Yale STM after MAR?

[JHubbs]

Quick question for anyone who might know: Does Yale Divinity accept students into the one year STM degree from Yale's MAR? Or do they only accept applicants with an MDiv? 

I want to apply for doctoral programs in the fall of my second year of the MAR, but am thinking I should have the STM and a few other good ThM programs on my list as backups. 

 

Thanks! 

[xypathos]

There's no official policy barring a non-MDiv/BD graduate from doing a STM but it's not advised. You'd be taking courses, probably, in the field that you're hoping to do a PhD in, which you should've done with the MAR. You'd likely be forced into doing a lot of independent studies which could be hard to setup.

Most schools also don't offer ANY financial aid for the MTS/ThM so you'd be taking out significant loans for this experience. If you're going to go the one year MTS/ThM route, I'd advise a different school (just make it a good one!) since it'll open connections with other faculty for reccs and connections. Just keep in mind that they really only have 3-4 months to get to know you enough to write a LOR, if you're wanting one of them. It's also unlikely that any of your MTS courses would be on a transcript to benefit you. There's other problems with MTS degrees too but that's a different thread.

[Kunarion]

At YDS, there is a possible third year option for the MAR. This is usually for students who haven't gotten into the programs they wanted in their second year and want to get a little more work under their belts before applying again. That's much more common than someone going from MAR to STM. You have to apply for that third year, but no one I know who applied this year got turned away.

[sacklunch]

As said above, there is little point in doing this because a) funding is zero and b) time is inadequate. If you find yourself needing a second M*, you are far better off applying to another MTS/MAR, obviously elsewhere. This is not uncommon and many of us here have done so (myself included).