Admission Requirements


The seminary considers for admission men and women who wish to prepare for Christian ministries and are properly recommended by their churches. These individuals must be able to demonstrate participation and/or leadership in church activities for at least one year prior to application. Applicants should note the specific requirements of the degree program for which they apply.

Applicants for the master's programs are required to have a bachelor's degree or its equivalent from a regionally accredited college or university or they must be 25 years old or older and have a high school diploma or its equivalent. Applicants under the age of 25 who do not have a college degree cannot be admitted to the seminary. This rule may be waived for the spouse of a full-time degree student. Only under unusual circumstances will students be admitted to study a seminary master's degree before completing their college degree. In these cases, the student should lack no more than six (6) semester hours of college work toward a degree. When application is made for admission to the seminary, the student will present an approved plan for completing all college work and must complete this work before beginning his or her second year in seminary.

If English is not the applicant's first language, he or she must submit an official Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 80 (iBT) or 550 (paper-based) for masters level studies.  The TOEFL score is required, regardless of the medium or amount of previous instruction in English.  An exemption may be granted if the applicant has completed an acceptable degree from an accredited institution where the instruction was in English. 
 
In cases where an applicant has been recently divorced or legally separated, the applicant must wait one full year from when the divorce or separation is legally finalized before applying for admission to Golden Gate Seminary.  Unless previously enrolled in Contextualized Leadership Development (CLD) while in prison, an applicant who has been incarcerated must wait a minimum of one year from the date of official release before applying for admission.

A student applying for a master's degree or diploma is required to furnish the Enrollment Services Office with the following items prior to admission:

  1. Application for Admission form and appropriate fee.
  2. Official bachelor's degree transcripts from a regionally accredited school or its equivalent. Official transcripts from additional colleges, graduate schools, and seminaries attended are required as well. A transcript of a bachelor's degree from an educational institution outside the United States will need to be evaluated by a professional evaluation agency to determine if it is equivalent to a regionally accredited U.S. bachelor's degree. The applicant will need to send the transcript to a professional evaluation agency such as the International Education Research Foundation, Inc. A copy of the evaluation results should be sent directly to the applicant and the Enrollment Services Office.
  3. An essay (embedded within the online application), answering the questions about the applicants decision to follow Christ and call to ministry.
  4. A Church Endorsement completed by the applicant's church, indicating evidence of Christian character and leadership ability.
  5. Acceptable TOEFL score, if applicable.

Additional information may also be required by the Admissions Committee. Priority application deadline for Fall is July 15th and priority application deadline for Spring is December 15th.

A student's application is not complete until all the above requirements are met. When all the above mentioned materials have been received and evaluated, applicants will be advised regarding their acceptance, in most cases within two weeks. The application is valid for one year. An applicant who does not enroll within one year will be required to submit a new application.

Veterans Affairs

Golden Gate requires Veterans to submit transcripts from all prior institutions, including military training, traditional college coursework and vocational training as part of the admission process. Veterans must submit the material listed below for transfer consideration. Previous transcripts will be evaluated and credit will be granted, as appropriate. The Veterans Administration will be notified upon credit transfer approval.

Admissions materials and an online application may be found here.

Readmission

A student who has not enrolled for more than two consecutive regular semesters will be required to submit a new application for admission and must meet the degree requirements for the current catalog. Registration alone does not constitute enrollment. A student's readmission to any term is subject to review. One will be readmitted to the Seminary each term on the basis of his/her total record, including both academic performance and progress toward effective Christian ministry. The Seminary reserves the right to dismiss a student at any time.

A student who is returning to complete a second degree with Golden Gate Seminary must submit a new application and will be required to complete a minimum of 27 additional degree specific hours.