• HOME
  • ABOUT

HDS Admissions: Student Blog

HDS Admissions: Student Blog

Tag Archives: Staff

10 Tips for Muslim Prospective Students

29 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by Usra Ghazi in Considering HDS

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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.

Continue reading →

Baking for Charity

22 Thursday May 2014

Posted by Aisha Ansano in Student Life

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Charity, Community, Food, Friends, Poverty, Staff

The prestigious award given to the winner of the annual HDS Bake Off. Photo by Aisha Ansano

The prestigious award given to the winner of the annual HDS Bake Off. Photo by Aisha Ansano

There are a lot of words I would use to describe the people at HDS: passionate, caring, enthusiastic, studious, silly, impressive, well-rounded…the list goes on and on. But after attending the annual HDS Bake Off this year, I have to add another descriptor to the list: cutthroat. Continue reading →

Moving Midcareer: From Seattle to HDS

30 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Melissa Bartholomew in Transitioning to HDS

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Classmates, Faculty, Family, Law, Libraries, MDiv, Midcareer, Ministry, Open House, Staff

“Mommy, I need to go to the potty.” That was the statement our four-year-old daughter made repeatedly throughout our eight day journey across the country in August 2012. She resisted leaving Seattle, the only home she knew, and all of her close friends, especially her best friend from across the street. The only thing that motivated her to get to Cambridge was the brand new Curious George store that had just opened in Harvard Square. Continue reading →

Inimitable Opportunities

02 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Adaliss Rodriguez in Why I Chose HDS

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Career Services, Catholic, Classmates, Community Organizing, Community Tea, Faculty, Field Ed, Harvard, HGSG, HKS, HMS, HSPH, MTS, Noon Service, Opportunities, Public Health, Staff

IMG_4506

Photo credit: Chris Alburger

Congratulations on your acceptance to Harvard Divinity School! Discerning program “fit,” in light of my scholarly and personal interests, was easy for me. I entered HDS with personal conviction, very much in alignment with the HDS mission, to foster a global culture of mutual understanding, respect, and goodwill—a culture in which people of every religion and culture coexist and work together in peace. I knew that the MTS program would help me to critically engage my understanding of my Catholic faith and learn more about powerful and interdependent cultural, political and social forces, as I endeavor to help implement empirically and cultural-linguistically based policies and programs centered on access to equitable health care and education for all.

Continue reading →

A Special Place

21 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by Kevin McIntosh in Why I Chose HDS

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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.

Continue reading →

Come See What Can’t Be Explained

19 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by Cody Musselman in Why I Chose HDS

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Classmates, Clubs, Community, Diversity, Faculty, Friends, Libraries, Noon Service, Open House, Staff, Ultimate Frisbee

Library courtyard. Photo by Chris Alburger

Library courtyard. Photo by Chris Alburger

GRE scores, GPA, extracurricular activities, lectures and presentations…many things go into making a candidate look good on paper. Yet the personal statement and the letters of recommendation really bring an application to life. They show the admissions committee a bit of who you are. Now, having been accepted to Harvard Divinity School, and perhaps several other institutions, you are on the flipside of the admissions experience.

Continue reading →

Looking Out on My Final Semester at HDS

12 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by Sarah Lord in Graduating

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Academics, Alumni, Career Services, Classes, Community, Faculty, Field Ed, MDiv, Staff, Student Life, Study Abroad

IMG_2164

Looking at the HDS Green from the Andover lobby. Photo by Katelynn Carver

Monday, January 27th, 2014 was my last first day of school. I woke up, wished my roommate and fellow-3rd year MDiv a “Happy Last First Day of School!”, and prepared myself for a whirlwind progression of events: a phone meeting with my future employer, a class I was shopping on Apocalyptic Literature, work as a Graduate Assistant in the Office of Career Services, class at the Graduate School of Education, a quick break for dinner, and a live webinar conference course jointly offered through HDS and the Harvard Extension School. Continue reading →

