October 7, 2002

Student snapshot
___Students in America's seminaries have changed remarkably in recent decades, according to a study conducted by Auburn Theological Seminary. The seminary surveyed more than 2,500 entering master's-level students in North American theological schools. Among the findings, reported in Auburn Studies magazine:
___ The median age of first-year students is 33, and about half of all students (58 percent) are over the age of 30, but some schools report the age is declining.
___ Women make up about one-third of the entering student body, compared to "a tiny fraction" of students in the early 1970s.
___ "African-Americans and Hispanics are significantly under-represented, compared with their presence in the general population."
___ "Entering students are graduates of a very wide range of undergraduate institutions; ... very few colleges consistently 'feed' students to theological schools."
___ "Ministry in a congregation ... is the primary goal of less than one-third of students."
___ Seminary students come from "the middle of the class spectrum," with 44 percent of their fathers and 35 percent of their mothers college graduates.
___ More than a third of students hailed from urban churches, 30 percent came from rural/small town areas and 28.5 percent grew up in the suburbs.
___ "Half of all students have switched denominations or faith traditions before enrolling in theological school." Evangelicals had an even higher rate of change, 55 percent.
___ "Almost all theological students (90 percent) report they are attending their first choice of institution," with location and finances providing the major selection variables. Their prime-choice rate is twice as high as law students, of whom only 46 percent attended their first-choice school.
___ "Because seminaries are not selective and dismiss very few students for any reason except non-completion of work, any student who does not have serious academic or behavioral difficulties ... can find a school to attend and graduate. Thus religious communities cannot assume that a professional degree from an accredited theological school guarantees genuine promise for ministry."

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