Hello everyone,
I recently stumble upon this forum and it has been a tremendous blessing toward my discernment process. I wanted to see if anyone here has had a similar situation with their education, and to also assess my strengths as a candidate for Duke’s Divinity school.
I recently graduated with my Masters in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Central Florida. Here are my overall stats:
GPA: 3.9
Skills: Grant writing, extensive research/clinical experience with couples,families, and addictions
Research interests: Military chaplaincy, spiritual formation, pastoral counseling
I found that although I love the counseling field, I wish to pursue counseling from a more ministerial perspective and believe that theological preparation in the form of a M Div would assist with that calling. I am currently pursuing ordination in the UMC and pray that I will be a certified candidate before the spring. Here are my questions:
1) How would admissions feel about my recent graduate degree? Would it be strength to my application?
2) How does Duke view military chaplaincy? I aim to apply to the Air Force Chaplain Candidacy program concurrently.
3) Any insight regarding the emphasis Duke’s M Div has regarding pastoral care and spiritual formation?
Thank you everyone for your input!