2010 Religion PhD Results

[philonic]

Here's pretty much verbatim what they sent me:

Dear John,

I'm writing to let you know that our admissions committee has met, and we were very impressed with your application. At this point, we have placed you on a short list for admission to our MA program, and we will let you know as soon as possible if we are able to make a formal offer of admission. If you are interested in visiting our Department, we are hosting a Campus Visit Day on Friday March 5th... etc, etc.

Best wishes,

Pamela Klassen

---------------------------------

Here's what I think it means: they sent these out to the people on the shortlist but, I think, only for the MA programme. I think they're doing this because they're not sure how many MA students they'll be able to admit and won't know until they have some idea how many of their PhD admits are going to accept, but they still want to give MA candidates who have an outside shot of being offered admission a chance to visit.

I don't think it would make any sense to tell PhD students that they're shortlisted for the reasons you mentioned. The only thing that blows my theory is the fact that someone posted on the Results page about being Wailisted for the PhD on the same day that I got my e-mail.

Hmm. That looks like wait-list language to me, but the timing is a bit odd. It doesn't seem like anyone has received an offer yet. All I can say is that it is odd that UT would send you such a vague message. I hope you get an admission letter soon!

[johndiligent]

Hmm. That looks like wait-list language to me, but the timing is a bit odd. It doesn't seem like anyone has received an offer yet. All I can say is that it is odd that UT would send you such a vague message. I hope you get an admission letter soon!

For sure. We'll all just have to wait it out, unfortunately.

[LisaTO]

For sure. We'll all just have to wait it out, unfortunately.

I got the same email regarding the MA program at UofT. A friend of mine who was admitted to the program last year thinks that it's strange. My Professors over at St. Mike's were not sure what it means either.

[peppermint.beatnik]

I got the same email regarding the MA program at UofT. A friend of mine who was admitted to the program last year thinks that it's strange. My Professors over at St. Mike's were not sure what it means either.

lol, your response is funny.

[Sparky]

Wow.

I just got a really stunning acceptance from my top choice/dream/didn't think I had a shot/listed the application fee in my budget as "set money on fire and watch it turn pretty colors" program. I am floored, honored, and soooooo beyond excited.

(It is not a religion/theology/dept, so please none of you panic--none of the regular posters on the Religion board would have applied to this program, I 99.5% guarantee you--but I don't want to say where so as not to be the bearer of bad tidings for people on some of the other boards here).

[tenorcervantes]

I'm one of the Yale admits, in ancient Christianity! I got a call on Thursday night, and it sounded like decisions had just been made then.

I'm currently at the Notre Dame interview weekend, and have spoken to a few different people here who received offers from Marquette about a week ago. I'm surprised there is nothing on the results board yet, but it does sound like at least a first group of decisions have been made...

Wow!! Congratulations!! I'm definitely getting more anxious now to hear back from them!

[origenes]

Wow.

I just got a really stunning acceptance from my top choice/dream/didn't think I had a shot/listed the application fee in my budget as "set money on fire and watch it turn pretty colors" program. I am floored, honored, and soooooo beyond excited.

(It is not a religion/theology/dept, so please none of you panic--none of the regular posters on the Religion board would have applied to this program, I 99.5% guarantee you--but I don't want to say where so as not to be the bearer of bad tidings for people on some of the other boards here).

I think the whole point of this forum is that you bear good or bad tidings for people. It would be slightly ridiculous if everyone simply wrote, "Ohhhhhh, I got a letter in the mail with some information on it!"? So congratulations, but spare us the sympathy.

[johndiligent]

I got the same email regarding the MA program at UofT. A friend of mine who was admitted to the program last year thinks that it's strange. My Professors over at St. Mike's were not sure what it means either.

Glad to know I'm not the only one who got it! Good luck to you!

[katholou]

Waitlisted by SMU. I'm afraid there might be a lot of those.

[JMR0408]

Waitlisted by SMU. I'm afraid there might be a lot of those.

