DOCTORAL PROGRAMS

The text which follows is not a complete list of graduate programs with emphasis in South Asian Studies, but rather represents a synthesis on my part. It mitigates my concerns of academic reputation and physical-geographic surroundings. As such, it is a list of schools that I would actually consider attending after I graduate from this program

1. Columbia University

Columbia University Kent Hall Room 617 1140 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY 10027 Website: http://www/columbia.edu/cu/religion

a) Admission requirements: Columbia requires the possession of at least a bachelors degree and a record which suggest the capacity for graduate work. They require reading knowledge of French or German and knowledge of Sanskrit. There are no baseline GRE or GPA scores required, yet from what I can surmise, GRE score should be in the 700's.

b) Available Resources: In addition to the Colombia University Library, the Union Theological Seminary Library and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America library, there are books and manuscripts archived at several church headquarters in the city. Also available for use are the New York Public Library, the New York Historical Society Library and the libraries of the General Theological Seminary, Fordham Institute, the Jewish Institute of America and St. Vladimir's Theological Seminary.

c) Other Important Information: One hundred percent of first year student receive aid. This is most likely the best Ph.D. program in South Asian studies in the United States, yet competition for entrance is extremely fierce and this school may only be a day-dream for me.

d) Valuable Scholars in Residency: Only ten percent of Ph.D. student receive financial aid! 1. John Stratton Hawley, Ph.D. (Harvard) Professor, Barnard Department of Religion. Comparative religion and Hinduism are his main focus 2. Gurinder Singh Mann, Ph.D. (Colombia University), Assistant Professor. Sikhism and the religious traditions of India. 3. Robert A. F. Thurman, Ph.D. (Harvard University), Professor. Indo-Tibetan-Buddhist studies.

2. EMORY UNIVERSITY

Emory University Department of Religion 312 Physics Building Emory University Atlanta, GA 30322 404-7272-6333

a. Admission Requirements: Students are required to demonstrate reading ability of two modern languages, which are usually French and German. The program itself requires two years of course work supplemented afterward by dissertation study. It is possible to complete the entire program in four years: however, most students take six-a maximum of eight are allowed. The average GRE scores were as follows: Verbal: 710, Quantitative: 650, Analytic: 700. There are no baseline GPA requirements. Students admitted to the doctoral program are expected to have a broad knowledge of biblical studies, church history, Christian thought, systematic theology, history of religions social and psychological studies in religion and philosophy and a thorough knowledge of the field of specific study.

c. Other Important Information: 100% of first year doctoral student receive financial aid while 80% of post- freshman receive assistance. 90% of graduates received post-doctoral placement.

d. Valuable Scholars in Residency: 1. Paul B. Courtrtight, Ph.D. (Princeton University) Professor. History of Religions and South Asian Studies. 2. John Y. Fenton (Princeton University), Associate Professor. Cross-traditional comparative theology, Buddhism. 3. Walter J. Lowe, Ph.D. (Yale University) Professor Christology. Barth, Heidegger, Freud, phenomenology and hermeneutics.

3. Harvard University

Harvard University Andover Hall 45 Francis Avenue Cambridge, Mass 02138 617-495-5781

a. Admission Requirements: There are no stipulated minimum GRE or GPA requirements. This statement is extremely misleading for, as we all know, it is a very difficult program to enter. They require fourth Semester knowledge of German and French by the end of the first year and core courses are taught in a manner which they say forces the student to access research materials in French and German.

b. Available Resources: The University has numerous libraries, not to mention the faculty resources. In addition, the center for the Study of World Religions is located on campus. There are "substantial" resources in Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, and Islamic Studies.

c. Other Important Information: 100% of first year student receive financial aid, while 60% of post-freshman receive aid. After two years in residency, tuition fees are reduced. Harvard has a 95% post-doctoral placement rate. Carman and Eck are very influential scholar in the Field today and it would be a great honor to work with either one of them.

d. Valuable Scholars in Residency 1. Ali Asani Ph.D. Professor. The practice of Indo-Muslim languages and culture. 2. John B. Carman Ph.D. Parkman Professor-Divinity and Professor- comparative religion. (Director of Ph.D. studies) 3. Diana L. Eck, Ph.D. Professor. Comparative religion and Indian studies. (chair).

