ddsdevil

Hello, I'm a current M.Div student who has aspirations to do a PhD eventually. I'm curious of your thoughts about if a post-M.Div (S.T.M.) would improve my chances of acceptance. I'm probably going to graduate with no better than a 3.50 GPA with my M.Div. at Duke and thinking about options to improve my chances. My focus will likely be liturgics and I would focus on that with the STM. If I did well there, would that help with overcoming the weaker M.Div GPA? Anyone with experience with this? Thanks!

I'm from GA and visited both schools twice. Emory seemed like the logical choice for me, but I fell in love with Duke. Both are excellent schools and it really depends on what you are looking for. But for me, it was Duke. If you are planning to study NT, it's really hard to beat Duke. Douglas Campbell is our NT professor (1st year's intro. to NT) and he is amazing. Some of the stuff that he is doing is ground breaking (The Deliverance of God). Richard Hays is the star of the faculty, but keep in mind that he will be assuming the role as Dean for the next two years. Therefore, I doubt that he will be offering many classes, if any at all. I have also found the theological approach to scripture here to be a breath of fresh air. Laced through the courses is the understanding that scripture is for the church. There is room for other views, but this post-liberal view is certainly dominant. Blessings to you as you search!

Really depends on your theological preference. Here's my list: Fundamentalist/Evangelical (Some of the below I wouldn't categorize Fundamentalist actually...) Fuller Gordon-Conwell Asbury Regent College Mainline Duke Princeton Theological Seminary Candler Drew Liberal Yale Harvard I'm a current student at Duke and I'm biased. I love it here and highly recommend it.

I have a similar question. What sort of M.Div GPA would one need to get into a good ThM/STM program? For example, I'm a student interested in doing some liturgical studies post M.Div at a place like Yale, although I'm not really sure that I'm interested in doing a PhD. Thanks

Also, if you are interested in going to a Baptist school, my assumption is that you are baptist. If you look at the Southern Bapt. seminaries faculty, you will see that the majority of them did their PhD's at SB seminaries. My point is, some of the more conservative/fundamentist schools are quite cautious of hiring a Harvard or Yale grad. If you see your future teaching at Baptist schools or seminaries, it might be helpful to keep this in mind.

Pretty much. If I had to go with one, I'd go with McAfee. I think it's rare for Southern Baptist seminary grads to go to top tier programs. Not impossible, but rare. McAfee is similar to Beeson at Samford and Wake Forest Divinity School. All three are pretty solid programs, but not very popular. That said, It does seem that there are several baptist seminary grads doing PhD's across seas. Check out this blog: http://dunelm.wordpress.com/ Ben is a PhD student at the Univ. of Durham and he did his Masters at Dallas Theological Seminary, a fundamentalist school. So, it's possible.

Hello, I'm not a student at McAfee, but one of my former pastors went there for seminary. McAfee is a seminary associated with Mercer University (my pastor went there for undergrad as well). Mercer is in Macon and I believe McAfee is in Atlanta. My pastor had a very rewarding experience there and recommended it. He's now a UMC minister, but he went into seminary as a baptist. (McAfee is associated with the Cooperative Baptist Church; It has recently disassociated itself from the Southern Baptists). I guess it depends on why you want to go. Mercer is an great school, but it doesn't have the name power as others. I know of someone who's doing their PhD at Baylor and went to McAfee so it's respected academically. However, if you see your future in academics, I'd recommend the others you listed probably before McAfee. Another school in the Atlanta area is Columbia Theological Seminary. It's more popular than McAfee and would probably open more doors for you. Walter Brueggemann also teaches there. Good luck!

Thanks to everyone for the input!

Forgive me ignorance, but how does that work? Church History is a core class. Can I really take a class to replace it? If so, would it need to be in the same field? Thanks

C's are passing in the M.Div. I'm not sure if I can retake it. If I can, wouldn't the C still be on the transcript?

Thanks for the response! Has anyone made a C+ in a class during their Master's program and was still accepted to a top tier program?

I just finished my first semester at Duke Div. and my grades aren't what I was hoping for. I didn't do too well on my papers in Church History and ended the semester with a C+ in that class. I have high aspirations to do a PhD/ThD and I was hoping to get into a good program. Will this C+ pretty much put an end to that? Thanks

Well obviously you aren't guaranteed anything in this economy, but the best that I've heard would be Duke and U of Chicago.

Congrats! See you in the fall.

If you apply to Harvard, I would take the above advice and apply to other schools as well. You could be accepted to HDS with your ugpa, but I would honestly say that it's not likely. You will have to blow them away with the rest of your appl. to have a shot. However, you do still have a year (since you graduate in May 2010) to improve your gpa. If you can get it closer to a 2.85+ your chances will improve. I also DEFINITELY recommend that you take the GRE. If you score high on it then you will have more academic cred. I don't know about HDS's admission stats but I do know about Duke's. I was accepted to Duke with a 3.33 ugpa and it's probably on the low end. I think I read that the average ugpa for 2008 DDS admissions was around a 3.7. I honestly probably wouldn't have been accepted if it wasn't for my ministry experience and my denomination affiliation (UMC). My assumption is that Duke and Harvard are similar in admissions stats. Are you interested in HDS because of location? There are some other very solid schools in the northeast. Boston University has a good school of theology. Gordon Conwell is good as well, although it is conservative and very different from HDS. Not saying that it is entirely impossible for you to be accepted at HDS, but I would look into other options as well. Just curious, what is your denominational affiliation?

I don't think that you will have any problem with any of those schools. If you keep your GPA around a 3.8 and get some ministry experience, chances are that you could get some good funding as well. For example, I graduated with a 3.33 UG GPA and I got into Duke with about $12,000 a year funding. However, I've been active in churches for about 6 years so I'm pretty sure that helped.

Hello all, I'm so glad that I found this forum. The info here is very helpful. I'm hoping to get some information from you. I'm about to begin my M.Div. at Duke Div. in August. I have a lot of interests right now and I'm not sure that I can have a focus yet. I'm really interested in liturgics and NT. (very broad i know) Did the rest of you already have a focus before you entered your masters? Also, I don't have a great undergrad GPA (3.33 from a small Christian college) but I really hope to get into a very good PhD program (Duke, Emory, Vandy, Yale, etc.) Obviously I need to have very good grades at Duke (3.85+). Have any of you found it difficult to get into really good programs because of a subpar undergrad GPA, even with a great Masters GPA from a solid school? Thanks

Hello, I'll begin at Duke div this fall. My guess is that you have heard something by now. Duke is unique in that the school really does value students interested in ministry. Your GPA looks good, but your ministry experience should really help you. Also, are you a declared candidate for ordination? Potential for future ministry is a big plus. Good luck and hope to see you there in the fall!