Wait lists are no fun at all... I see you're applying to IU-Bloomington for the MA. Have you heard anything yet? I'm doing PhD apps, but I assume they'll get back to us all at the same time at IU. I haven't heard a thing yet - and I'm really starting to sweat it, as all I have so far is a spot on a waitlist.

[Postbib Yeshuist]

Waitlisted by SMU. I'm afraid there might be a lot of those.

Same, but accepted to Iliff School of Theology (Religion and Social Change) and recommended for a high spot money-wise, so in with at least one school. Still waiting to hear from Drew.

interestingly enough, I applied to SMU's Religion and Culture Ph.D. where they'd "never had a Ph.D. student accepted" and still got wait-listed. Visited all the profs, had one review my SoP, etc. Had a friend who was outright rejected. Looks like SMU/Perkins is a tough one this year.

Edited March 2, 2010 by Postbib Yeshuist

[Postbib Yeshuist]

I just got an informal email from the program director at SMU saying I got in! I'm so excited! Supposedly an official letter of acceptance and funding info are already in the mail. I sure hope they're able to offer some special goodness funding-wise.

Knock 'em dead at Notre Dame this weekend, y'all. We're almost out of the woods.

Thumbnail, is that Dr. Wood?

Also, what program did you apply for? I was wait-listed for the "religion and Culture" program, even after fairly positive, in-person contacts with Wood and Reiger in the Fall.

[Postbib Yeshuist]

Hi there, I also applied to Drew's GDR doctoral program, but haven't heard anything. If you take a look at the results page from previous years, most of the acceptances for the PhD program were received in early/mid-March. I suspect they admit their masters-level applicants first and then make executive decisions about PhD applicants since they (or we, in this case) undergo a more thorough review process. That's my guess. The confirmation letters that we received weeks ago, as I recall, didn't indicate when exactly we would hear from them.

A friend of mine and I both applied for Drew and, when he called them, I believe he was told they were aiming to send out letters on/around March 1. Please don't hold me to that, since I wasn't the one on the phone, but that would jive with the early/mid-March hypothesis as well as the comment on their site that letters are usually sent early March...

Edited March 2, 2010 by Postbib Yeshuist

[peppermint.beatnik]

Same, but accepted to Iliff School of Theology (Religion and Social Change) and recommended for a high spot money-wise, so in with at least one school. Still waiting to hear from Drew.

interestingly enough, I applied to SMU's Religion and Culture Ph.D. where they'd "never had a Ph.D. student accepted" and still got wait-listed. Visited all the profs, had one review my SoP, etc. Had a friend who was outright rejected. Looks like SMU/Perkins is a tough one this year.

Postbib, did you apply to "Religion & Society" at Drew? If so, me too. Seems like a popular sub-field.

[Postbib Yeshuist]

Postbib, did you apply to "Religion & Society" at Drew? If so, me too. Seems like a popular sub-field.

I went Theo & Philo, which is interesting to me, since I went for "and social change" at Iliff and "and Culture" at SMU. Ariarajah and Keller were strong draws, though. Whether that will bode well for me is unclear. I more or less applied to Drew blind, and didn't contact the profs (I'm finishing a TH.M. this year, in addition to working full-time and raising a 1 year-old, so just completing three apps was nothing short of a miracle).

[peppermint.beatnik]

I went Theo & Philo, which is interesting to me, since I went for "and social change" at Iliff and "and Culture" at SMU. Ariarajah and Keller were strong draws, though. Whether that will bode well for me is unclear. I more or less applied to Drew blind, and didn't contact the profs (I'm finishing a TH.M. this year, in addition to working full-time and raising a 1 year-old, so just completing three apps was nothing short of a miracle).

You've got an admit, so far, and that's great! Good luck with Drew. Someone else, on the religion forum, said they're running a little behind this year. I'm an international student, so I'm cautiously optimistic of my chances at US schools.

[Postbib Yeshuist]

You've got an admit, so far, and that's great! Good luck with Drew. Someone else, on the religion forum, said they're running a little behind this year. I'm an international student, so I'm cautiously optimistic of my chances at US schools.

