MDiv Programs to Consider

[chewedupchaplain]

Hello, all, I am a senior in college discerning about the seminary application process with the goal of becoming a chaplain. I'm staring down at that January 15 application deadline and getting scared, so I'd like to have a final list of schools soon. I'm interested in Bible-based programs in/near a city that emphasize public theology. I was raised with a mix of different denominations, so am open to most seminary affiliations that aren't fundamentalist or Catholic.

I'm not sure if I'm qualified enough to get in, but my dream school would be Union Theological Seminary in NYC. I like that it is a training ground for faith-based activism, the urban campus location, and that it offers a Theology and Arts concentration in the MDiv. But I know it's not good to pin your hopes on one school, so I'd like to hear about similar institutions. Drew, McCormick, and Garret pique my interest - does Fuller also fit what I'm looking for? I also have United Theological Seminary in the Twin Cities on my radar since it seems to meet my wishlist while having a higher acceptance rate (?). Although my GPA is alright, I have a messy transcript (I transferred schools and took five years for undergrad) so I've rules out the elites like Yale/Princeton/Duke/Harvard/Vanderbilt/UChicago. I appreciate your help, thanks for reading!

[xypathos]

Could you say more about wanting a Bible-based program, yet not fundamentalist? Also, why not Catholic? On the latter, you'd be hard pressed to find a reputable seminary/divinity school that doesn't have a number of catholics on faculty. Catholics have often lead the way in regards to public theology and activism so I'm not sure about writing them off.

Unless your GPA is absolutely atrocious, I would absolutely not write off ANY of the schools you listed at the bottom.

I spent my freshman year of college on academic probation and sophomore year barely above it. While my next two years were a near perfect 4.0, I also had extensive courses from other schools, nine schools in fact! Standard BAs are 120 credits and by the time I started at Vanderbilt I had just under 300 undergraduate credits and they were all over the damn place.

If you look at retention rates supplied by the federal government, most students take 4.5-5 years to graduate college. Graduating in four is increasingly becoming rarer and a sign of privilege, even for middle class families. Do not write yourself off!

The acceptance rate for Mdiv programs, even competitive ones like Harvard and Yale, is 30-50%. Schools like Vanderbilt, where I did my Mdiv, has an incoming class of about 100 students!

Rather than thinking of transferring and five years as a deficit (they aren't!), frame these experiences in a way that speaks to what you learned about yourself, things you pursued, etc!

Union Theological is a great school and I almost went there but their financial aid is bad. There's no way to sugarcoat that. So, unless you're independently wealthy, it's something else that you need to consider. Harvard and Yale have generally been generous with aid. I believe, on principle, that everyone at Princeton gets an 80% offer? I'd look into that, I know PCUSA gets 100%. Also, if you're serious about chaplaincy, Princeton really calls the shots when it comes it practical theology and the offerings they have for students. It's also an easy commute into the wider NYC area. Vanderbilt's aid is bad and living in Nashville-proper is out of reach for most people, even with a full-time job. Most of my classmates lived 20-60 minutes from campus and were taking out 20-40k in loans EVERY year, I personally know of about two dozen of my cohort that left VDS with graduate loans in excess of 100k. They're fucked. Chicago would be great but the Mdiv program is small, 20-30'ish students I believe, but they're very generous with aid!

[chewedupchaplain]

Thank you for replying xypathos! I'm totally fine with Catholic faculty, half my family is Catholic and I did CCD. But I wouldn't apply somewhere like Notre Dame since I am not looking to enter Catholic ministry specifically. I said Bible-based because I do want a MDiv program from a Christian perspective - so even though Naropa University has a chaplaincy track, it doesn't fit what I'm looking for since it's from a Buddhist perspective.

College took out a lot of my confidence so I'm trying to mitigate my expectations for the kinds of grad schools I could get into. Yale's ISM MDiv track is right up my alley but I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars applying to schools I don't have a chance at and set myself up for disappointment. But your words of encouragement pushed me to sign up for a virtual YDS admissions event, so I'll see how I feel in a few weeks : )

Edited October 30, 2020 by chewedupchaplain

[11Q13]

I got into Harvard with a messy transcript and taking six years for undergrad. It all depends on why. Also, most schools will have application fee waivers, so look into that if the expense of applying is a concern.