Wheaton (IL) Accreditation?

[Raskolot]

While pondering whether or not I will be attending Wheaton College's MA in Theology, I discovered that they are not accredited by the ATS. It seems this would affect the possibility of pursuing a Ph.D from other institutions that require the applicant's Master's degree to come from and ATS school. Does anyone know why Wheaton is not a member of the ATS? I assume it has something to do with it's evangelical/conservative status. It's just somewhat of a shock to me since Wheaton's Ph.D program seems to be so highly regarded. Would an MA from here preclude the possibility of a Ph.D?

[cadences]

An MA from Wheaton would not preclude entry into a PhD program any more than an MA from Marquette or from Duke's Department of Religion would, which are also not accredited by ATS. Wheaton, Marquette, and Duke's Graduate Program of Religion, derive accreditation from their respective regional accreditation agencies rather than from ATS. From ATS' name - the Association of Theological Schools - one can gather that they accredit the standard North American seminary programs i.e. MDiv, ThM, DMin etc., with an eye to ministry preparation, which neither of the colleges/departments I mentioned offer or are aiming for.

Of course they can choose to go for ATS accreditation - no harm getting one more source of academic backing for their programs. But technically, their MAs are already validated by the Department of Education, so there's no need for ATS backing. Besides, it also depends on which PhD programs you apply to - some of the denominational ones will insist on an MDiv for the PhD (and so ATS accreditation is needed by default), but most (at least the big-name programs) will just want to see a legitimate Master's of at least two-years' duration. Wheaton, Marquette and Duke's Religion MA readily fulfil that criteria.

Edited April 18, 2012 by cadences