• HOME
  • ABOUT

HDS Admissions: Student Blog

HDS Admissions: Student Blog

Tag Archives: Workload

Fun as an Academic Strategy

15 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by Lindsey Franklin in Academics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Classmates, Community, Friends, Harvard, MDiv, Workload

As we near the end of another semester, I find myself reflecting on my first finals week experience and I realize that it captured well an ethos that I want to live out throughout my time at HDS: having fun is integral to academic survival.

I had one crazy goal: I wanted not just to survive finals week, I wanted to enjoy it.

As finals week loomed large in early December, I had one crazy goal: I wanted not just to survive finals week, I wanted to enjoy it. That seemed impossible given that I had eight papers covering about sixty-five pages of writing all due in a two week time period. Yet, I had this hunch that I actually wouldn’t survive if I didn’t enjoy it. So, I set out to figure out how to make finals week, in a sense, fun.

I had two strategies to make this happen. First, I wanted finals week to strengthen my newly formed HDS friendships. I know myself well: I go crazy without some sort of social interaction. I get lonely without people. When I am lonely, I am unproductive. So, I made a point to recruit people to study with me. I found that in quiet libraries surrounded by friends, writing was easier. I was inspired when I saw people next to me making diligent progress. We supported one another without distracting one another. When I needed a break, I went on walks with a friend instead of taking a solo “break” via distractions on the internet.

. . . having fun is integral to academic survival.

It worked perfectly. While I usually studied with only one or two friends, at one point we organized a Div School takeover of a block of desks in Lamont Library. In that intense environment, everyone working on their respective papers, working through stress and exhaustion together, and reviewing drafts for one another, it felt like we were all in it together. It was awesome. And, I indeed felt closer to my friends at the end of finals week than I had when we began.

Picture1

My next goal was to not only dive into the content of my papers, but to explore the connections between them, to enjoy how they played off one another. As I wrote, I decided to work four of them together to explore a common theme. Pursuing one theme repeatedly — in this case, ritual — helped me deepen my enthusiasm and sense of academic adventure in a way that was, indeed, fun.

For one class, I got to analyze the idea of ritual in an academic context. I examined Professor Amy Hollywood’s thesis that ritual, through referencing an original concept that remains unchanged but repeated in changing contexts, can create a space for self-becoming. For another, I got to look at ritual through the lens of a novel about a rabbi, tracking her spiritual becoming through her relationship to Jewish ritual. I then had the opportunity to look at my own life, reflecting on how Christian ritual has become an important part of my life at HDS, deepening my fragile Christian faith as I continue to wrestle with Christian theology. Lastly, I got to tie all this together looking at how the vessel of ritual has held my own spiritual evolution in a way that mirrors how community ritual holds community change.

Going deeply into a concept, looking at it from different angles, within different frameworks, I was able to follow one long and exciting path, instead of spreading myself thin jumping from one topic to another. I felt like a detective working through different parts of a really tough case, following different leads toward a final resolution. I had fun.

Finals week highlighted how I want to spend the next two-and-a-half years: surrounded by my peers who can push, challenge, and support me as I work hard to enjoy myself on this surprisingly fun academic journey.

A Day in the Life of an HDS Student

19 Thursday Nov 2015

Posted by Keith Esposito in What's It Like at HDS?

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Cambridge, Classes, Community, Friends, Harvard, Play, Student Life, Workload

What does a day in the life of an HDS student look like? Here’s the play-by-play of one Tuesday in October.

6:00am: Grad school has confirmed that I’m an early riser who needs his morning “me” time, and today is no exception. I roll out of bed, make some coffee, sit down at my kitchen table, and do some pleasure reading over my breakfast.

Prospect_Hill_Monument_-_Somerville,_MA_-_DSC03320.JPG7:00am: I head out the door into the unusually warm fall air. I live in Somerville, about a 25-minute walk from Harvard, and my apartment sits on top of Prospect Hill, which offers one of the best views of downtown Boston. Prospect Hill also sports a stone “citadel,” which marks a number of historical events, including the spot where it’s said the original American flag was first flown. I take a second to appreciate the fall foliage and the sun glinting off the city’s skyline before heading down the hill.