Spiritual Community at HDS

25 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by Chris Alburger in Student Life

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Buddhism, Catholic, Clubs, Community, Community Tea, Evangelical, Faculty, Friends, Hear & Now, Humanist, HUUMS, Interfaith, Jewish, Ministry, Muslim, Noon Service, Retreats, RSL, Spirituality, Staff, UU, WomenCircle

IMG_4658

Walking the Labyrinth during the HDS Fall Retreat. Photo by Chris Alburger

I see Harvard Divinity School as a spiritual community, within which there are many distinct spiritual communities. HDS is full of kind, caring, altruistic people, because that’s who the school attracts. Classmates, faculty, and staff have all ministered to me and supported me through difficult times. I often have conversations with people that inspire or challenge me to be my best self (like a good sermon). The Divinity School, like we say at my church, is “a place where we practice being human.”

Community Tea on Tuesday afternoons is like “Coffee Hour” at church to me. It’s when Continue reading →

ConSpiracies: Breathing Together the Breath of Life

29 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by Jason Smith in Student Life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Diversity, Faculty, Noon Service, Religious Pluralism, RSL, Staff, Theology, Work

conspiracies

“So, are you religious?”  This question is a perpetual one for any person who decides to enroll in Divinity School.  Unlike our peers in, say, English literature, who can pursue their field of study without question even when they are not novelists in their own right, people often wonder why a person who does not explicitly identify as religious or spiritual would choose to study religion.  Or, if one does study religion as a faith practitioner, one’s ability to critically engage the study of religion without bias may be called into question.  Thus, we find ourselves in something of an academic Catch-22: you can’t study religion if you aren’t religious, and you shouldn’t study religion if you are religious.

Fortunately, HDS has provided me with a fantastic community of peers, faculty, and staff who are committed to breaking down these assumptions.  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)
  • Uncategorized (1)
  • Waiting to Hear (7)
  • What's It Like at HDS? (24)
  • Why I Chose HDS (16)

Tags

Academics Adjusting Admissions Advice Alumni Applying ask students Aspirations Boston Buddhism Cambridge Campus Career Career Services Catholic chaplaincy Christianity Classes Classmates Clubs Community Community Organizing Community Tea Conferences Cross-Registering CSWR Current students Decisions Discernment Diversity DivEx Events Experiential Experiential Learning Faculty Faith Family Field Ed financial aid Fit FOMO Food Friends Graduate Assistants GRE Greater Boston Growth Harvard HBS HDS People Hear & Now HGSE HKS Housing How to Apply Humanist Interfaith Islam J-Term Jewish Latin@ Lectures LGBT Libraries MDiv Ministry Moving MTS Muslim Noon Service Open House Opportunities Orientation Peers Ph.D. Pluralism Project Prospective Students Public Health Recommendation Letters Religion & Politics Religious Pluralism Research Resources RSL Self Care Social Justice Somerville Spirituality Staff Statement of Purpose Student Life Study Abroad Summer Summer Language Program Theology UU Waiting Work Work-Study Workload

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 368 other followers

Twitter Updates

  • “There’s always something good going on. Focusing on that keeps me grounded as I continue trying to improve the liv… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 8 hours ago
  • In a special pop-up episode of Harvard Religion Beat, we speak with @HarvardDivinity visiting professor @EJDionne t… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 day ago
  • HDS Alum @q_driskell4 takes a look at @ReverendWarnock's historic senate win in #Georgia, the Capitol insurrection… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 2 days ago
  • “Chaplain, can you do an exorcism?” This is a question psychiatric chaplain Jeremy Sher, MDiv ’16, is sometimes a… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 2 days ago
  • Amazing piece by @HarvardRPL's @LaurenRKerby on the Capitol insurrection. A must read for the moment!! @TheAtlantic twitter.com/LaurenRKerby/s… 6 days ago

Flickr Photos

William James Lecture 2010Eagle Warrior2017 Multireligious Commencement Service
More Photos

Credits

Header image photo: Tony Rinaldo

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel