Admissions

Steps to Apply

1. Eligibility: Students must meet all eligibility requirements listed on the D.Min. Eligibility page.

2. Start an Application: The application will ask standard questions regarding personal information, family, education history, employment history, church, etc. It will also ask several spiritual and theological questions regarding your own testimony, involvement in the local church, and position on key theological issues, such as your view of atonement and sign gifts.

3. Theological Stance Form: Upon completing the application, you will be asked to fill out a short additional form that asks for your stance on a few more theological issues. This form will automatically be sent to you via email once you get far enough into your online application.

4. Graduate Level Writing Sample: In the application you will also be prompted to upload a 15–20 page writing sample of previous academic work, demonstrating graduate study proficiency. There is no assigned topic for this writing sample—you are free to submit a paper you have already written for another class or program. The paper also does not have to be theological in nature. However, be advised that in reviewing this writing sample, the doctoral admissions committee will look not only for content, but also for acceptable formatting, syntax, grammar, and citation.

5. 3 References: In the application, you will be prompted to provide the names and email addresses of three different references—pastor (or elder, ministry peer, and personal. Each reference must not be related to you, the applicant. Once you provide the name and the email address of the reference in the application, our system will automatically send the reference the appropriate electronic form and your reference can complete that form without having to confer with you. When a reference finishes their form, you will be notified via email. If the reference delays in filling out the form, please contact the Graduate Studies office, as your reference may not have received the form.

6. Application Fee ($50): Upon application submission, you will be prompted to pay the application fee ($50) through our electronic portal via PayPal. Setting up a PayPal account is not required to make the payment. If you cannot complete the payment using our electronic portal, you may mail in your application fee to this address (all checks can be made out to The Master’s University):
   
   THE MASTER’S UNIVERSITY
   Office of Graduate Studies, Box #50
   21726 Placerita Canyon Road
   Santa Clarita, CA 91321
   UNITED STATES

7. Official Transcripts: After the application has been submitted, our system will assemble all schools you previously attended and indicated in the application, and it will create a list of official transcripts that you will need to mail to our Graduate Studies Office with the address above. If your school uses a secure electronic system to email official transcripts, you may have the school send them electronically in place of mailing them. Please be advised that these transcripts must be official, meaning that they must either be transmitted through a secure electronic portal or a secure envelope in the mail. They cannot be copies of your transcripts, or sent as an email attachment to our department by you or your institution. They must come directly from your school using one of the two secure methods mentioned above and are not to be opened by you or anyone else).
   
   When having your official transcripts sent to us, make sure to remind your school that the “Box #50” must be included in the address. Some schools have our basic address in their system without the “Box #50.” They may need prompting to include this number. If it is not included, the transcript may arrive in another department on our campus, and it may take some time to locate it.
   
   Of most importance, students applying for graduate studies must have a bachelor’s degree from a school that meets the accreditation standards of the Higher Learning Commission in the United States, with few exceptions. If you are unsure about the accreditation of your school you may consider the following resources:
   
   
   • If the school(s) from which you received your degree(s) is in the United States, you can use THIS WEBSITE to see if your school is accredited.

   • If the school(s) from which you received your degree(s) is located outside of the United States, you can do one of the following: (1) Contact the Graduates Studies office to see if your international institution has already been evaluated and approved in the past by our institution. If it has not been evaluated and approved, (2) have your transcripts evaluated by ECE. You must use the General with Grade Average service. Such a service unfortunately costs $130, but it is the cheapest evaluation service we have found that fulfills all the requirements to evaluate your transcripts for our purposes.

8. Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): Only for students in which English is not their first language, you will need to complete and score a minimum of 100 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Please visit their WEBSITE HERE and search for “Master’s College” or “Master’s University” in Santa Clarita as the school where you would like your exam scores sent.

After Your Application Is Complete

When all the application items have been submitted and sent to us (online application, recommendations, official transcripts, TOEFL), then your application will be ready for review by the doctoral admissions committee in the Graduate Studies office. The committee might take up to 3–4 weeks to review incoming files for admission. We appreciate your understanding and patience.

Upon Acceptance

Assuming the doctoral admissions committee grants you acceptance, you will be instructed to pay a $500 deposit that will act as payment toward your first set of classes. We will not be able to set up your new student account until the deposit is paid. You will be granted the opportunity to pay the deposit electronically through our Authorize.net service provider upon accepting the offer of admission, or you may send the deposit by mail to the address listed above.

International Students

Once admitted, you will want to get started on your F-1, I-20, and any other international forms. Please see the link below to get started. We also encourage you to contact our International Student Office, iso@masters.edu, if you have any questions.

Click here to start your F-1 Visa, I-20, and other forms.

Former/Current TMS Students

Your application will be shorter than what is prescribed above. Please designate that you are a Current/Former TMS Student at the beginning of the application. This will prompt our system to reduce your application requirements automatically. In the application, you will NOT be prompted to provide us a writing sample, personal reference, or TOEFL. For your transcripts, we have your TMS record, so you will not need to request that from the Seminary. However, we will need you to request for copies of your other school transcripts from the TMS administrator (Arely Perez). Please email Arely at aperez@tms.edu and request from her copies of your transcripts to be sent securely to graduatestudies@masters.edu.

Re-Admit Students

Your application process will be shorter than what is prescribed above. Please designate that you are a Re-Admit student at the beginning of the application. This will prompt our system to reduce your application requirements automatically. In the application, you will NOT be prompted to provide us a writing sample, ministry peer reference, personal reference, or TOEFL. Also, the short answers in the application will be uniquely fitted for you. For your transcripts, please send us only official transcripts of any schools you have attended since the last time you were enrolled as a student in our Graduate Studies program.

Application Deadlines