7:25am: I arrive at Lamont Library in Harvard Yard. Most buildings are closed this early, but Lamont is open 24 hours during the week. At this hour, the place is deserted besides the cleaning staff and a few undergrads slouched in armchairs after an all-nighter. It’s quiet and calm, the ideal place for me to get some reading done during the day’s early hours.

8:40am: I leave Lamont and head right across the Yard to Memorial Church for Morning Prayers. Morning Prayers is one of those Harvard traditions that has been going on for centuries. The service is held Monday through Saturday for 15 minutes in a small chapel in the rear of Memorial Church that includes angelic singing from the Harvard University Choir and a short address from a member of the Harvard community. I love Morning Prayers because, though there’s a general Christian spirit in the liturgy, you never know what you’re gonna get with the sermon; they run the gamut from religious to vaguely religious to not at all religious, and the speakers include those from a range of faith traditions—or none—and from all the different schools and offices across campus. Overall, it’s a pleasant balance between consistency and surprise. Today’s speaker is Professor Michelle Sanchez from the Div School, who gives a reflection on the role of habits and her church community over the past tumultuous year.

img_1640.jpg9:00am: I cross the Yard again for my Spanish class. As an MDiv, I have to complete three semesters of language. I completed two over the summer thanks to the Summer Language Program and cross registered for an advanced Spanish language and culture class being taught through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. It’s a tough class, and it’s a lesson in humility to be in a classroom of undergrads who all grasp the material easier than me. This week we’re finishing up our reading of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold in Spanish. ¡Qué bueno!

10:00am: Two of my fellow HDS students have Arabic in the same building at same time that I have Spanish, so we meet up outside after class and stroll together over towards the Div School campus. Today, we decide to stop at Velozo’s food truck outside Div Hall, so my pal can grab one of Dean’s famous red-velvet cookies.

10:20am: I don’t have any more class today, but I have plenty of work to do. I find an open table in the lounge in Div Hall, and take out a pile of books from my backpack.

12:30pm: After two solid hours of reading, I head outside to eat lunch and enjoy the unusually warm fall weather.

1:00pm: I head to the second floor of Div Hall to the Office of Admissions where I have a work study job as an office assistant. I really enjoy the convenience of working on campus and enjoy getting to know people I wouldn’t otherwise see. We’re gearing up for Diversity and Explorations and Theological Education Day in November, so it’s a busy day in the office.

Overall, it’s a pleasant balance between consistency and surprise.

4:00pm: I walk from Divinity Hall to Andover Hall for Community Tea, a weekly HDS tradition when the whole community comes together to share relax and socialize over food. I stuff my face with falafel, beef skewers and rice (rule #8 of grad school life: if there’s free food, I must eat as much as possible), and catch up with a group of fellow first years.

5:00pm: I backtrack to Divinity Hall and walk up to Divinity Chapel for Hear and Now. Hear and Now groups are small, interreligious support groups that meet weekly throughout the academic year. They’re less about growing in your particular faith tradition and more about sharing your story and spiritual growth and listening to your peers. I’ve grown quite close to the other two members of my group and I cherish our weekly meetings. Today, we spend half of the hour checking-in and for the other half another students leads us in the some very basic meditation.

6:00pm: I still have plenty of work tonight, so I stroll over the Harvard-Andover Library, where I end up for a few hours most days to study. I’ve come to love the odd leather and wood, reclining chairs on the second floor, and post up there. Dinner is yesterday’s pasta eaten discretely from a Tupperware. Leftovers have also become an integral part of my grad school life.

Unknown.jpeg9:00pm: The flip side of being an early riser is that my brain stops functioning at about 8:00pm. I struggle on for an hour longer, but eventually close the books for the night. I run into one of my classmates on the way out who also lives in Somerville, and we stroll home together. I end up idling on the sidewalk outside his apartment so we can finish our debate about our readings from Introduction to Ministry Studies. We both geek out over Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

9:45pm: Home sweet home. My roommate is watching The X-Files. (He’s currently working his way through all nine seasons—it’s been an interesting few weeks.) To reward myself for a productive day, I plop myself on the couch for the remainder of the episode.

10:45: After looking over my schedule tomorrow and making the next day’s lunch, I lay down in bed to do some pleasure reading before turning in. But I barely make it three pages before my head is already nodding. I toss the book aside, flip out the light, and quickly fall asleep.