4. Indiana University

Indiana University Department of Religious Studies Sycamore Hall 230 Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405 812-855-3531

a. Admission Requirements: There is a minimum GRE requirement of 600 on verbal and the average score is 640. The minimum GPA is 3.2. Samples of written work are also required. French and German language are required at the forth semester level, yet I was not able to surmise whether this was an admission requirement or a graduation requirement (I am fairly sure that as long as work on both languages is begun, admission will be considered).

b. Available Resources: The IU library contains over 4 million volumes and 25,000 serials. In addition, the university also house the Folklore Institute, the Lilly Library of rare books and manuscripts, The Archives of Traditional Music and the Kinsley Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.

c. Other Important Information: 80% of first year students receive financial aid. This program seems to be exploding in the past few years. They must be getting more funding , as they have just recently acquired Gerald Larson, an excellent scholar, from the University of California at Santa Barbara. While this program does not have the prestige of some of the there programs listed in this survey, it is still an excellent school, providing good language resources and a good faculty.

d. Valuable Scholars in Residency: 1. David Haberman , Ph.D. (University of Chicago) Associate Professor. History of South Asian religions, Indian art and aesthetics, ritual studies, theories of religion and Native American Religions. 2. Gerald Larson, Ph.D. (Columbia) Philosophy and history of Indian religions and Sanskrit. 3. J. Samuel Prues, Th.D. ( Harvard University) History of Biblical interpretation, Buddhism, Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan and Indian Culture.

5. Stanford university

Stanford University Department of Religious Studies Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-2165 415-723-3322

a. Admission Requirements: An average of four students per year are admitted to the program. GRE scores, GPA, recommendations, statement of purpose, intended field and samples of scholarly work are all consider in the selection. The admission deadline is January 1.

b. Available Resources: In addition to the main campus library there is the Hoover Institutional Library which contain many works on Asian, Islamic and modern religious thought. The libraries at the University of California at Berkley and the graduate Theological Union are close by. The university provides transportation to both locations.

c. Other Important Information: Students admitted to the program are fully funded for the first four years! I'm not quite sure why I have included this program, it does not really offer any big faculty resources, yet I felt it somehow had to be included. There are other people such a Rene Girard from other areas who are interesting to me, yet after a full survey of the schools this would not be my first choice.

d. Valuable Scholars in Residency: 1. Carl W. Bielefeldt, Ph.D. (University of California, Berkeley) Associate Professor. East Asian religions and Japanese Buddhism 2. Phillup J. Ivanhoe, Ph.D. (Stanford University) Assistant Professor. Chinese thought and East Asian thought.

6. MCMASTERS UNIVERSITY

McMasters University Department of Religious Studies University Hall Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada 416-525-9140

a. Admission Requirements: Students are expected to have a familiarity with the breadth of religious studies both eastern and western. GRE scores are not required and B+ average grade record is required. Preparation in French and German Language are also expected, but there are no baseline requirements.

b. Available Resources: The Mills Library has over 1,000,000 volumes with many works of relevant interest and receives 9,000 periodicals. Toronto, Ontario and U.S. libraries are also accessible through a loan system. The faculty's depth in the field is truly exceptional!

c. Other Relevant Information: 100% of first year students receive financial aid while 96% of other receive additional support. While this university is exceptional in its faculty and language resources, its relative geographic location places it near the bottom of my list of prospective schools.

d. Valuable Scholars in Residency: 1. J.G. Arapura, Ph.D. (Colombia) Professor Emeritus. Indian philosophies of religion. 2. P. Granoff, Ph.D. (University of California, Berkeley) Sanskrit, Hindu religious history, Asian art. 3. L.I. Greenspan, Ph.D. (Brandeis) Religion and modern social and political thought. 4. David.R. Kinsley, Ph.D. (University of Chicago) Professor. Medieval Hinduism. 5. W.K. Whiller, Ph.D. (McMasters University) Associate Professor. Rg Veda, Philosophy of Language. 6. Paul Younger, Ph.D. (Princeton University) Professor Indian Religious traditions and contemporary India.

