PhD Applications Fall '17 Season

[Marcion]

1 hour ago, Rabbit Run said:

ThMs seem to me to be dependent on what you put into it. People I know who've been intentional about getting to know professors early (over the summer), for instance, seem to do very well on the whole. I see this all the time in my school's Th.M. program.

 

Exactly. 

[seung]

Anyone here know anything about the funding at Union Theological Seminary in nyc? I know they only give 4 years, but wondering if it provides a stipend that allows you to survive in the city.

[NT PhD ... Hopefully]

8 hours ago, brentthewalrus said:

I'm finishing up a Th.M at Calvin Seminary right now. I think they're definitely helpful, but the criticisms stand: no funding (I received a meagre 5k grant) and no time to get to know professors (Finishing in one year, I basically was pleading for LORs after a month, it was awkward as hell).

 

Congrats on TEDS acceptance. Have you heard anything back about funding?

No, no word on funding. TEDS told me they do offer up to 50% funding for the degree. I also have a little GI Bill money left, so it might not be too expensive. 

[NT PhD ... Hopefully]

2 hours ago, Rabbit Run said:

Seriously looked at ThM's when I was in waitlist limbo as well. Hold out hope! (But good on you for also making contingency plans!)

ThMs seem to me to be dependent on what you put into it. People I know who've been intentional about getting to know professors early (over the summer), for instance, seem to do very well on the whole. I see this all the time in my school's Th.M. program.

A piece of advice I've heard from others is to do your Th.M. at the school where you'd want to do you PhD. Theres quite of few people in my program who did this, don't know of many who did a M* at school A, a ThM at school B, and then went to do a PhD at school C. 

I second the Yale STM re funding. I think Emory/Candler's ThM has funding available as well. Western Seminary as well. Princeton Seminary has a low sticker price as well that might be an option. (There was a flyer someone posted at my school last year about this time listing schools that had funded ThM's that I'll try and track down).

Also, I've known some people who've started their ThM in the Spring semester to get around the whole "meet professors and ask them to write for you within a couple months game." This way they had a whole semester of completed work under their belt in addition to the about half a Fall Semester other ThMs are scrambling with. Of course, this gives you a timeline that might not be workable, but worth considering.

Right. I applied for the PhD. The grad director told me, essentially, that the committee felt my MDiv preparation was not sufficient, and that the ThM would serve as a bridge to their PhD program. Barring something else, that sounds like it's going to be the plan. Still waiting on official word from others though. 

[Almaqah Thwn]

i got rejected by rice! my roommate was handing me his leftovers, when I grabbed it and it fell all over the floor. and, this on the heels of my top school choice rejecting me this week!

 

_{I'm sorry I use humor to cope with the hard realities of the graduate school process.} 

Edited February 18, 2017 by Almaqah Thwn

[OneLastHope]

On 2/17/2017 at 5:33 AM, seung said:

Just heard from POI @ Yale. Though being recommended for admission, I was ultimately not admitted by the graduate school. Very disappointed. the thing I don't know is if I've been rejected or waitlisted.

That's a nightmare. So sorry. ?

[Marcion]

1 hour ago, seung said:

Anyone here know anything about the funding at Union Theological Seminary in nyc? I know they only give 4 years, but wondering if it provides a stipend that allows you to survive in the city.

It doesn't. My friends are Union have struggled since day one due to the lack of funding. It also seems to only be getting worse.

[Marcion]

57 minutes ago, Almaqah Thwn said:

i got rejected by rice! my roommate was handing me his leftovers, when I grabbed it and it fell all over the floor. and, this on the heels of my top school choice rejecting me this week!

 

_{I'm sorry I use humor to cope with the hard realities of the graduate school process.} 

Sorry mate...

[xypathos]

2 minutes ago, Marcion said:

It doesn't. My friends are Union have struggled since day one due to the lack of funding. It also seems to only be getting worse.

I can support this with my conversations with Dr. Dorrien. Several PhD students have been successful in securing housing in exchange for TA/RA'ing but that's about it since UTS has a glut of students right now. Apparently getting in isn't the hard part, it's balancing work in order to fund your studies.

[Marcion]

2 hours ago, seung said:

Anyone here know anything about the funding at Union Theological Seminary in nyc? I know they only give 4 years, but wondering if it provides a stipend that allows you to survive in the city.

The Seminary is going through tough times and the money seems to be a problem. Here is a brief write up from a few years ago. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/nyregion/as-union-theological-seminary-plans-to-sell-air-rights-some-see-a-moral-quandary.html

Edited February 18, 2017 by Marcion

[rheya19]

1 hour ago, Almaqah Thwn said:

i got rejected by rice! my roommate was handing me his leftovers, when I grabbed it and it fell all over the floor. and, this on the heels of my top school choice rejecting me this week!

 

_{I'm sorry I use humor to cope with the hard realities of the graduate school process.} 

Sucks! Sorry to hear that! 

[chaotic]

It seems BU School of Theology made their decision

[Marcion]

47 minutes ago, chaotic said:

It seems BU School of Theology made their decision

Anything from BU Arts and Sciences?

