In order to be considered for enrollment to the Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling (MABC) program at The Master’s University (TMU), the following eligibility requirements must be met by the applicant. Meeting these requirements does not guarantee the applicant will be accepted into the program. The administration and faculty of the university reserve the right to withdraw the privilege of enrollment or to place a student on probation if, after enrollment, the student proves to be lacking in these qualifications.

Admission Requirements

An individual must meet the following requirements to be admitted to TMU’s MABC degree program:

Spiritual Requirements

1. Strong testimony of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
2. Demonstration of submission to the will of God and obedience to the Word of God.
3. Agreement with the TMU doctrinal statement and student standards of conduct, along with specific statements on homosexuality, gender identity, and the role of women in the church and the home.
4. Agreement with our university’s doctrinal statement on the doctrine of sign gifts, namely that sign gifts, such as speaking in tongues, prophecy given directly from the Lord, and miracles performed by human hands, have ceased today. Those who believe in sign gifts may be accepted into the program, but only on the following conditions…
   • The applicant must be able to clearly demonstrate a resolute belief in the absolute sufficiency of God’s Word over all matters of life and godliness and that any sign gift believed to be in operation today has no authority over the life of a believer.
   • The applicant must demonstrate a teachable spirit and be willing to adopt a learning posture when this issue is brought up in class.
   • The applicant must understand that his stance on sign gifts continuing today may cause him to score lower on the ACBC exam and may even prevent him from becoming ACBC certified, since it is an important question the student must answer during the certification process.
   • The applicant must understand that his stance on sign gifts continuing today may impact his GPA in certain classes when these matters are addressed in class assignments.
5. Deacon/deaconess qualified according to 1 Timothy 3:8-12. Please note, the applicant is not required to be a deacon or deaconess at his or her local church, but meet the character qualities described in the passage.
6. Possession of the personal and spiritual gifts necessary for counseling and discipleship.
7. Recommendation by church leaders and other people who have had significant contact with the applicant.

Academic Requirements

1. Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university (official transcript required).
2. A cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale for all undergraduate work. Students admitted into our program will be expected to maintain a 3.0 average.

*No formal Bible or Biblical Counseling training is necessary. For questions regarding transfer/advanced standing of classes, see our Admissions page.

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Application Requirements

The following documents must be submitted in order to apply to The Master’s University:

1. Application for Graduate Admission
2. Official transcripts* from all schools from which degrees were conferred, indicating the completion of a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university (see below for information on regional accreditation)
3. Three recommendations: Pastoral, educator, and personal (contained within the application)
4. Writing sample of 10-15 pages evidencing graduate level writing and research (submitted in the application)
5. Short-answer questions on theology and practical ministry (contained within the application)
6. Additional doctrinal questions on key controversial theological issues (in an email sent from the application)
7. $50 application fee

*Official transcripts refer to transcripts that are (1) sent using a safe method of transference directly from the institution, such as a secure online portal or a sealed envelope through the mail, and (2) unopened and reviewed by you or anyone else. Most institutions can send transcripts using one of these two methods. See “Reach out to Your Institutions for Official Transcripts” on our Admissions page for more information.

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Advanced Standing

Students may be eligible to receive advanced standing (similar to transfer credit) in the program if they have taken courses in other academic settings that is deemed sufficiently comparable to the curriculum of certain classes in the MABC program. Considering the MABC program’s unique curriculum and emphasis on biblical counseling and the sufficiency of Scripture to handle all soul-related problems, it is not common for students to receive advanced standing based on coursework from other graduate schools, even if the student majored in psychology, Christian Counseling, or even biblical counseling or biblical studies. Nevertheless, the following types of incoming students commonly receive some measure of advanced standing…

ACBC Certified

Those who have received ACBC certification more than one year prior to starting the MABC program are eligible for advanced standing. Incoming students with ACBC certification can obtain advanced standing for up to three classes in our program based on our discretion.

Those who have been certified for less than one year prior to starting the MABC program may be required to take these courses and/or additional electives that will assist them in gaining the necessary experience, knowledge, and supervision in training as a biblical counselor.

Those who have been certified for more than one year prior to starting the MABC program but have not been actively counseling or involved in biblical counseling ministry may also be required to take these courses to ensure adequate preparation for biblical counseling ministry.

Those who have started but have not completed ACBC Certification prior to starting the MABC program, should not continue to pursue ACBC Certification outside of the MABC program. ACBC Certification is an integral part of the MABC curriculum and the requirements for both the degree and certification are combined into a single course of study.

Students are recommended for ACBC Certification when they complete the MABC program, and are encouraged, but not required, to attend the annual ACBC Conference following successful completion of the MABC program and following approval of their application for certification, so that they may receive their ACBC Certificate in person.

TMU Undergraduates

TMU undergraduate advanced standing is generally reserved for students who major in Biblical Studies with an emphasis in Biblical Counseling. However, other students may be accepted under certain circumstances. Undergraduate students may receive advanced standing for up to three classes in the MABC based on our discretion and must have received at least a B grade or higher in certain courses from their undergraduate degree in biblical counseling.

The Master’s Seminary Students/Graduates

There are currently 5 courses that a student from The Master’s Seminary can receive advanced standing for in the MABC program.

*Class must be taught by an ACBC fellow.

