About PhD Program,
The Department of Religious Studies at Northwestern offers a small, highly flexible, interdisciplinary Ph.D. program that takes full advantage of faculty strength within our department as well as ancillary fields of the humanities and social sciences. In the spirit of the inherently interdisciplinary character of religious studies, we train scholars both in the history of theory and method in religious studies and in important complementary approaches like ethnography, textual study, philosophy, historiography, and art history. Our exceptional faculty’s wide training and diverse interests provide a rich foundation for future scholarship and teaching in a field that demands deeply trained specialists who are nonetheless avidly engaged in broad methodological and theoretical conversations of interest to the whole discipline.
Graduate students take at least two years of course work, including seminars, tutorials, and independent studies. All students take a two-quarter sequence in theories and methods in the study of religion and at least one course in comparative study of religion. Examples include “The Study of Religion as Vocation,” “Classical Theories of Religion,” “Sin, Salvation, and Racialization,” and “Secularities: Thinking with, through, and against ‘Religion’.”
In addition, all students expand their circles of mentors and colleagues by taking up to half their course work in other departments. Many students join an entering cohort in an affiliated department by participating in its standard first-year program, e.g. writing a first-year paper in History, taking the Introduction to Graduate Study in English, or taking the introductory seminars in cultural anthropology and anthropological research. But not all external coursework need be done in the same department. Rather, classes are chosen flexibly in consultation with the student’s adviser in order to take full advantage of faculty resources in the field. To guarantee appropriate cross training, each examining committee and dissertation committee includes at least one faculty member from outside the department.
The third year is devoted to written and oral qualifying exams, to the preparation of a prospectus, and to additional course work if desired; the fourth and fifth years are dedicated to dissertation research and writing. Most students complete the degree within five years, although dissertations that require extensive fieldwork or archival research might take longer; additional competitive funding is available for longer projects.
PhD Program Degree Eligibility with GPA,
- Completion of graduate-level courses as outlined in the yearly plan, including required courses, within the first two years and with a GPA of at least 3.0
- Timely completion of language requirements set with advisers
- Satisfaction of any conditions set at the first year review
- Timely completion of a second year paper of publishable quality
- Approval at second year review, if needed
- Successful completion of qualifying exams, as specified by departmental requirements, by the end of the summer before the fourth year
- Satisfaction of all TGS requirements, including the deadline for the approval of the prospectus, eight consecutive quarters of residency, and timely completion of incompletes
- Successful performance as a teaching assistant
PhD Funding Coverage,
Northwestern University provides all graduate students in the humanities with the same standard package of guaranteed funding. Currently this includes the following:
- five academic years of tuition and stipend
- five summers of study stipend
- health insurance
- U-pass for public transportation
Normally the first and either the fourth or fifth years are fellowship years; in the remaining years students hold graduate assistantships (GA-ships) in which they serve as teaching assistants or occasionally as research assistants (see Teaching). Some extended support for sixth year writing is available by competitive application. In addition, all students are required to apply for outside funding before the end of the fourth year. For more information, please see The Graduate School’s Fellowships and Grants Page.
Application Requirement,
- Online application
- Academic and personal statements
- GRE scores (Optional)
- TOEFL, IELTS or MET scores, if applicable
- Curriculum vitae
- Scholarly writing sample of 20-30 double-spaced pages
- Transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate study
- Two (ideally three) letters of recommendation from academic mentors
Application Deadline,
Dec 15, 2024
Application Fee,
The application fee is $95 and must be paid via credit card at the time of application submission.