Getting to Know HDS: New Friends and In-Between Spaces

05 Monday Oct 2015

Posted by Keith Esposito in Transitioning to HDS

≈ Comments Off on Getting to Know HDS: New Friends and In-Between Spaces

Tags

Academics, Adjusting, Christianity, Classmates, Friends, Interfaith, Student Life, Workload

Recently, as a graduate assistant in the Office of Admissions, I was fielding questions in a virtual chatroom from prospective HDS applicants. Most of the questions were the typical ones you’d expect: What degrees are offered at HDS? Is HDS affiliated with a particular denomination? How does financial aid work? Some were a little more specific: What’s field education and why is it required for all MDivs? Can you tell me more about the Boston Theological Institute? What’s campus life like at HDS?

But there was one question I hadn’t been expecting: Keith, could you tell us what you like the most about HDS?

For context, I am a first year MDiv, this was only my second week of class, and my time at HDS thus far had been a blur. My days consisted of rushing out the door each day for morning prayer at Memorial Church, followed by an advanced Spanish course I was cross-registered in at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and then off to my other classes on Religious Pluralism or Ministry Studies or Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion, followed by discussion sections, my Hear and Now interfaith group, late nights in the comfy chairs on the second floor of Andover-Harvard Library chipping away at my mountain of reading, and finally my bike ride home, where I would collapse in an exhausted, but happy, heap on my bed, wake up the next morning, and do it all over again.

I loved my classes, the worship services, my readings—all of it. But I hadn’t had much time yet to process it all. And upon reflection I realized that my favorite part of HDS thus far was the in-between time, the few gaps in my schedule, because it was during those times that I had started to build friendships with my classmates. During a break, I’d mosey outside to the quad, inevitably bump into someone, and strike up a conversation: about Boston, or our classes, or specific readings. Just the night before, I had ended up sitting in the grass with two classmates completely geeking out over some obscure philosophy text.  On another occasion, a conversation about various Christian practices led to a group of us attending a local church service that weekend.

My classmates fascinate me. They come from all walks of life, from all over the US and the world, from an array of religious traditions, all with deep-seated convictions. From them I’ve already learned about Zen Buddhist monasticism, interpretative approaches to Nietzsche, Latin American Liberation Theology, and Greek Orthodox contemplative practices, not to mention the best bars in the Cambridge, books that change lives, and life hacks for poor graduate students (tip #1: shop at market basket). I’ve quickly realized that though HDS offers leading scholars, top-notch academics, unimaginable opportunities, and access to University-wide resources, its greatest resource may be the students who study here. I look forward to learning from as many as I can, one impromptu conversation at a time.

What HDS has taught me about #selfcare

24 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Aisha Ansano in Academics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Growth, Self Care, Workload

You know those kids in high school and college who did all their homework all the time, the ones who always had something to say in class discussion and had questions for the teacher every week? I was one of THOSE kids. I guess that’s not too shocking of a confession to come from a Harvard graduate student, but in hindsight I feel a little sheepish about those days. The most important thing I’ve learned in my time at HDS so far is how to prioritize and balance the things in my life, and homework just doesn’t always make it to the top of the list.

Continue reading →

Impostor Syndrome

05 Monday May 2014

Posted by Dorie Goehring in Student Life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Academics, Classmates, Harvard, Student Life, Workload

Ornate organ pipes. Photo by Chris Alburger

Ornate organ pipes. Photo by Chris Alburger

When I first found out that I got into HDS, I was completely bowled over with happiness. That joy soon gave way to sheer panic as I attempted to comprehend what being a Harvard student means.  Continue reading →

Going Back to School Midcareer

28 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by Melissa Debono in Transitioning to HDS

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Academics, Classmates, Diversity, Family, MDiv, Midcareer, Ministry, Workload

Eagle-crested lectern. Photo by Chris Alburger

Eagle-crested lectern. Photo by Chris Alburger

No milestone ever fully marks the completion of a journey, and development doesn’t stall out when a child reaches her adulthood. I had begun mothering and pastoring at the same time, both ministries of ephemeral moments that are over in a flash, fist steps and first sermons. The work of parish ministry—worship, discipleship, and pastoral care—all disappear in a weekly cycle, along with the hours spent in preparation. At times, the densely packed milestones of child development felt so close at hand, while my own development sometimes seemed like a distant memory. I knew I needed to grow. In the middle of my career, and the middle of my parental journey, it was time to prepare for the next stages. HDS has been a place of tremendous growth of the intellectual framework of my ministry. Continue reading →