7. University of California at Berkeley (Department of East Asian Languages and Literature)

University of California At Berkeley 4408 Dwinelle Hall #2510 University of California Berkeley, California, 94720-2510

a. Admission Requirements: This department requires a 3.0 GPA and GRE scores for entrance. In addition, two foreign languages chosen from French, German, Russian, Dutch and Japanese are required. The program is focused in terms of language and as a result the Sanskrit Departments requires two years of work of Sanskrit. So does the Hindi/Urdu program.

b. Available Resources: The campus itself has numerous libraries which are a storehouse for useful information. The school is also part of the UC wide Melvyl systems and interlibrary loan is very easy. In addition, the Stanford University is very close.

d. Valuable Scholars in Residency: 1. Aditya Behl, Ph.D. (University of Chicago) Assistant Professor: Hindi/Urdu language and Literature, Comparative Religions and South Asian Islam. 2. Robert P. Goldman, Ph.D. (University of Pennsylvania) Professor: Sanskrit Literature, Indian Epics. 3. Sally Sutherland Goldman, Ph.D. (University of California) Lecturer: Sanskrit Language and Indian Mythology. 4. Usha Jain, MA (University of California) Senior Lecturer: Hindi Language. 5. Padmanabh S Jaini, Ph.D. (University of London) Professor: Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. 6. Frits Staal, Ph.D. (University of Madras) Professor: Comparative philosophy, Sanskrit and ritual.

8. University of California at Santa Barbara

University of California at Santa Barbara Department of Religious Studies University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106

a. Admission Requirements: A minimum GPA of 3.0 is required. The average GRE scores: verbal, 676 and Quantitative: 680. The language requirements here are not quite as strict as other schools. They say that French or German knowledge is helpful, yet not required.

b. Available Resources: There are 3 main libraries on campus. The central stores have a very large collection of relevant materials. In addition, it is part of the Melvyl and interlibrary loan is extremely easy.

c. Other Important Information: 50% of doctoral students receive some type of financial aid. This school has a 95% post-graduate placement record. It is also a beautiful place to go to school! The program however, seems, at time, to be caught in the dark ages of academics and I wonder how much growth I would do at this school.

d. Valuable Scholars in Residency: 1. Barbara Holdrege, Ph.D. (Harvard University) Assistant Professor. History of Religions (Indian and Judaic). 2. David White, Ph.D. (University of Chicago) Assistant Professor: History of Religions and Hinduism.

9. University of Chicago

The Divinity School Swift Hall 1025 East 58th Street Chicago IL, 60637-1577

a. Admission Requirements: The university does not have stipulated minimum GPA or GRE scores. A sample of academic writing is required for acceptance to the doctoral program. French and German language competency is required.

b. Available Resources: The University of Chicago library houses over 5 million volumes and approximately 84,000 serial titles. Of the more than 5 million works in the library about 600,000 are directly pertinent to the Academic Study of Religion. In addition, there are numerous libraries at theological schools and research institutes nearby.

c. Other Important Information: 82% of first year students receive financial aid, while 90% of other doctoral students receive some type of aid. 85% of graduates received placement upon graduation in 1988/89.

d. Valuable Scholars in Residency: 1. Wendy Doniger, Ph.D. (Harvard University) Dphil. (Oxford) Professor: History of Religions and South Asian Studies. 2. Frank E. Reynolds, Ph.D. (Chicago) Professor: History of Religions and South Asian Studies.

10. University of Iowa

University of Iowa School of Religion 308 Gilmore Hall The University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242-1376 319-335-2164

a. Admission Requirements: The minimum GPA requirements are 3.2 and minimum GRE scores of 1100. The average GRE scores for doctoral candidate was 1270. Sanskrit is required.

b. Available Resources: The university Library contains over 3 million volumes

c. Other Important Information: 100% of first year students receive financial aid while 57% of other doctoral candidate receive aid.

d. Valuable Scholars in Residency: 1. Robert D. Baird, Ph.D. (Iowa), Professor. History of Religions, methodology and religion in modern India. 2. Frederick Smith, Ph.D. (Princeton) Assistant Professor. Classical Indian religions, Sanskrit language and literature.

11. University of Virginia

University of Virginia Religious Studies Department Cocke Hall Charlottesville, VA 22903 804-924-3741 Website: http://www.virginia.edu/~relig.

a. Admission Requirements: The University requires no less than an A- average grade record. There is no stipulated GRE minimum score. Reading comprehension of both French and German are normally required. They offer good language resources, Sanskrit classes can be taken for up to eight semesters.

b. Available Resources: Virginia has an excellent library with considerable material which is relevant to the field. They also have archives of Buddhist, Islamic, and Christian materials.

c. Other Important Information: It appears as if very few students receive financial aid; although, there are approximately 25 teaching assistantship position available each semester. Between 1990 and 1992 98% of graduates were placed.

d. Valuable Scholars in Residency: 1. K.L. Seshagiri Rao, Ph.D. (Harvard University) Professor: Hinduism, comparative religions and Gandhian studies.