PTS Question

[Therewillbeluke]

Hello all, until I hear from other schools, PTS is currently the top contender, mainly because they're killing it with the financial aid.

 

I heard from an alum that you can get out of certain required classes if you've taken similar classes as an undergrad (i.e. Intro. to Old Testament). Can anyone confirm this? If so how do you go about doing it? I ask because although I am considering ministry, my main goal is doctoral work and I would love the opportunity to take more classes that are relevant to my research interests.

 

Also, general comments about life at PTS are much appreciated.

[cadences]

Hello all, until I hear from other schools, PTS is currently the top contender, mainly because they're killing it with the financial aid.

 

I heard from an alum that you can get out of certain required classes if you've taken similar classes as an undergrad (i.e. Intro. to Old Testament). Can anyone confirm this? If so how do you go about doing it? I ask because although I am considering ministry, my main goal is doctoral work and I would love the opportunity to take more classes that are relevant to my research interests.

 

Also, general comments about life at PTS are much appreciated.

 

Yup, that's true. It's a matter of speaking to the registrar and/or the professor who is facilitating the equivalent introductory class in PTS. But this is advanced placement, not a transfer of credit, so you'd have to fulfil the distribution credit requirements for the course you got out of i.e. if you were exempted from INtro to OT or NT, then you have to do a Biblical Studies class to make up for it.

[Therewillbeluke]

Yup, that's true. It's a matter of speaking to the registrar and/or the professor who is facilitating the equivalent introductory class in PTS. But this is advanced placement, not a transfer of credit, so you'd have to fulfil the distribution credit requirements for the course you got out of i.e. if you were exempted from INtro to OT or NT, then you have to do a Biblical Studies class to make up for it.

 

Excellent! What sort of courses are usually waived? I've taken a lot of philosophy/religion classes as an undergrad, but I'm not so sure that many would correspond to some of these intro classes.

[Kuriakos]

I don't know about PTS, but at the seminary I went to you could test out of the two Intro to NT classes, the two Intro to OT classes, Intro Greek, and Intro Hebrew. That was it.

[Lux Lex Pax]

Something to keep in mind is that in order to get out of a required introductory level course you need to demonstrate that the undergrad course you want to substitute in its place covered the same ground. For instance, to get out of OT 101, you would need to show that you took an undergrad survey course that covered the entire OT. Even if you took a bunch of courses in single books of the OT, they won't let you out of the requirement. I think the same applies to the other required introductory courses (NT 101, TH 101, CH 101, etc.). They let you test out of the introductory language stuff, so you can jump straight into advanced work. Also, like cadences said, even if the undergrad course substitutes for the required course, you'd still need to complete the required number of units in each area (OT, NT, CH, TH, etc.).

[Therewillbeluke]

Something to keep in mind is that in order to get out of a required introductory level course you need to demonstrate that the undergrad course you want to substitute in its place covered the same ground. For instance, to get out of OT 101, you would need to show that you took an undergrad survey course that covered the entire OT. Even if you took a bunch of courses in single books of the OT, they won't let you out of the requirement. I think the same applies to the other required introductory courses (NT 101, TH 101, CH 101, etc.). They let you test out of the introductory language stuff, so you can jump straight into advanced work. Also, like cadences said, even if the undergrad course substitutes for the required course, you'd still need to complete the required number of units in each area (OT, NT, CH, TH, etc.).

 

Thanks for the info! One last question: is 15/16 credits a semester at PTS too much, or should I just stick to 12/13?

[cadences]

Thanks for the info! One last question: is 15/16 credits a semester at PTS too much, or should I just stick to 12/13?

 

Well, firstly, 16 credits would probably be out of the question, I think. As it stands, you can't take more than 15 credits in a semester, and your combined course load across Fall and Spring cannot exceed 28 credits. There is one exception to this 28-credit rule, though:  you can take a course during January term to bring your total number of credits for that academic year to a maximum of 30 credits. Naturally, if you have a Brilliant case for taking more than 15 credits in a semester, you can talk to David Wall, the registrar, who is a seriously nice guy; but I think he would be reluctant to grant the exception, nonetheless.

 

But honestly, I think that it would be good to stick to 12 credits for your first year, or at least for your first semester (this is also the opinion of a few of my seniors), to ease yourself into your studies at PTS. Once you get momentum going, taking on a greater course load for the next semester/year wouldn't be that stressful. This is especially true if you can't get yourself out of the introductory courses, especially the most infamous one - Orientation to Old Testament Studies! It's the only course that receives the dubious honour of the Student Government Association setting up a (sympathy) table of snacks and refreshments for students taking its exams

[cadences]

Well, firstly, 16 credits would probably be out of the question, I think. As it stands, you can't take more than 15 credits in a semester, and your combined course load across Fall and Spring cannot exceed 28 credits. There is one exception to this 28-credit rule, though:  you can take a course during January term to bring your total number of credits for that academic year to a maximum of 30 credits. Naturally, if you have a Brilliant case for taking more than 15 credits in a semester, you can talk to David Wall, the registrar, who is a seriously nice guy; but I think he would be reluctant to grant the exception, nonetheless.

 

But honestly, I think that it would be good to stick to 12 credits for your first year, or at least for your first semester (this is also the opinion of a few of my seniors), to ease yourself into your studies at PTS. Once you get momentum going, taking on a greater course load for the next semester/year wouldn't be that stressful. This is especially true if you can't get yourself out of the introductory courses, especially the most infamous one - Orientation to Old Testament Studies! It's the only course that receives the dubious honour of the Student Government Association setting up a (sympathy) table of snacks and refreshments for students taking its exams

 

Oops, forgot to mention: using the January term to bring your credits in a given year to 30 is only allowed once in your entire MDiv career at PTS.