PhD Applicant in Religion/Anthropology

AndrewJH09
Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:47:08 +0000

Hey everyone, so this is the first time I’ve written here since I’ve been in High School and it was so much help the first time around that I’m back. Here’s my story: I’m a Johns Hopkins University student planning on applying to top PhD programs in anthropology and religion (depending on the school). I’m a double major in anthropology and philosophy, and my research interests are in post-Kantian German idealism (esp the phenomenalist movement) and religion (esp Roman Catholicism, philosophy/theory of religion, anthropological studies in religion). I’m a member of the American Academy of Religion as well as several other professional societies and will have a stellar research resume upon graduation. Im confident about the GREs but I’m nervous about my GPA. I had a very rough first semester sophomore year. I will likely get honors at least in one department but those of you who are familiar with JHU know its not always easy to keep up (though, I’m not going to complain, as my departments aren’t nearly as tough as others in a lot of ways). As a result my overall GPA will likely suffer and I’m wondering how much this is going to hurt me. I luckily have a great relationship with my Anthro dept (the faculty are absolutely wonderful) so I’m hoping I’ll get some good recs.

I know that these two departments are not the most popular at any school and get significantly less applications than some other programs but I’m still very nervous. I really have my eyes set on the very top level only.

Any advice for a nervous 2nd semester sophomore? Thanks!