Doing a ThM for Doctoral Admissions

[Polyphemus]

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? 

[bigsh]

Speaking solely from my personal and ongoing experience, Yes, a ThM or STM can help in the quest for a doctoral spot. I tried applying to a couple doctoral programs a couple years ago, and was rejected at one and waitlisted at another. I'm wrapping up my STM thesis right now, and I have an admissions offer at at least one school. And they said that the STM made it an easier decision on their end. My MDiv numbers were in the range of yours, and my STM numbers were a bit better. Plenty of school seem to not really view an MDiv as a truly academic degree, even to the extent that some don't count it as a qualifying masters degree. A ThM or STM will fill that requirement, and will demonstrate a capacity for advanced work. The degrees are usually considered as preparatory for doctoral work and would probably open some kind of door for you if you can't get one to open this year, at least that's my experience.  

A side note, I did my STM where I did my MDiv and there was considerable funding available for the degree. The STM program here also has an incredibly good (if unadvertised) track record of getting folks into doctoral programs at least somewhere. 

I was sitting in the same kind of spot as you two years ago and my options were go do the STM or mentally wrap my head around the idea of never trying to pursue a PhD. At bare minimum, the ThM will give you an opportunity to do some in depth study that my be helpful in your other pursuits (I'm imagining ordination/pastorate is an option with the MDiv). So, yeah, definitely think about it.

[xypathos]

Same sentiments as @bigsh, largely.

ThM are often treated as a cash cow for a university but if you go to one that you did your MDiv or one that has an established reputation as being a feeder school, it could work. They often have later deadlines because of the very situation you've found yourself - getting shutout from every school and now needing a Plan B.

That said, ThMs have a hit or miss reputation on these forums. If you have a particular area that you know you want to focus on (moral theology) and enough material to have an inkling of an idea for a thesis, great! If you still don't know and want to spend time poking around, avoid a ThM at all costs.

There hasn't been a lot of discussion here on ThMs and funding so I can't help much there. So while places like Yale, Duke, etc tend to offer some funding, I don't know if any routinely offer all/mostly funded post-MDiv routes. Maybe others will be able to chime in there and suggest programs!

[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

Edited February 19, 2022 by Polyphemus

[bigsh]

I think there is great variance school to school in how and when they determine funding for some programs, so that's really, really tough to say. 

[Elwynn11]

Hi to be straightforward here, you MDIV GPA is indeed low. In this age of GPA inflation, I can't imagine you can get into good PhD programs with a GPA lower than 3.8 or 3.9. So unless you can improve your GPA significantly in the ThM, I don't think your chance of success will be good even next year. Btw your GRE is also not advantageous. You will have to improve it too.

And do you know why you were not accepted by the programs? Did they give you any feedbacks? If you find out the reason you may be able to target the improvement more effectively.

I myself only have an MA degree (and before this I was in in another field). Last year I also struggled a lot with whether to do a ThM first then apply to PhD, or apply to PhD directly. In the end I decided to apply to PhD directly, and luckily since I do have a good research proposal which caught the interest of the potential supervisors very quickly, and they gave me "verbal acceptance" very early on in the process, I was able to get accepted into these programs relatively easily (and my GPA is nearly 4.0). However, right now I still struggle on the funding side. To get funding is yet one more dimension difficult than getting accepted.

So, on the other side, if you need to take loans now for your ThM, what do you plan to do for your PhD? It will be too much financial burden (thus also emotional burden) for you.