03.15.08
When I Grow Up, Part 5
Though I realize I shouldn’t get too attached to a program or school just yet, I thought I would make a list of the schools top on my list as of this date (these aren’t in any particular order):
Penn State
Brandeis University
University of Wisconsin
Harvard
Johns Hopkins
University of Pennsylvania
All of these schools have faculty or a faculty member who has research interests somewhere in the ballpark of my own, though of course I haven’t narrowed those completely yet.
I’ll be honest. The idea of staying in the Boston area for either Harvard or Brandeis is not a pleasant one. I don’t like this area, and I’ll be glad when we can move out of it. Besides that, it’s so far from both of our families. But, I’m not ruling them out just yet.
I’ve also looked at Yale - they no longer have an actual ANE department, but they do have what looks to be a good Hebrew Bible program under their Religious Studies department (in the University, not the Divinity School). To boot, they also have several faculty that look promising. I’m not sure where a Ph.D from Yale in the Religious Studies department would fall on the “tier” list though. I’m told for my career aspirations of teaching in a Bible or Christian college, I need to shoot for top tier, or at the lowest, second tier schools.
I’ll have to find out more about this “tier” stuff. What’s the criteria? I obviously know certain schools are “top tier” for my field - Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Chicago…but it’d be nice to know where the others fall. I suppose I’ll figure it out eventually, but if anyone has any thoughts, feel free to chime in.
aboulet said,
March 15, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I would definitely add Chicago, Oxford, Cambridge, Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and lets not forget our dear Rabbi’s alma mater, Hebrew Union!
Jay said,
March 15, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Definitely consider the schools that aboulet mentioned. I would also add Toronto and Maryland (though I’m not sure how much longer Adele Berlin will teach). Also consider NYU, though their faculty may not share as many of your interests. Also, don’t neglect the Cal system, particularly UCSD, UCLA, and Berkeley–again, good faculty, but not necessarily your exact interests. Michigan may also be worth a look, but they tend to avoid seminarians. Oh, another one you may want to look into is Jewish Theological. Depending on who they hire in the next year or two, Catholic (CUA) would certainly be worth consideration–especially if you end up going for later Semitics (i.e., Aramaic, Syriac). Also take a glance at Cornell, Bristol, and Bar Ilan. Whew. That’s a lot and I’m sure I’ve forgotten some, especially in Europe.
jimgetz said,
March 16, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Come to SBL this year. Meet with folks. Talk to other grad students and professors. If you apply to all the schools folks are recommending you’ll go bankrupt; you’ll need to cull things down.
Diana said,
March 17, 2008 at 11:01 am
I admire you for pursuing such great knowledge, Mandy.
Sahar said,
March 17, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Speaking as a Brandeis student (who has google alerts set to Brandeis - it’s for a blogging project), I would randomly like to recommend good old Bdeis, just because everyone here is so friendly and awesome. You should definitely at least spend a day or so here.
Good luck with your journey. College choices seem a less momentous once you’re done with them.
Eric Welch said,
March 21, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Mandy, have fun narrowing these down! I ended up applying to 5 and sometimes wonder if it was enough. I know from BTI classes that guys infinitely smarter (and more qualified) than me have applied to as many as 11 schools. I think being at SBL will be good. One thing I noticed is that being “on the radar” before the applications hit the committee is an enormous help. One of the big factors is “fit” which is sometimes hard to judge by applications alone and is really seen at an interview. I think I did myself a huge favor by meeting profs and demonstrating “fit” before they even saw me on paper. For ANE stuff I’d say check out this post and the comments for some more discussion. http://awilum.com/?p=457#comments
SBL New England Regional Meeting « אליענה said,
March 28, 2008 at 5:27 pm
[...] will be giving the Presidential address. I’m looking forward to hearing him speak, because as I’ve mentioned before, Yale is one of the schools I’m [...]