If Masters Divinity School is a Degree Mill, why...

www.mdivs.edu www.trinitysem.edu

Some have called Masters Divinity School a blatant degree mill. While perusing the MDS website, it seems that MDS and Trinity College of the Bible/Seminary have many similarities. For example:

1. The degree programs, while using different nomenclature, appear to be similar in structure.
2. Many of the same faculty are used by both schools.
3. Course requirements appear to be very similar.
4. Fee structure is similar.
5. Marketing style is also a common denominator.

One need only search the DI archives to find infinite posts regarding TTS. This thread is not about TTS per se, rather, it is about MDS. With so many similarities between the two institutions, what differentiates one as a progressing school and the other as a blatant degree mill, that is, in the opinions of some posters. TTS is attempting to enhance its programs, could MDS not follow the same course?

 

I have to admit there are similarities, but I never considered Master's. It just didn't strike me as meeting my needs. The way I see it, Master's will serve some fine, just like Trinity works for me. To each their own, I suppose!

If Bill reads this, he'll have to comment. I believe he said he'd have to "blather and blather on!"

Steve

 

Didn't Masters Divinity School offer "Doctor of Practical Ministry" diplomas to students who had completed six rather elementary courses?

While that might be legal, given the fact of religious exemptions, it's so substandard compared to normal doctoral requirements that I think it easily justifies the use of the phrase "degree mill".

Apparently MDS' posted requirements have been changed at some point over the last couple of years. Frankly, I don't know what to make of that.

Has MDS broken with its degree-mill past and become a somewhat more credible non-accredited seminary? Or are the changes just cosmetic? Hard to say.

I do think that if Trinity C&S is going to be associated (their precise relationship remains unclear) with a sister non-accredited school that, as you point out, now seems to offer a superficially similar product, then presumably there must be something that differentiates them.

So I'm inclined to suspect that while Trinity C&S takes the course of upgrading its academics and seeking accreditation, MDS continues to serve a different market segment that might prefer an easier non-accredited source of doctoral titles.

That's not proof that MDS is a mill, but it expains why I approach it with skepticism.

 

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About 6 mos ago I called "Masters" speaking with an adminstrator for about 30 min. Nothing in that conversation changed my opinion of it. If people are unable or unwilling to do a curriculum which in duration and rigor are not equal to general expectations of RA/GAAP programs, then IMO they should not be awarded dcegrees but some sort of certificates--just more deception

 

Did you use MDS's toll free number, thus incurring expenses on their part?