Graduate Handbook 2024-2025

Application and Admission

Requirements for Admission 

An applicant must have a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university with a minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale to receive Unconditional Admission to the MREML. Conditional Admission status may be granted to an applicant on a case-by-case basis with a cumulative undergraduate grade point average below 3.0. 

A student may transfer up to six credit hours from a regionally accredited graduate program when course grades are 3.0 (B) on a 4.0 scale or higher. Transfer credit is not applied toward the calculation of students' Rochester Christian University GPA. 

An applicant to the Master of Religious Education Program in Missional Leadership may receive (1) Unconditional Admission, (2) Conditional Admission, or (3) Decline for Admission: 

  1. Unconditional Admission status is granted only to applicants who have fully satisfied all admission requirements and are selected by the admission committee to join the Master of Religious Education in Missional Leadership program. 
  2. Conditional Admission may be granted to applicants who have only partially fulfilled the admission requirements if the admission committee or program director determines that this applicant has the potential to succeed in graduate studies, and if the graduate Students who are assigned Conditional Admission status due to a cumulative undergraduate GPA below 3.0 must earn a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher in the student’s first semester in the graduate program. Students who are assigned Conditional Admission status due to not fulfilling other admission requirements must complete all admission requirements within the student’s first semester in the program. If admission requirements are not completed or the student’s cumulative GPA is below a 3.0 at the end of the first semester in the program, the student’s participation in the graduate program may be terminated. 
  3. Decline for Admission will be assigned to applicants who do not satisfy a substantial portion of the admission requirements and/or the admission committee determines that this applicant does not have the potential to succeed in graduate studies. 

 

Application Requirements 

The following items are required: 

  • A completed application for graduate admission to MRE Office. Application forms may be filled out online at http://RochesterU.edu/apply. Applications are also available from the MREML office upon request. 
  • Three letters of recommendation: two must be academic references and one must be either from a minister or church leader. 
  • The applicant’s official transcripts from all previous university work. 
  • A five hundred word typed essay, in which the applicant describes her/his statement of purpose for pursuing a Master of Religious Education in Missional Leadership. 
  • A signed consent form from a congregational leader (or leader/supervisor in another ministry setting) that the student has permission to implement course projects within the congregation. These projects involve things that the student might do anyway in their role, and the projects are of limited scope.