Fifth Year B.A./M.A.

Undergraduate Theology majors may opt to enter a five-year B.A./M.A. program. Application to the Program must take place during junior year. The deadline for applications is February 1. Students admitted to the program will follow the curriculum for regular Theology majors, except that all five of their electives must be upper level courses (level three or above). Furthermore, these upper-level electives must be chosen in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies, who will evaluate their appropriateness for graduate education. Two of these courses will count towards the M.A. as well as the B.A. The remainder of the M.A. may thus be completed by taking eight additional graduate courses (BTI included) and fulfilling the revised comprehensive and research language requirements as specified below. Interested undergraduate Theology majors must apply to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Applicants should have achieved an overall GPA of at least 3.33 and a major GPA of at least 3.5.

Advising

Good advising is critical for success in the M.A. Each student must be in regular communication with the M.A. Program Director and should engage a faculty member in the student’s area of study, who agrees to serve as academic adviser.

Courses

Students are required to complete 30, including at least one course in each area: Ethics, Bible, History, Comparative, and Systematics, chosen in consultation with the M.A. Program Director.

BTI and STM

Students may apply courses in the BTI and/or the School of Theology and Ministry toward the degree, but only as electives. Courses fulfilling the above-stated distribution requirements must be taken from the Theology department.

IREPM Summer Course

With the M.A. program director’s prior approval, students may take one three-credit summer course between senior and fifth year.

Language Requirement

Ability to use a language is demonstrated by appropriate use of research journals or books in languages other than English in at least two major papers written in the course of completion of the degree. Such use in each instance is to be attested by the professor to whom the paper is submitted.

Comprehensives

A major research project of significant length (e.g., 60 pages of text), satisfactorily presented in the course of completion of the degree, is required. The satisfactory completion of this project must be attested by the professor under whom it is written. Research projects may be developed as one 60-page paper, three 20-page papers or two 30-page papers.

Time Management and Goal Setting

It is imperative that fulfillment of obligations (e.g., research project requirements) be anticipated well in advance. Deadlines are deadlines, not the starting point of a negotiating process. Know course projections sufficiently in advance to take advantage of offerings over the length of your graduate program. Some deadlines, such as completion of requirements for May graduation, are set by the graduate school administration and are completely beyond the department’s control.