Non-traditional MDiv applicant

[intransitione]

Here's my situation:

I did not grow up in a religious household. At least not initially. Sometime when I was 10 or so, my mom and step-dad began to explore and we hopped from liberal Episcopalian to making 'crusades' to the 700 Club. As a result as far back as age 13, I considered myself an atheist. This was cemented by my maternal grandfather and my father who were ardent atheists. I attended Catholic primary and secondary school as the education was well regarded. Outside of the theology classes in high school, I have no formal training in religious studies save for a few Chinese philosophy courses in undergrad.

My stats:

Age: 42

Sex: Male

Marital Status: Divorced

Undergrad: BS- psychology/pre-medicine

School: Michigan State University

GPA: 3.33; Psych GPA: 3.75

Graduate Degree: Juris Doctor, cum laude

School: Michigan State University

Occupation: Attorney

Denomination: ???

I worked as a psychiatric counselor in an inner-city Detroit crisis center for 8 years and loved it and excelled. Subsequent to my JD, I shifted to law and have disliked 95% of it.

I 'found' God about two years ago and within the first year, I felt the calling to go into the Ministry. My business partner and close friend is a pastor of an Assemblies of God church and I love his sermons. However, this AG is not in the US and is far more liberal than what I had experienced in my parents quest. I do not have a home church currently as I travel constantly, but I tend towards the slight left of mainstream.

I keep reading how so many people who are applying to MDiv have ministerial backgrounds and/or significant religious education, either in their academic lives, or within their church. I have neither. This is a 180 degree change for me. My end aspiration would be to pursue a PhD and teach either domestically in the US or abroad. As such, I am concerned about my Mdiv admission chances at some of the more select programs.

I am looking into the following schools and would like another's perspective on the likelihood of admission:

• Harvard
  
• Yale
  
• Duke
  
• Vanderbilt
  
• Princeton
  
• Union
  
• Fuller
  
• Emory
  
• Claremont
  

I am open to other schools.

Advanced thank you for your kind assistance.

[Balatro]

The admission rates at some of these schools, on a bad year, hovers around 30% but is generally somewhere between 40-50%.

Duke, Vanderbilt, Princeton (technically it's Princeton Theological Seminary since it's not officially a part of Princeton University), Emory, and Claremont are all denominational schools. They admit people not attached to their denomination ALL the time, but I want to make sure that you're aware of their affiliation.

Harvard, Yale, and Union are non-denominational but have large and influential groups from certain denominations -- Harvard and Yale tend to attract a lot of Episcopalians, Union I *think* leans toward Methodism.

Since you'll be applying for an MDiv program, the Adcoms are going to want to know "how" you found God and how you intend to do ministry work. Essentially they want to know why you've chosen to attend seminary - how/why is it required for you to attend in order to obtain your end goal/mission/calling. What is your calling to seminary other than "I found God" or "I like a good sermon." Should you later decide to seek ordination in a denomination, your Bishop (or the equiv.) is essentially going to ask the same...Why do you feel called to become a priest, rather than a heavily involved member, or even a deacon (for example). Generally I advise people to answer these questions ahead of time and be very careful in your word choice. I've had plenty of Bishops - Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, etc tell me that when they ask an interested applicant this question, they know if they're qualified to move on by the time they finish the first sentence in their response.

Really you raised the first major red flag: This is a 180 degree change for you and you have no ministerial or religious education background. So, why attend seminary? If your goal is to simply become a teacher and that's the god you 'found'...an academic degree is probably going to be a better fit.

Stat wise (age, gpa, lawyer)...I think you're fine. If you applied to every school, you'd get in somewhere if not most/all places. The big question I see is "Why?" --- and that you need to think about. A lot of these schools are going to want academic references but also ministerial references of some degree, who'd write yours?

[theologyofyourface]

Really you raised the first major red flag: This is a 180 degree change for you and you have no ministerial or religious education background. So, why attend seminary? If your goal is to simply become a teacher and that's the god you 'found'...an academic degree is probably going to be a better fit.

Stat wise (age, gpa, lawyer)...I think you're fine. If you applied to every school, you'd get in somewhere if not most/all places. The big question I see is "Why?" --- and that you need to think about. A lot of these schools are going to want academic references but also ministerial references of some degree, who'd write yours?

Yeah, I agree with this. My husband is awaiting his ordination to the Episcopal priesthood and wants to work in ministry, and he has an MDiv; I want to become a professor of religion and teach, so I'm going for an MA that will hopefully lead to a PhD. In my experience, most people who want an MDiv are thinking primarily of their ministry work, although some later end up as professors, too. I think the question you're going to be asked is: why do you want an MDiv? It's not so much a denominational question as it is a vocational question.

[11Q13]

I can't speak to the other places, but Harvard likes non-traditional applicants like yourself, and it sure seems like a lot of the MDivs have no prior training in religious studies...

[MsBOOM]

As 11Q13 stated, Harvard loves non-traditional applicants. We've got a whole bunch of different people in the MDiv program here - anywhere from atheists to a Caucasian female Muslim convert who wants to become a Muslim chaplain in a prison setting.