Get a practice test and take them to improve your score on the actual test. The scoring scheme for this test changes from time to time. Check your prospective program’s guides for average accepted scores. Scores older than ten years will usually not be accepted by your program. Select the school(s) you are applying to for submission of your scores during the live test.
Examine your prospective Master’s program’s degree offerings for a religion or philosophy department. Contact the Master’s program’s professor(s) for recommendations of their program as a starting point for an academic career in theological studies. Otherwise, they may be able to direct you elsewhere. Look into the similar fields of history, literature, and anthropology for programs and classes that will benefit your studies.
Make sure you make any decisions on the “fast track” by your program’s deadline. Get an accurate list of the requirements of the doctorate program. Look for increased credit hours, dissertation requirements (the final written research composition you will produce), and course options. Even without a “fast track” option, you may stay in your current school for the Ph. D. However, this may require a fresh application.
Check your prospective program’s course lists for what languages are regularly offered. Get a schedule of when the official knowledge reading exams or equivalent tests are given each semester. Ask your prospective program about their rules for passage of the language credit. Find out if a class and/or exam are needed to pass the credit.
Select a topic that adds to or fills a gap in the existing field. Don’t “reinvent the wheel,” and write about what’s already been done. Find something new or find a different angle within a well known topic. Save your research. The books (secondary sources), manuscripts, interviews, and archives you visit may help you again in your doctoral work.
Read the faculty lists of the programs you are most interested in and narrow them down to the professors that cover the subfields of theology you want to study. [5] X Research source
Introduce yourself and your ideas for the theological project you would like to work on with this faculty member. Discuss the work you’ve already done–especially your master’s program work. Engage the faculty member on theological ideas and see if you can form a good professional bond.
Schedule time to meet with the professor(s) you may work with. See if you can at least with your potential major advisor to go over likely dissertation subjects, courses, and program expectations. Visit the department you would study with. Find out what work the other religion, philosophy, and theology professors and grad students are doing. Ask about religious organizations that work with the department or university that could contribute to your topic. Get their contact information. [7] X Research source
Submit transcripts from your undergraduate and master’s program. Make sure they arrived at your prospective doctoral school by its application deadline. Send writing samples. Most doctorate programs require a writing sample. This can sometimes be a research paper or a thesis chapter. You may also need to provide an additional original essay. Read your program’s application requirements carefully.
Most universities require a major field to be taken along with several minor fields to improve a graduate’s academic credentials. Pick a committee. These professors will lead your minor fields and consult for your comprehensive exams in addition to your major advisor. They may or may not also serve on your dissertation committee. Meet with your department’s academic advisor and your major professor frequently to make sure you’re satisfying the required credits for your major and minor fields.
Pick classes that also help your dissertation along with the research and papers that you will complete for them.
Instruct a class if you get the opportunity. This is both a practice for real teaching positions and a highlight for your job applications.
This test will cover the major/minor concentration fields. Get questions and/or prepare with your committee members well ahead of time.
Outline your ideas, theological problems, religious theories, sources, philosophical arguments, methodology, and working bibliography.
Check your funding opportunities so they match the right stage of your work “pre-dissertation” while you’re researching and others while you’re in the writing phase near completion.
Request archivists for help in locating more information on your subject. They can find items that you might not find in catalogs. Present at conferences to get early feedback on research and writing you do. You can do this even if your writing is not in its final form. You can exchange research and theological concepts you had not considered.
Try to write just a little daily, maybe a couple of hours. Otherwise, set aside blocks of time you know you won’t be disturbed on particular days of the week. Share parts of what you write to your major advisor, academic mentors, and/or graduate students at a similar level of progress. For graduate students, this can be mutually motivating.
