The journey from small-town Arkansas to Yale Divinity School and back. Reflections on education, identity, and finding your path.
The path from small-town Arkansas to Yale Divinity School and back again isn't one most people take. These posts are the personal side — reflections on education, identity, family, and finding your way when the map doesn't match the territory.
Start here: The God and Man at Yale Divinity series is a week-by-week account of my first year at Yale Divinity School as a conservative evangelical veteran — from fall orientation through discerning vocation. For the essays that got me there, see my personal statement and writing sample.
Yale Divinity School's acceptance rate is roughly 23%. I got in — my complete 2026 guide to degree options, essays, full-tuition aid, and what admissions actually looks for.
Is Yale Divinity School worth the cost, time, and challenge? An M.Div. graduate evaluates the academics, community, career outcomes, and spiritual formation at YDS.
A complete breakdown of Yale Divinity School's current Master of Divinity degree requirements — the 2025 cohort-based curriculum, prescribed courses, Integrative Seminar, internship, and electives.
A complete breakdown of Yale Divinity School's pre-2025 Master of Divinity degree requirements — the five-area distribution framework, credit hours, content areas, language courses, placement exams, and electives.
How William F. Buckley Jr. and Frank Meyer unified traditionalists, libertarians, and anti-communists into a coherent movement—and whether that coalition can survive.
A firsthand account of the William F. Buckley Jr. Program at Yale—what it does, why it matters, and what it's like to be a conservative Fellow on a campus that would rather you weren't.
Why conservatives should engage the strongest progressive arguments—drawn from Buckley, Mill, Aquinas, and three years at Yale Divinity School.
How Vespasian and Titus used Judaea Capta coins to broadcast Rome's victory over the Jewish Revolt and assert imperial dominance across the empire.
America is the greatest country on earth, and shared patriotism can unite us across political divides. Why love of country still matters as a unifying theme.
With these testing delays that are plaguing the country, I am left wondering what value these mass testings have.
In this post, I discuss COVID-19, murder hornets, the joy that is 2020, and my optimism for the future.
Why disowning family members over politics betrays what truly matters. A personal reflection on family, friendship, and political civility.
In this post, I reflect upon Twitter toxicity and the worldview-warping nature of social media.
In this post, I write about my journey toward understanding forgiveness.
Beyond the shallow definition—discover what truly separates liberals from conservatives: the role of government coercion in achieving policy goals.
A 2020 quarantine reflection from Yale Divinity School on hermitage, fatherhood, and gratitude during the COVID-19 pause.
How I adapted my paper writing process during a five-month lockdown while managing three major academic papers and a final exam.
How Yale Divinity School and peer institutions adopted pass/fail grading during the pandemic—and what the push for universal pass reveals about student entitlement and institutional confusion.
A 2020 reflection on Zoom classes at Yale Divinity School during COVID—technical issues, Credit/No Credit grading, library closure, and Ph.D.-track pressure.
Campus activists at elite colleges like Yale often appear perpetually angry. But beneath the outrage lies a deeper psychological need: the search for heroic purpose and significance.
How COVID shut down Yale's campus mid-semester, forcing remote learning via Zoom and canceling spring commencement. A personal account of pandemic disruption to campus life and academic work.
In this post, I discuss the first week of spring break, the Buckley seminar, and the start of the Coronavirus pandemic.
As I begin to grow comfortable at Yale, I am becoming more aware of the Ivy League facade that masks much of the mundane and unpolished aspects of elite universities. Explore the reality behind the prestige.
Planning summer academics at Yale Divinity? Learn how I structured German language study, navigated GI Bill regulations, and prepared for Ph.D. applications.
How I had dinner with National Review editor Rich Lowry at Yale's Buckley Program. Reflections on intellectual humility, the danger of familiarity with greatness, and engaging James Cone's liberation theology.
An insider's look at how Ivy League students use buzzwords like 'oppression,' 'power dynamics,' and 'create a space' to such excess that they dilute the meaning of justified critique and desensitize people to real injustice.
How Yale Divinity School's degree flexibility enabled me to take a Roman Law graduate seminar at the law school, and what I learned about course selection across campus.
How does grading work at Yale Divinity School? A personal reflection on semester grades, the H- conversion to A-, and what academic success means beyond the transcript as I transition toward PhD work in New Testament.
Seminary finals at Yale Divinity School: a firsthand account of blue book exams in New Testament, Greek, and Early Christianity. Reflections on theological education and spiritual formation.
A Yale Divinity student's personal essay on vocational discernment, Catholic conversion, and the intersection of faith, military service, and academic calling.
A Yale Divinity student's firsthand reaction to the 2019 Harvard-Yale football game protest — the climate demands, the virtue signaling, and what it reveals about elite campus culture.
A weekly update from Yale Divinity School — progress on final papers, preparing for exams, visiting the Yale Art Gallery's Dura-Europos exhibit, and thoughts on the curriculum.
A conservative student's firsthand account of oppression culture at Yale Divinity School—the fetishization of victimhood, the woke scold minority, and the silent reasonable majority.
A Yale Divinity School student reflects on PhD aspirations, academic grading, and the top doctoral programs in New Testament and religious studies worth pursuing.
A firsthand account of cancel culture at Yale Divinity School: how ideological conformity silences diverse perspectives, the consequences for free speech, and why this matters for conservative students.
Is Yale Divinity liberal? Yes. But conservative students thrive. A candid account of being a conservative at Yale Divinity School and finding your place there.
What the first week of Yale Divinity School is really like — classes, community, and culture shock. A veteran's firsthand account of the M.Div. program.
A first-person guide to BTFO at Yale Divinity School covering Berkeley Divinity, class registration, grades, campus life, and what incoming students should expect.
The complete writing sample from a successful Yale Divinity School M.Div. application, drafted from scratch after seven years out of school.
See a real seminary application essay that worked. Full personal statement from a successful Yale Divinity School M.Div. acceptance with writing tips.
From Southern Baptist roots through law school and the Army to Yale Divinity School — how I applied, got in, and paid for the M.Div with the GI Bill.
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