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HDS Admissions: Student Blog

HDS Admissions: Student Blog

Tag Archives: Prospective Students

What’s at Stake? Important Questions to Consider at DivEx, HDS, and Beyond

26 Monday Oct 2020

Posted by HDS Admissions Blog in Considering HDS

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Applying, Community, DivEx, MDiv, Ministry, Prospective Students, Social Justice

Post by Nathan Samayo

Editor’s Note: This week at HDS we are hosting our annual Diversity and Explorations (DivEx) event, which is a 3-day introduction to Harvard Divinity School and the programs we offer. DivEx is geared towards current undergraduates from underrepresented backgrounds who are interested in exploring divinity school. In this post, former DivEx participant and current HDS student, Nathan Samayo, reflects on his personal and academic background and how participating in the DivEx program has impacted his journey at HDS. 

What a critical time it is to be applying to Harvard Divinity School. A contentious election creeps around the corner whose result could either continue America’s dissonance to its long history of anti-Black racism and xenophobia, or a result that will, as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “let our democracy live another day.” We see on our local and social medias the uprisings from marginal communities and allies who denounce state-sanctioned violence, white supremacy that has seeped into every facet of public life, and the legacy of colonialism that altered the land that white America now occupies. We are becoming products of a historical moment where a pandemic has and continues to alter our ordinary lives, bringing to light how broken America’s systems of education, economy, and healthcare have been operating. All these issues and realities ask a similar question—what is at stake? What values and ethics guide us as we advocate and protest for new tangible conditions in hopes of a reconciled world? These questions will be asked to you if you decide to come to Harvard Divinity School, a community committed to transforming you into the change agent you want to be. 

Photo Courtesy of Nathan Samayo
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Exploring Divinity School during COVID-19

10 Wednesday Jun 2020

Posted by HDS Admissions Blog in Considering HDS

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Applying, ask students, Classes, Current students, Faculty, How to Apply, Lectures, Podcast, Prospective Students, Statement of Purpose

Post by Kate Hoeting, MTS ‘21, & Julia Reimann, MDiv ‘22 

If you’re thinking about coming to divinity school, you might be wondering how to decide where to apply when you can’t visit campus. We at the HDS Office of Admissions feel for you, and we’re working hard to develop resources to help you explore HDS!  

  1. Draft Your Statement of Purpose  

Divinity school is a big investment of time and money, so you’ll want to devote time to thinking about why you want to attend. Even if you’re just exploring, starting to draft your Statement of Purpose can give you a good sense of what you’d like to get out of graduate school and why. Having a grasp on your future goals will not only strengthen your application but also make your life happier in the long run by helping you decide which kind of school is right for you. 

  1. Make a Research Spreadsheet 

Summer is a great time to research different schools before you can start filling out our application in September. If you make a spreadsheet to track your research, you can mark things like tuition, programs that interest you, and testing requirements. Just making the spreadsheet can be helpful because it will help you consider which aspects of divinity school matter to you. For example, when I was searching for schools, my spreadsheet had a column to rate each school’s library. 

Students preparing for our annual multi-religious  
celebration Seasons of Light // photo courtesy of HDS OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
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10 Tips for Muslim Prospective Students

29 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by Usra Ghazi in Considering HDS

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Diversity, Events, Faculty, Lectures, Muslim, Noon Service, Open House, Prayer, Prospective Students, RSL, Staff, Student Life

Harvard Divinity School students come from an array of different ages, ethnicities, and religious and secular backgrounds. When I first visited HDS on Admitted Students Day, I was delighted to find a diverse student body and especially excited to find a Muslim community here, to call my spiritual home.

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A Special Place

21 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by Kevin McIntosh in Why I Chose HDS

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Clubs, Community, Community Tea, Faculty, Friends, Noon Service, Open House, Prospective Students, Staff, Ultimate Frisbee

Mosaic. Photo by Katelynn Carver

Mosaic. Photo by Katelynn Carver

To be honest, when I came to HDS for admitted students day I was looking for excuses not to come here.  I had just graduated from Emory and received a job offer to stay there and work.  I was afraid to leave my comfort zone filled with friends, relationships, and work.  But I knew I couldn’t just turn down Harvard without a good reason, so I decided to come to the Admitted Students Day and find a reason why HDS was not for me.  The quickest way to do that, I realized, was to discover that there was no real community here and, thus, it was not a place where I could be successful.

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Start Visioning

19 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by Chris Alburger in Waiting to Hear

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Academics, Admissions, Alumni, BTI, Classes, Clubs, CSWR, Field Ed, HBS, HGSE, HKS, Housing, MDiv, MIT, Noon Service, Ph.D., Pluralism Project, Prospective Students, Research, Student Life, Thoreau, UU, Work-Study

Looking at Andover hall from the library. Photo by Chris Alburger

Looking at Andover hall from the library. Photo by Chris Alburger

As I was learning about HDS through the website and preparing my application, I started imagining what it would be like to actually be there. If you’ve applied for the Fall, I bet you’ve wondered that, too. And, if you’re anything like me, you’re probably anxious to hear back from Admissions in mid-March and wondering what to do with yourself until then. The anxiety was nightmarish for me, but that didn’t stop me from dreaming. I mean, if you’re gonna worry about the worst possible outcome, you may as well imagine the best, too, right? So stay positive and start visioning.

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Waiting to Hear: Tips Til Mid-March

18 Tuesday Feb 2014

Posted by Eboni Haynes in Waiting to Hear

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Academics, Admissions, Prospective Students

IMG_2168

Clock in Andover Hall. Photo by Katelynn Carver

Congrats! You have successfully completed your application! So, what’s next? There is no easy solution to avoiding anxiety around waiting to hear, but perhaps I can offer a sliver of advice to avoid over-thinking if you included that one summer internship, or if you spell-checked your essay enough, so on and so on. I’ve been there!  Continue reading →

The Future Will Arrive On Time: Tackling Application Season

20 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by Cody Musselman in Applying

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Admissions, Advice, Prospective Students, Waiting

Winter at HDS. Photo by Chris Alburger

Winter at HDS. Photo by Chris Alburger

At times it seems like there are people who are meant to enter your life to impart a message. This time last fall I was working at an elementary school when the grandmother of one of the children struck up a conversation with me. Having just met me, and not knowing that I was in a rut, or that I was planning on applying to graduate school—let alone that I was planning on applying to Harvard—she dropped some wisdom.

“The future arrives on time,” she said. Continue reading →

Categories

  • Academics (23)
  • Applying (23)
  • Considering HDS (14)
  • Experiential Learning (15)
  • Graduating (6)
  • HDS Interviews (10)
  • Student Life (38)
  • Summers (9)
  • Transitioning to HDS (18)
  • Waiting to Hear (7)
  • What's It Like at HDS? (24)
  • Why I Chose HDS (16)

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Twitter Updates

  • Amazing piece by @HarvardRPL's @LaurenRKerby on the Capitol insurrection. A must read for the moment!! @TheAtlantic twitter.com/LaurenRKerby/s… 2 days ago
  • “I see design as a way to connect with people and give them tools to accomplish their goals. That’s very much in li… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 4 days ago
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  • RT @uua_lgbtq: Former Clara Barton Fellow J. Sylvan has a piece in the current issue of the @HarvardDivinity Bulletin about their thesis pr… 6 days ago
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