Will I get in anywhere?

[ibn daoud]

Not looking for pity here, just a bit of help! I graduated from a top-ranked liberal arts school in the Midwest and studied English. After graduation, I moved to Cairo and worked as a journalist for three years, covering the Egyptian revolution (in English) for two different national newspapers. I recently moved back to the United States to go back to school for Islamic Studies.

But. I didn't try as hard as I should have in college. I graduated with a 3.14 overall (although my English GPA was about a 3.3). Our GPAs were weighted so any B counted as a 3, any A counted as a 4, and C as a 2, and so on. I only got two C's and they were both in courses I decided I didn't care about. I mostly got B+s and A-s. I know this is an issue when applying for grad school, as most the other applicants will have much better GPAs than me. I hope to spin this in my favor though, as I never really cared that much about studying until I realized exactly what I want to study (my religion).

I have taken two practice GREs and scored 160 verbal on both. During both, I only missed two questions on the first verbal section, but managed to miss four times as many on the last section. I'm not worried as much about my writing skills. My math scores were between 152 and 150. Ouch. I take the official GRE on January 5.

I'm working on my personal statements, which I enjoy. I love writing and think that I am pretty good at it, so without a doubt my personal statements will be the best part of my application and I am spending hours daily honing/rewriting/editing them. The bad part about this is that sometimes I go in circles... Like I am now.

I'm applying to a couple of different programs:
Union Theological Seminary* (my first choice as I am fascinated with Dr James Cone's Black liberation theology)
Harvard Divinity School (obviously a longshot? right? but they have a great program, resources, and Leila Ahmed's work is incredible...)
Detroit Mercy (they have a new Islamic Studies program, more of a safety I think)
Temple (Khalid Blankinship works here, and he is one of the best American scholars of the religion. He is also, like me, a convert to Islam)
Columbia (I won't get in here, but I love Lila Abu-Lughod's work and was greatly inspired by Edward Said's post-colonial critical theory in college)

*I am applying for the priority deadline

I do have some interesting things going for me, I think. I'm a convert, I was able to witness three years of history firsthand while in Cairo, and wrote a thesis as a senior that critiqued the Egyptian revolution through the writing of Frantz Fanon and the Sunnah. I'm (heavily) editing that now. I also studied creative writing and write a lot for fun, so I'm hoping that my writing ability makes my application stand out. I was also president of the Muslim Students' Association in college. And I volunteered quite a bit while living in Ecuador. And I speak three languages fluently.

What I would like to know is what my chances are for acceptance at any of these schools. What kind of suggestions do you have? Are there other schools to which you think I should apply? Should I give up and try and find a research position to boost my CV and study to boost my GRE scores? Am I just hopeless?

Thank you all for your time and help!

 

[xypathos]

What specifically are you applying for?

Union has M* and PhD programs, Harvard Divinity confers MDiv and an MA but PhD falls under CSR, and I can't really say anything about Detroit Mercy, Temple, or Columbia. I'm assuming that you're applying for Masters degrees across the board?

Your GPA will raise some questions but don't sell yourself short on your firsthand experience in Cairo! 160 GRE V isn't going to cut it for Harvard or Columbia come PhD time but it will certainly survive any cutoffs for the MA though may still be a bit low for Columbia's median. 30-50% of applicants get accepted to Harvard and Union (for their MDiv!) so don't worry too much about that.

I don't know about Hartford's options at the M* level but I've been to conferences with some of their PhD students working in Islamic and Christianity dialogue - good strong group of students. Might be worth it to take a look at them if it's not too late.

[ibn daoud]

First of all, thank you for such a quick reply!

Secondly, sorry I didn't specify programs in my first post! I am applying for MA/MTS programs across the board. I do not feel near qualified enough to start a PhD, and on top of that I'm not sure of the exact topic I would want to study. I want to explore a number of topics, like law, the Quran itself, the Hadith, but also dynamic topics like the lives of Muslims in America or the role of Islamic values in resisting oppression (this is why Union is really interesting- they have a long history of liberation theology that I find fascinating) during an MA to make sure I know what I want to study.

I am applying for MA's at Columbia, Detroit Mercy, Union, and Temple, while applying for an MTS at HDS. Harvard would be my second (first?) choice because of the ability to take a number of different courses outside of the Divinity School, so I could take creative writing courses or photography courses or try and learn how to do ethnographic work.

I had looked at Hartford Seminary a while ago, but it was before I fully understood that just because it calls itself a seminary doesn't mean I can't learn about Islam. They have an Islamic Chaplaincy degree which looks incredibly interesting, and also focuses on Muslim-Christian relations which is not only neat but incredibly important in this day and age. Thanks for that suggestion!

