Polyphemus

I already applied to the one at my current program as a back-up. I have likely missed the funding window for most programs by now though unfortunately (if I'm wrong, someone please correct me lol). I think I have enough direction for a thesis. In my statements of purpose, I had indicated I wanted to write about the threat of American civil religion to authentic Christianity; the entwinement of politics and Christianity, the lack of Christian unity, how many preachers avoid uncomfortable/challenging subjects. It is in my opinion that modern American Christianity is rather embarrassing when compared to that of the Majority World--present and historically. Doing a ThM would be nice to explore that in a thesis, as a preamble of sorts for a dissertation; but, as you said, ThMs seem like cash cows--though one that does seem to have its benefits for PhD applications. Fortunately for me I guess, is that my school does seem to have rather good acceptance rates when it comes to doctoral programs. Everyone I have heard of/met at my school have been accepted into at least one fully funded program; so I would be the first I know to not be accepted anywhere T^T

Tried applying this year to six doctoral programs in Christian Ethics/Moral Theology, but it looks like I won't be getting accepted, or even waitlisted, at all. I would like to try applying to doctoral programs again next year, and so I'm currently discerning what to do in the coming year. I am considering a ThM since it's only one year and could be done at my current school, but it would be ~23,000 USD in loans at my school after what little funding they offer. Though I don't think that price is outrageous, and seems to be rather low from what I remember of other programs, twenty-three thousand dollars is still quite the sum to borrow. My current GPA is 3.45 in an MDiv, and my GRE scores are Verbal 158, Quantitative 150, and Writing 5.0. I also did rather well in my undergrad, but I'm not sure if any work from that is even considered (worked in a psychophysiology lab for a prof, presented two neuroscience professors, summa cum laude, and tutored). Would a ThM do anything 'significant' to boost the strength of my application, given its cost?