We are now in Week 5 of the Fall 2 term. Registration for spring and summer opened over the weekend, so this week I want to talk about how to think through which classes to take next.
In this email:
- Student Tip: What Classes Should I Take?
- Program News: Spring and Summer Registration Is Open
Student Tip: What Classes Should I Take?
Registration for spring and summer opened over the weekend and every time it does, students ask me some version of the same question. What classes should I take? As you can probably guess, there are a couple of different answers and a few things you need to think through. But overall, choosing your courses is pretty fluid, with one caveat.
The caveat is for those of you in one of our Master of Arts programs like Biblical Counseling and Practical Theology, Islamic Studies, Apologetics, or Ethics and Public Theology, where you have several restricted or concentration electives. The same goes if you're doing an advanced graduate certificate in one of these areas. An advanced graduate certificate requires six courses in a particular area, while a regular graduate certificate requires three, which gives you a bit more flexibility. If that's you, you need to pay more attention to the course sequence and to which courses are being offered each semester.
When we schedule courses, most electives, including the ones that count toward these MA concentrations and graduate certificates, are offered once a year. They sit outside our Master of Divinity core, so they don't come around every term. What happens is some people look at their degree and just start taking all the courses in order. Then in year two, three, or four, they realize they have all these biblical counseling courses left to take and they want to graduate this year. Unfortunately, that can't happen. So take those courses early and in an order that helps you. If you have questions about any of this, our academic advisors are happy to help.
For everyone else, and as a second layer for those of you I just described, my advice is especially for when you're getting started. Throughout your degree there are going to be courses you're more interested in and some you're less interested in, depending on your personal interests. Early on you need to build up some momentum, figure out your study habits and your schedule, and get some good reinforcement. So sign up for the classes you're most excited about.
At the beginning you haven't been in your degree for three or four years. You're fresh and you're motivated. The courses you're interested in will probably give you a little more intrinsic motivation to get started. Use those first classes to work out your schedule, how you study, and how you write, and get better at all of it. And if there's a particular professor you resonate with, take everything you can with them. There's something to be said for getting to know a professor on another level.
You may have heard the opposite advice, to move your big rocks first by taking the courses you're less interested in early so they're out of the way. The problem with that advice, especially for online students, is that you're in a very different context than an on campus student. On campus, you're physically going to a class on a schedule determined by the professor. Your life has completely changed and that's what you're doing, so you have different motivations and different commitments. As an online student you're on your own. You make your own schedule and you can do it whenever it's convenient. But that also makes it difficult sometimes to keep the motivation going.
Then toward the end of your degree, there may be a few courses left that you're less interested in. By then you have another motivator.
You have graduation.
Program News: Spring and Summer Registration Is Open
Registration for spring and summer opened on Saturday, October 31. You can register through MySBTS. If you ever wonder when registration opens, we follow the same schedule every year. October 31 for spring and summer, and March 31 for fall and winter.
If you have questions about what to take next or where you are in your degree, email an academic advisor. They have a wonderful team and they're happy to help.
Quick Reference of Upcoming Term Dates:
- Current Week: Fall 2, Week 5 (November 2-9)
- Winter Term Begins: November 30, 2026
- Spring 1 Term Begins: February 1, 2027
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Registration for Spring Experiential Modulars is open now