Regardless, I will march forward! I really hope to be able to up my GRE scores at least two points, and will keep taking practice tests and working on my statements.

[jsant09]

Speaking to your undergraduate GPA, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I was pretty similar to you in that I was not as invested in my academic work as an undergrad and never foresaw myself continuing my education, and graduated with a 3.1 GPA.  Regardless, I got into both schools I applied to, one of which was Vanderbilt, with pretty decent funding at that. From my experience, what matters more is writing an excellent statement that lets them know why you fit in their program. 

[JessicaLange]

I know that this isn't what you want to hear, but we can't tell you. You might get in and you might not. The program might not be accepting as many people the year you apply. They might think that your Statement of Purpose doesn't really fall in line with their research specialties. Your writing sample, if you have to have one, might not be well received. There are way too many factors and nobody on here can give you a guarantee. But! I don't see anything in what you've said here that completely puts you out of the running. I absolutely think that you should go for it and c'est la vie, you know?

One word of caution: I was consistently getting 162s on my GRE practice tests and then the day of the test I tensed up and got a 157, which is fine, but it was so far below what I wanted. I retook the test and was able to do even better than my practice scores, but I was only able to do that because I had enough time to. I don't know when your applications are due, but I'm assuming March? Maybe? I would take the test sooner and give yourself cushion time in case you need to retake it. Of course, if it's already too late, then just really make sure you don't psych yourself out during the test. Deep breaths and calming thoughts and all of that. Good Luck!

[Averroes MD]

Have you considered Hartford Seminary?

[ibn daoud]

Just now, Averroes MD said:

Have you considered Hartford Seminary?

I have, applications aren't due until mid-summer, so I'm focusing on Union, UChicago Divinity (forgot to add this one!), Harvard, and the others. I'm interested in their Chaplaincy degree, since I would like to be an imam (yarabb!), but I do not want to give myself too many applications to do at the same time, especially if I'm still studying for the GRE too...

[ibn daoud]

11 hours ago, JessicaLange said:

I know that this isn't what you want to hear, but we can't tell you. You might get in and you might not. The program might not be accepting as many people the year you apply. They might think that your Statement of Purpose doesn't really fall in line with their research specialties. Your writing sample, if you have to have one, might not be well received. There are way too many factors and nobody on here can give you a guarantee. But! I don't see anything in what you've said here that completely puts you out of the running. I absolutely think that you should go for it and c'est la vie, you know?

One word of caution: I was consistently getting 162s on my GRE practice tests and then the day of the test I tensed up and got a 157, which is fine, but it was so far below what I wanted. I retook the test and was able to do even better than my practice scores, but I was only able to do that because I had enough time to. I don't know when your applications are due, but I'm assuming March? Maybe? I would take the test sooner and give yourself cushion time in case you need to retake it. Of course, if it's already too late, then just really make sure you don't psych yourself out during the test. Deep breaths and calming thoughts and all of that. Good Luck!

I appreciate your response nonetheless! I understand that members here cannot tell anyone whether or not they will get into schools, and it is simply a waiting game once applications are due. I'm paying very careful attention to professors, their specialties, and how they align with my interests. Then I'm researching courses and projects undertaken (UChicago Divinity MDiv is so cool for this reason, I would get to spend over a year and a half working in a mosque with an imam), connecting the dots, making sure what I want to do is feasible at the institution I want to attend. Like you said, I should go for it.

I was supposed to take the test today, but freak snowstorms lead the office to reschedule all the exams (without notification). I rescheduled for the soonest available date, next Tuesday, and will have an opportunity to take it once again just before applications are due (mid-January!). I am also taking another practice test (online) Friday.

You're most certainly right about psyching myself out. I panicked hard on the second Verbal section and ended up getting frustrated and missing the last six questions of the section. 

Thanks again for the response! This was sort of a venting exercise as I reached a bit of a low point yesterday with all this stress. I have a full-time job outside of this stuff so it's hard to balance sometimes, but I'm excited and looking forward to the future and trusting in God to give me what is right for me!

[ibn daoud]

17 hours ago, jsant09 said:

Speaking to your undergraduate GPA, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I was pretty similar to you in that I was not as invested in my academic work as an undergrad and never foresaw myself continuing my education, and graduated with a 3.1 GPA.  Regardless, I got into both schools I applied to, one of which was Vanderbilt, with pretty decent funding at that. From my experience, what matters more is writing an excellent statement that lets them know why you fit in their program. 

I'm glad I've devoted so much time (and so many pages of notes!) to this then! I think I am a good fit for these programs, so all I need to do is put it into words. Thankfully I'm not too scared to attempt that!