Open Day After

I’m slowly getting the hang of the strange-to-me admissions process here in the UK. This morning, our campus — which had been still as a graveyard for most of the past four months — swarmed with eager young scholars who were sizing us up to determine whether they would cast their lot on studying Theology & Religious Studies at Glasgow, plus a few students interested in other topics (for some reason). They came to a talk in our ground-floor classroom, and took away brochures about our department subject area in a big Expo of fields of study in a vast open room in the Main Building.
 
We did pretty well in the Expo; I was teamed up with Madhavi Nevader, and we enjoyed the huckstering for our subject, magnifying the personal and career benefits of an undergraduate degree in Theology (or Religious Studies). I got to ask them about their “highers” and “A-levels” as though I were thoroughly conversant with what I was talking about. The prospective students seemed to appreciate our ebullience, and we signed up more people during our two-hour stint than did the other T&RS teams in the whole rest of the day. Pwned!
 
I hope there young characters get their applications in early enough that they don’t get caught up in next year’s enrolment crunch — and that they all want to study the Bible with my cool colleagues and me.
 
Speaking of which, all that stuff I said about getting a postgraduate degree at Glasgow still holds true, and I would still like a student or two to come on up to the lovely shores of the scenic River Clyde to work with me for toward a PhD. Lots of fun to be had, a beautiful country in which to work, a great staff with whom to work, and I promise not to mislead you if you ask me not to.
 
Plus: We’d be interested to hear if there’s someone working in an undergrad program in the States who would like to start up a study-abroad program to bring a dozen or two students over to learn about the Scottish Reformation (for instance) here in Glasgow. It would seem like a natural for US Presbyterian colleges, but if there’s interest Stateside, this is something we could begin to explore formalising on the Scottish side, too.
 

3 thoughts on “Open Day After

  1. AKMA,

    My new position is at a historically Presbyterian college (now university) that has a January term program (the first 3 weeks of January). Many J-term classes travel abroad, so I’d love to explore this possibility with you. I don’t know if that specific time would work for you and your colleagues, but perhaps we could talk.

    I’ve placed my email address above.

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