How feasible are my options?

[AGingeryGinger]

Hi all!

This is my first post on the grad cafe site, and with it being that time of year for applying to graduate school I thought I would ask about how feasible my options are for the schools I am applying to.

I am applying to the MDiv programs at: Yale, U of Chicago, Emory, Harvard, Vanderbilt, and Asbury Theological.

I will have a B.A. from Miami University in History and Comparative Religion-University Honors, Departmental History Honors, and Departmental Religion Honors.

Although my overall GPA is a 3.68, my History Major GPA is a 3.80 and Religion Major GPA is a 4.0. I have also won several research grants and currently am working on the completion of a 100 page senior honors thesis covering the development of the concept of religious heresy in 1520s England.

My GRE scores are average: Verbal (149) 41%, quantitative (140) 08%, and Writing (5.5) 98%. However only Harvard and U of Chicago require the GRE.

Although I plan on eventually entering the Ministry in some form later in life (which is why i chose the MDiv), the language requirements and overall intensiveness of the MDiv i have been told is a good preparation for PhD programs.

In extra-curriculars I am currently the Coordinator for the Comparative Religion Student Group at Miami, Pastoral Care worker at a local hospital.

 

With all these in mind, would my GRE be too much of a dissuasion at Harvard or U of Chicago? My goal is Yale University, however I am not certain how possible it would be to get accepted.

 

Thanks!

Edited October 12, 2015 by AGingeryGinger

[dr. t]

Your GREs are pretty low. The MDiv tends to have a pretty favorable acceptance rate, though, so you may be fine.

Your GREs are low enough that they will probably hurt you for PhD apps.

[xypathos]

Don't bother sending GRE scores to Vandy or Emory (pretty sure Emory doesn't ask for them). Neither school asks for them and honestly, a 149V isn't going to come across as good unless you're an URM with English being a 2nd or 3rd language.

MDiv acceptance at Chicago is quite low. I use to have an email from the Director that had the actual breakdown of applicants and acceptances but from what I recall, it's 75 applications and they shoot for roughly 12 people that will actually enroll. So, they accept around 18 or so.

You'll get in somewhere but if you want to do PhD work, you're going to have to get your V and Q score up another 10-15 points, each.

[AGingeryGinger]

Thank you both for the advise. 

When i apply for PhD programs I should have my GRE much higher by then. However since programs such as Emory, Vanderbilt, and Yale don't require it it gives me more time until I absolutely have to take it.

Other than the school's requiring the GRE, which I admit are a long shot, how well do you think my chances are at say Yale, Emory, or Vanderbilt?

Thanks again!

[xypathos]

If it's strictly a numbers game (since I don't know your story, essays, LORs) - I suspect you'll easily get in at Vandy and Emory. I suspect your chances at Yale are quite good too.