General Admission Requirements for Master’s Programs

Applicants to master’s programs¹ (MA, MDiv, ThM), graduate certificate programs, and visiting student status, must meet the following requirements:

• Possess an earned bachelor’s degree or its equivalent from an accredited college or university (generally at least 120 hours), which normally includes a minimum of 60 hours of liberal arts coursework, with a minimum grade point average (GPA) as stipulated below (on a 4.0 scale):

  TED-Good Academic Standing

  Degree	Minimum GPA
  MA	3.00
  MDIV, MA/TS	2.50
  AP MDiv	3.25
  ThM	3.00 (in MDiv program)
  Certificate or Visiting Student	2.00

• Submit official transcripts from your baccalaureate degree plus any additional transcripts required for the program you are applying to at TEDS.  Please contact an enrollment counselor to determine which additional transcripts might be required. (Electronic copies directly from the institution or in a sealed envelope from the Records/Registration office of the institution are considered official.)
  Note: For university coursework done outside the U.S.A., students may need to submit transcripts through a foreign credit evaluation service. The Admissions Office must receive a "course-by-course evaluation" or a "detail report." There are several such services that are acceptable, including the following:
  • World Education Services
  • Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc. 
  • International Education Research Foundation
• Solicit recommendation forms online from each of the following (Certificate and MA Theological Studies applicants only need to solicit one recommendation from among the following):
  • Applicant’s pastor or church leader
  • Applicant’s employer or a professional acquaintance
  • A faculty member or school administrator at an institution previously attended
• Submit a written three-part statement with (a) your personal testimony, (b) your present spiritual life and Christian service, and (c) ministry goals as described in the application.
• Applicants may be required to submit standardized test results (Graduate Record Exam or Miller Analogies Test) in the following circumstances:  if applicant’s undergraduate GPA falls below the minimum requirement for their program, applicant attended an unaccredited undergraduate institution, or if the program to which they are applying requires it.  All applicants for whom English is not their first language should submit the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) as outlined in the following pages. A personal interview or other supplemental materials may also be required.
  See program description in this catalog for additional program-specific admission requirements.

¹

See doctoral sections of the Catalog for admission requirements for doctoral programs.