Thanks. And yeah, I saw that comment too. I'd just like to have an up or down so I can mentally prepare for one "destiny" or the other.

As for being an international student, I'm certainly not any acceptance committees, but I would agree that it does put you at a bit of an advantage. We here in the US tend to be a bit too... isolationist, so schools like Drew are aware of the need for voices from outside the US. The diversity of the faculty speaks to that, I believe. One of my profs in Th.M. is a Drew graduate and she hails from S. Korea, so I definitely think you've got a fighting chance there.

Edited March 2, 2010 by Postbib Yeshuist

[redreverend]

Wow.

I just got a really stunning acceptance from my top choice/dream/didn't think I had a shot/listed the application fee in my budget as "set money on fire and watch it turn pretty colors" program. I am floored, honored, and soooooo beyond excited.

(It is not a religion/theology/dept, so please none of you panic--none of the regular posters on the Religion board would have applied to this program, I 99.5% guarantee you--but I don't want to say where so as not to be the bearer of bad tidings for people on some of the other boards here).

Sparky,

would you like to share which school and field you were accepted to?

[redreverend]

I received two letters today. Rejected from SMU, Waitlisted at Baylor. Still waiting on Yale and Columbia.

[Satori]

With all the success reported here, perhaps its time to report a casualty. I got rejected from the last program that I applied to yesterday. So no grad school for me this Fall.

I'm currently trying to figure out which departments/schools its even worth bothering to apply to again next year. One of the most frustrating things about this process is how difficult it can be to get any useful information out of the schools. Many professors just simply don't answer emails and are never near the phone. I was told by one faculty member that I met in person about this as he said "...and you might take that as a good indication of who is and isn't going to be good to work with."

More than anything else, I just need to know if the decision was even close... and getting that information from the departments can be VERY difficult. What I want to know is, why? With something that you know is so critically important to someone else, is it really that much trouble to spend two minutes answering an email?

[Sparky]

Sparky,

would you like to share which school and field you were accepted to?

Well, of course I'm dying to. Notre Dame, for medieval studies. (I am sorry for yesterday's obfuscation--I had very legitimate concerns about a person I know in meatspace, who, I found out yesterday, has given up reading TGC for Lent).

Major congratulations to Febronia on Yale and Postbib on Iliff, and the weird congrats/good-luck to the SMU and Toronto waitlistees! (I am sure I am missing someone; congrats to you as well!)

Satori, my condolences. This is a really gross year, admissions-wise. Are there any funded M* programs whose deadlines haven't passed yet? Or maybe a yearlong intensive language program that could help your application for next time?

Good luck to everyone waiting on Drew! That is a terrific program; I hope it works out.

[redreverend]

Well, of course I'm dying to. Notre Dame, for medieval studies. (I am sorry for yesterday's obfuscation--I had very legitimate concerns about a person I know in meatspace, who, I found out yesterday, has given up reading TGC for Lent).

Major congratulations to Febronia on Yale and Postbib on Iliff, and the weird congrats/good-luck to the SMU and Toronto waitlistees! (I am sure I am missing someone; congrats to you as well!)

Satori, my condolences. This is a really gross year, admissions-wise. Are there any funded M* programs whose deadlines haven't passed yet? Or maybe a yearlong intensive language program that could help your application for next time?

Good luck to everyone waiting on Drew! That is a terrific program; I hope it works out.

Wow, congrats on Notre Dame!

[phd_aspirant]

congrats on Notre Dame, medieval studies! That's a great program! But its not the theology department right? I was there this weekend for the interview and they told us it would be later this week at the earliest that we'd know. Best of luck everyone else.

[keano1414]

has anyone heard anything about UVA yet?

[phd_aspirant]

I know they had sent out initial notifications. My potential advisor and I emailed and he told me I was on a waitlist--though I did not get an official letter about this (and I know someone who did); he said he was not sure how long it would be. But this was about 2 weeks ago. So yes, I too am eager to hear what's going on. And if you're accepted to TEC at UVA, I encourage you to take your other offer!