Going Back to School After a Gap Year

22 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by Aisha Ansano in Transitioning to HDS

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Academics, Boston, Cambridge, Classes, Friends, Homework, Mental Health, Paper, Reading, Studying, Weekends, Workload

Photo by Chris Alburger

Course readings available at Harvard COOP. Photo by Chris Alburger

After being in school for 18 years, I happily spent the year after graduating from college babysitting and bartending. Only a few months in, though, I started itching for more school, and this past September I started at HDS. As the semester began, I attended my first classes in over a year. They were full of smart people with interesting things to say about religion, people who were all here for the same reason I was—because they think religion is fascinating, important, and relevant. After being one of two religious studies majors to graduate my senior year, this was a dream—except that after a year without classes, papers, reading, or finals, I forgot how to do school.

Continue reading →

An Incredibly Supportive Community

04 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by Jennifer Wenz in Student Life

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Academics, Community, Field Ed, Friends, MDiv, Spirituality, Workload

The Harvard University Plaza. Photo by Chris Alburger

The Harvard University Plaza. Photo by Chris Alburger

“Don’t be afraid to let yourself be human, Jen.”

These wise words from one of my HDS advisors have come back to me again and again throughout my second year here at HDS. Throughout my time here, I have experienced firsthand that while HDS is full of some of the most talented and highly productive people you may meet, it is also grounded in an incredibly supportive community. Over our three years of Divinity School in the MDiv program, we are asked, constantly, to do it all: complete multiple intensive, transformative internships; read more pages than ever possible each week; develop strong and lasting relationships with friends and colleagues; network and realize our future plans; go to all of the lectures and all of the events taking place across this great university. The opportunities for education and exploration truly are endless here, not to mention the amazing people you’ll meet along the way.

Continue reading →

My Last Semester at HDS: The Best Advice I Can Give You

14 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by Zach Kerzee in Graduating

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Academics, Activism, Adjusting, Classmates, Faculty, Harvard, MDiv, Peers, Student Life, Workload

IMG_4512

Stained glass window in the Rabinowitz Room. Photo by Chris Alburger

“Embrace mediocrity.” These were the last two words that I expected to hear at the introductory student led panel on my first day at Harvard Divinity School. To put it lightly, I was a bit scandalized. I was sitting in a beautifully ornate chapel about to begin my degree program at Harvard, of all places, and a second year student was telling me to embrace feelings of mediocrity. Continue reading →

The Notion of ‘Fit’

25 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by Caroline Voldstad in Applying

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Academics, Admissions, Community, Diversity, Fit, Friends, Ministry, Opportunities, Spirituality, Workload

All paths lead to Andover. Photo by Chris Alburger

All paths lead to Andover. Photo by Chris Alburger

The notion of ‘fit’ was central to both my excitement and trepidation before arriving at HDS this fall. I knew from perusing the course websites and extracurricular offerings that, formally at least, Harvard Divinity School would be the ‘right’ place for me.  I was more than ready to dive into the enriching array of learning opportunities that stood before me, both within and outside of the classroom.

Continue reading →

← Older posts

Categories

  • Academics (23)
  • Applying (24)
  • Considering HDS (15)
  • Experiential Learning (16)
  • Graduating (6)
  • HDS Interviews (10)
  • Student Life (41)
  • Summers (9)
  • Transitioning to HDS (20)
  • Waiting to Hear (7)
  • What's It Like at HDS? (27)
  • 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 Latinx 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 382 other followers

Twitter Updates

  • Join the @HarvardDivinity community in welcoming Fania E. Davis, long-time social justice activist and restorative… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 10 hours ago
  • RT @Harvard: Not much is known about Venus, one of four enslaved people who lived and worked in Harvard's Wadsworth House in the 1700s http… 1 day ago
  • Congrats on your beautiful sermon, @IdgyDean ! twitter.com/IdgyDean/statu… 1 day ago
  • RT @HarvardDRCLAS: 4/21 @ 6PM EDT: Join us for "The Dawn of Olmec Civilization" with Ann Cyphers, Archaeologist at Institute of Anthropolo… 5 days ago
  • This issue of ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America, focuses on understanding religion and spirituality.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 5 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

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×