree to boost my appeal. I'm going to apply this year, and that's it, not because I don't want it badly, but because my family can't be in limbo for multiple years.

-I'd like to use my degree in the service of the L'Arche community, both as a pastoral presence and writing about what we do. Fuller and Duke ThD feel like the best fit for this reason. I'm much more interested in going to a place that best prepares me for the work of thinking and expressing theology of disability than just getting in somewhere. Because of this I'm thinking about nixing Vandy, BC, and possibly Emory from my list and sticking to only Virginia, Fuller, and Duke. Thoughts?

Final thoughts

-Do programs have an interest in older, non-traditional, mama students? Or is the committee blind to these kinds of demographics?

This is probably too long to hold anyone's interest but at least it was cathartic.....

[Thanks4Downvoting]

I can only answer a tiny part of your question. From what I understand, the programs you are interested in are also interested in your non-traditional status. In fact, it might turn into a boon rather than a burden! I wish you the best of luck and can promise that there are people on this forum who can give you all the answers you seek (well, about the application process anyway lol)