MABC Former Students

Former MABC students looking to be readmitted to finish the program may be eligible to receive advanced standing for courses they’ve already taken. Readmit students may receive advanced standing for anywhere between all or none of the courses they took in the program previously. The decision as to how many classes a readmit student receives advanced standing for will be made by the program director upon review of the student’s application.

Eligibility for advanced standing can only be officially determined when the Admissions Committee receives a student’s full application and reviews it for admission.

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Regional Accreditation Requirement

To be admitted into the MABC program, your institutions will need to be regionally accredited. Regional accreditation denotes a type of accreditation as authorized by the Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions (C-RAC). For your institution to be considered regionally accredited, your school must be accredited by one of the following 7 commissions governed by this council…

C-RAC Regional Accreditation Commissions

1. Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
2. Middle States Commission on Higher Education / Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
3. Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools (MSA-CESS)
4. New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC)
5. Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NCCU)
6. Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
7. Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (WASC-ACCJC)
8. Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Senior College and University Commission (WASC)

There are a few other accreditation commissions that qualify as regional accreditation, but they are rarer and give accreditation to special technical, vocational, and community colleges.

Other Regional Accreditation Commissions

1. New York State Board of Regents
2. Oklahoma Board of Career and Technology Education
3. Pennsylvania State Board of Vocational Education

To see if your school is regionally accredited, you can search for your institution on the Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP) website (button below), and make sure your institution was accredited under one of the commissions above when you graduated from your institution. If the website is unclear or you are unsure, you can always reach out to your institution directly to find out their status of accreditation during the time you graduated.

See If My School’s Regionally Accredited

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International Student Requirements

The Master’s University is authorized under Federal law to enroll non-immigrant alien students. However, all such international students who plan to move to the United States and take classes in-person on an F-1 visa will only be able to take the program in-person for up to one continuous year and must start the program on a fall semester (not a spring or summer semester). The M.A. in Biblical Counseling program is not designed to accommodate a longer stay for such a student in the States or a different start semester due to regulations issued by the United States Department of Homeland Security. Any international student who wants to take all their classes exclusively online, or perhaps some classes on-campus during the two weeks each summer SIP is offered, will be exempt from these restrictions.

In addition to these initial qualifications, there a few additional requirements you may need to fulfill before you can start taking classes in the MABC program…

Transcript Evaluation

If your transcripts are from an institution outside of the United States, our office can check to see if your institution has already received official approval of evaluation by our institution. Our department will be contacted automatically about this when you start an application and add your international institution to it. If our office cannot find prior evidence of evaluation for your institution, you will need to have your transcripts evaluated to make sure your institution complies with our regional accreditation. At this moment, we do not have anyone on staff at The Master’s University who is trained to evaluate international transcripts. You will need to have your transcripts evaluated through a credible U.S. based third-party agency. Evaluations from international third-party agencies will not be accepted. Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) is a good U.S. based evaluation agency you can use. If you decide to go with them, you must use their 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.

Evaluate My Transcripts

ESL Exam

Applicants for whom English is a second language, must take a special exam to demonstrate your ability to read, write, and speak English adequately.

This step is mandatory for all international students unless one of the two scenarios applies to you:

(1) You have taken an ESL exam and received a high enough score according to our standards (TOEFL = 100 of higher / IELTS = 7 or higher).

(2) You have taken your undergraduate degree from an English-speaking institution.

Otherwise, you will need to take an ESL exam. You are welcome to take either a TOEFL or IELTS exam, or if you already have taken one of these exams before, you can submit documentation of either of these. A minimum score of 100 is required on the TOEFL exam and a minimum score of 7 is required on the IELTS. Your application will designate a place where you can upload or send us the results of your exam.

For the TOEFL exam, click here…

TOEFL

For the IELTS exam, click here…

IELTS

You can take one or both of these exams as many times as you want. We recommend you take an English refresher class to help you prepare for these exams.

While all classroom instruction is conducted in English, the administration, faculty and staff attempt to be sensitive to the needs of our international students. Please contact us if you have any questions about this requirement.

Student Visa

If you are planning to join us in-person at any time for on-campus instruction, short-term or long-term, you will be required to file for an F-1 student visa after getting admitted into the MABC program. This includes filling out an I-20 request form, paying an I-901 SEVIS fee, and scheduling an appointment with your consulate to be granted approval to study in the States with us (click here and start with STEP 7 to see the full process). This process can take time and be quite a hassle, so please jump on this as early as you can once you’re admitted and be patient through the process. We will do our best to help you walk through this.

International students taking the MABC program in a residential capacity are able to obtain and use an F-1 visa to attend classes on-campus for a full course of study, provided they follow a strict degree plan supplied by the Graduate Studies department. Due to the limited number of residential classes in the MABC program, international students in years past would only be able to take courses on-campus at The Master’s University for up to one year. After the first year was completed, international students returned home to their native country and took the rest of their courses remotely.

If the international student is unable to follow the degree plan provided for them for any reason, they may be required to do the same and leave the States earlier than expected before they have finished the program. Although our department desires to help international students, there is only so much we can do to help, since we are under obligation to adhere to laws imposed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and educational requirements stipulated by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, through whom our institution has obtained the highest level of accreditation.

The Admissions Coordinator in the Graduate Biblical Counseling department serves as the international student’s Designated School Official (DSO), who provides academic and visa advising for the duration of the student’s program. All international students are encouraged to keep in regular contact with their DSO to learn about all that is expected of them and to communicate any changes in plans regarding any F-1 visa related or academic concerns.

If you have questions about the F-1 visa process, please contact us.

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