Degree P ro g r a m s and
A d m i ss i o n s continued
E x a m i n at i o n s Following completion of all academic and practicum courses totaling 50 credits, and having earned a least a B average, the student will take a Clinical Performance exam (normally May of the second year), showing competency in counseling. Following the performance exam, students will prepare for five Qualifying Exams, covering therapeutic relationship and personality theory, marriage and family theory, pastoral theology, socio-cultural dimensions of pastoral counseling, and ecclesiological and ethical dimensions of pastoral counseling. The five written exams are followed by a comprehensive oral examination. D i s s e rtat i o n Following satisfactory performance in the qualifying examinations, students prepare a dissertation proposal in consultation with their advisor. Following approval of the dissertation proposal by their dissertation committee and the Institutional Review Board (IRB), students engage in the approved research project and write the dissertation. Timeframe Four to five years is a reasonable minimum timeframe for completion of all requirements for the degree on a full-time basis, depending on the student’s other work commitments. Students may negotiate to complete some of the degree requirements on a part-time basis, typically after completion of the first two years of the program. Students are required to complete all degree requirements within nine years. A d m i s s i o n t o t h e D o c t o r o f T h e o l o g y i n P a s t o r a l C o u n s e li n g P r o g r a m Persons seeking admission to this program must hold the Master of Divinity or equivalent degree with a superior academic record from an accredited institution and must have had post-seminary professional experience in which significant learning and professional promise were evident. In addition, the admission process requires the following: • Completed application form, including a statement of purpose and all other materials outlined in the application form; • Official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended; • Three letters of reference and all supporting materials; • Official scores on the verbal, quantitative, and analytical reading portions of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) taken within the last five years and sent directly to Columbia Theological Seminary. The institutional code for Columbia is R5118; • Significant supervised experience in Clinical Pastoral Education (usually not less than four units—a basic unit plus a year-long residency); • A sense of pastoral identity, preferably in pastoral ministry or grounded in a significant history of service in the church; • All ThD applicants for whom English is a second language must take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Internet-based test (iBT), and the iBT TOEFL score must be from a test date that is two years or less from the date of application to Columbia Theological Seminary. A minimum total iBT TOEFL score of 95 is required, with a minimum required score of 21 in each of the four sub-areas. The deadline for receipt of all application materials is January 15 of the year for which fall semester admission is requested. After a review of submitted materials, finalists will be invited to an interview with the entire ThD committee in February. For more information, or to request application materials, please contact the Office of Admissions at admissions@ctsnet.edu. International applicants to the ThD program must first contact the International Programs Office (intlprog@ctsnet.edu) for application information.
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