[rheya19]

3 minutes ago, Marcion said:

Anything from BU Arts and Sciences?

I'm still stressing about Harvard! Why are you starting with BU??

[Marcion]

6 minutes ago, rheya19 said:

I'm still stressing about Harvard! Why are you starting with BU??

Harvard should be end of next week I believe... no idea about BU. But I am not overly stressed over BU, I would take Rice over BU if the other do not let me in.

[turktheman]

19 minutes ago, Marcion said:

Anything from BU Arts and Sciences?

From the results page it looks like BU could very well be one of the last to make decisions. I've seen late February to the first couple of weeks of March.

[Calvin S]

It is so frustrating not knowing when you have a spouse who is waiting on your news too in order to find a job that in turn affects your budget for housing. And I'm wanting to make summer plans. Agh! 

[Marcion]

44 minutes ago, Calvin S said:

It is so frustrating not knowing when you have a spouse who is waiting on your news too in order to find a job that in turn affects your budget for housing. And I'm wanting to make summer plans. Agh! 

 

Truth.

[seung]

My colleagues and fellow sufferers and veterans: any advice for one trapped in the purgatory of the waitlist?

[Marcion]

1 hour ago, seung said:

My colleagues and fellow sufferers and veterans: any advice for one trapped in the purgatory of the waitlist?

Netflix and attempt to chill?

[Rabbit Run]

1 hour ago, seung said:

My colleagues and fellow sufferers and veterans: any advice for one trapped in the purgatory of the waitlist?

Rejoice! Applications are super competitive and you've made it far enough to be considered near the top of the pile. This is an affirmation of your promise.

Looks like you're waitlisted at 2 places, and have yet to hear from several places. This is good news. The pool of top applicants is surprisingly small. For instance: someone accepting an offer at a school you got rejected from may bump someone off the waitlist at on you're waitlisted at, they'll accept, and that'll bump you off the waitlist at the other school you're waitlisted at. All I'm saying, is that multiple waitlistings makes more likely things will fall out in your favor once people start accepting offers (which it may be too early for since some big schools haven't released yet).

Conversely, don't put too much stock in the waitlists. Make contingency plans. Prepare for the worst.

All in all, being waitlisted isn't ideal, but its a dang good place to be.

[geezlaweez]

Welp, it's a little late to join the party but I'm here in what I hope is the final week of waiting. In at Northwestern. Waiting to hear from Princeton. They should grant some kind of special leave for students waiting for responses. I've had a masterfully incoherent and unproductive semester. You all have my sympathies.

[geezlaweez]

 

On ‎2‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 10:17 AM, seung said:

Anyone here know anything about the funding at Union Theological Seminary in nyc? I know they only give 4 years, but wondering if it provides a stipend that allows you to survive in the city.

Others have already answered: No.

Still, UTS is a school one might strongly consider attending without excellent funding. Both my current advisor and one of my potential advisors did and are now doing the thing getting a PhD is supposed to do. Luckily, because they know that their funding is insufficient, they are far less suspicious of people doing other kinds of work (which might increase the flexibility of the kinds of jobs to which you might apply on graduation). I know at least one person who worked as a hospital chaplain to fund their studies and who felt that it overwhelmingly enriched the quality of their academic work/reflection (despite *not* being in a practical/applied subfield). They are now faculty at a Pretty Snazzy Divinity School. Obviously not everyone would have been able to sustain the precarity involved in surviving long enough in the program to finish. (They may have had a working spouse, not sure.)

Edited February 19, 2017 by geezlaweez

[xypathos]

3 hours ago, seung said:

My colleagues and fellow sufferers and veterans: any advice for one trapped in the purgatory of the waitlist?

I just received a shipment of Herr's ketchup potato chips, courtesy of my partner. They're my guilty pleasure for when I visit Canada and she knew I was pretty stressed waiting for notifications so she thought this would help.

Glad to share while we click F5 in unison!

[axiomness]

9 hours ago, Rabbit Run said:

Rejoice! Applications are super competitive and you've made it far enough to be considered near the top of the pile. This is an affirmation of your promise.

Looks like you're waitlisted at 2 places, and have yet to hear from several places. This is good news. The pool of top applicants is surprisingly small. For instance: someone accepting an offer at a school you got rejected from may bump someone off the waitlist at on you're waitlisted at, they'll accept, and that'll bump you off the waitlist at the other school you're waitlisted at. All I'm saying, is that multiple waitlistings makes more likely things will fall out in your favor once people start accepting offers (which it may be too early for since some big schools haven't released yet).

Conversely, don't put too much stock in the waitlists. Make contingency plans. Prepare for the worst.

All in all, being waitlisted isn't ideal, but its a dang good place to be.

4

Thanks for this. I'm on 4 waitlists right now (out of 23 applications), which kills me. It would just be nice to have at least one acceptance, I got on two last year (out of 12 applications) and neither of those panned out. The feeling that you're a very "almost good" scholar is strange and confusing.