Hello Wings of Bone -
My name is Jessica Rooney, and I work in the Office of Admissions at Naropa University. We're happy that you are considering our MDiv program! If you are interested, we would love to connect you with current MDiv students, or recent MDiv alumni, so you can discuss the program with them. To set this up, please email me at admissions@naropa.edu.
In terms of numbers, our graduate programs have an average class size of 13, with a student/faculty ratio of 9:1. Many of our graduates go on to work within religious-based community service and ministry, including work within hospitals, hospices, prisons, and the armed forces. Other available career paths include work in the not-for-profit community-based sector and other nontraditional ministries such as social activism, poverty ministry, or community development.
Contemplative education at Naropa involves the combination of learned knowledge with awareness, insight, and compassion. The goal is to educate the whole self by integrating what you learn with how you live your life. Specifically, the MDiv program combines a Western-style History of Religions approach and a classic Tibetan Tradition approach to the study of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism in the first year of study. The History of Religions approach includes cultural, social, artistic, historical, phenomenological, and religious perspectives, combined with the presentation of the in-depth foundational material of a traditional educational system of a Tibetan monastic college (shedra). The result is a program that will leave you uniquely prepared to use your understanding of Buddhism and the hieghtened sense of clarity, insight, and warmth within a wide variety of postgraduate career directions.
Thank you again for your interest! As you continue your research into the program, I invite you to explore the links I've listed below. If you have any further questions, I'd be glad to help!
Best,
Jessica
-MDiv fact sheet: http://www.naropa.edu/academics/documents/MDiv.pdf
-MDiv homepage: http://www.naropa.edu/academics/graduate/madivinity/index.cfm
-Graduate "how to apply" instructions: http://www.naropa.edu/admissions/grad_apply.cfm
-About Naropa: http://www.naropa.edu/about/index.cfm