Is anyone here familiar with Coolmon College in Australia? www.coolamon.org They offer quite a few degrees in theology. One I am intertested in is the Master of Theological Studies. At present they provide the units but the actual degree comes from Sydney College of Divinity and I believe there are about 5 other theology colleges in which one could take units from as well. Coolamon offers all their programs via distant mode. Recently they have said they "may" link up with a major university, but it has not been set as of yet. I guess being in the US, I just wanted to be sure a degree from Coolamon would be recognized as I wish to continue on for a doctorate(I would like to teach theology in an academic setting in the future). Coolamon also states on their site that they will begin offering the units for a Doctorate of Ministry in the future. Anyone have any dealings with this particular college? Thank you for your time, RevT
Thanks for your post, and welcome aboard! Many of us here have had dealings with Coolamon College. I think that their programs look very interesting, and are well-designed. Without question, a master's degree from Sydney College of Divinity would be recognized here in the US. My only caution, however, is that the MA in Theological Studies may not be adequate to gain you entry into a doctoral program either here or abroad. It lacks the "original language" element that is requisite for entry into most American doctoral programs, and lacks the substantial research emphasis expected by most overseas schools. Certainly, the Coolamon MA is a great program; yet, if you plan to proceed to doctoral study, don't be surprised if you end up being asked to take on a second master's degree or to engage in master's-level research before being granted entry to a doctoral program. Again, thanks for posing your question, and for entering into our dialogue. I'd be pleased to respond to any additional questions you might have, as would many others who gather here.
RevT, I, too, had considered Coolamon but decided against it for the reasons CL mentioned. I think you should check out the many excellent DL master's degrees offered by several South African universities. I can give further information, if you would like.
RevT -- As a Master of Theological Studies program (e.g., purely coursework-based master's), the Coolamon program is pretty good. But I second CLSeibel's concerns--without the research component, it probably won't get you into an Australian doctoral program. It would probably be satisfactory for U.S. programs that don't enforce a biblical language requirement, and for overseas programs that offer an admissions option for students who only hold a course-based master's (usually this option involves a year of preliminary study, consisting of coursework on research methodology). Good luck! Peace, ------------------ Tom Head www.tomhead.net
Hi, thanks for the responses....let me ask this...since my undergraduate was NOT in theology, I was told by a number of universities that I would need to do the MA in Theological Studies and then do what Coolamon calls "bridging units" which is from what I gather is 4 additional units and then I can complete their Master of Theology degree. Would this route gain me access into a Ph.D program do you suppose? I must say Coolamon is an absolute delight to work with in comparison to any other school I have dealt with...they respond so quickly to my emails that it is amazing. I am also VERY happy to hear such positive feedback from this NG concerning Coolamon and Sydney College of Divinity, that puts my mind as ease... Thank you!
It's hard to say, but it's worth mentioning here that there is almost definitely no hard-and-fast "no"; my MA thesis was +/-12,000 words, which is not a thesis by Australian standards, but only one department has given me an unconditional "No, you're not qualified." I've had a few tell me "Get a couple of research articles published.", though. If you dig Coolamon, I see nothing wrong with going with Coolamon--but you might ask if you can voluntarily do a 15,000 word thesis as an Independent Study module. This would pretty much give you the best of both worlds. Don't worry about the biblical language requirement; you can always take the relevant biblical language courses later, independently from the master's, as long as you take them for-credit. It's hard to learn Hebrew and Koine Greek by distance learning anyway. Good luck! Peace, ------------------ Tom Head www.tomhead.net
I think that the option you describe here certainly would cause you to be well suited for PhD study. Something along these lines likely will prove necessary, particularly in light of the fact that your undergrad study was not in theology. Without question, the MA/bridge/MTh path you describe would make you well qualified for entry into any South African, Australian, or British doctoral program in theology. Here in the States, you'd still likely have to pick up some coursework in Hebrew and Greek (and for some programs, competency in a modern research language like Spanish, French or Greek--although this is rarely required by seminary PhD programs, it is occasionally expected by university religion/theology departments). As Tom Head has suggested, however, you can pick these up along the way. They don't necessarily have to be integrated into your master's program.
RevT, It's been a couple of months since I visited the Coolamon website, but I was thinking that the MTh in conjunction with the Sydney College of Divinity required some time in residence. I agree with what you said about Coolamon being a delight to work with.
Yes, I think you're right about this. SCD presently offers MTh's in two formats, as I understand it. The first involves the completion of eight units of coursework. To the best of my knowledge, SCD policy dictates that only half of this total can be completed externally. The rest must be done in residence, whether through regular, full-term courses, or through short-residency modular courses. The second MTh format strictly involves researching and preparing a thesis. I'm a bit unclear about what residency requirements, if any, would apply to this option.
posted by Tom Head: It's hard to say, but it's worth mentioning here that there is almost definitely no hard-and-fast "no"; my MA thesis was +/-12,000 words, which is not a thesis by Australian standards, but only one department has given me an unconditional "No, you're not qualified." I've had a few tell me "Get a couple of research articles published.", though. If you dig Coolamon, I see nothing wrong with going with Coolamon--but you might ask if you can voluntarily do a 15,000 word thesis as an Independent Study module. This would pretty much give you the best of both worlds. Don't worry about the biblical language requirement; you can always take the relevant biblical language courses later, independently from the master's, as long as you take them for-credit. It's hard to learn Hebrew and Koine Greek by distance learning anyway. Good luck! Thanks Tom! That is a great idea about doing 15,000 word thesis as an Independent Study module. Thanks for your comments, I greatly appreciate it! RevT
I am a bit unclear on the residency requirements also and I will check with Coolamon and see what they say. There are a lot of changes going on with Coolamon as they may be linking with a university, so maybe by the time I finish the MA in Theological Studies, they will offer the Master of Theology purely by distance....I hope so! Thanks for your comments! RevT --------------------------------------------- Originally posted by CLSeibel: Yes, I think you're right about this. SCD presently offers MTh's in two formats, as I understand it. The first involves the completion of eight units of coursework. To the best of my knowledge, SCD policy dictates that only half of this total can be completed externally. The rest must be done in residence, whether through regular, full-term courses, or through short-residency modular courses. The second MTh format strictly involves researching and preparing a thesis. I'm a bit unclear about what residency requirements, if any, would apply to this option. ---------------------------------------------
