Admission
Students interested in enrolling in the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception degree programs are invited to complete and submit an application form.The deadline for the submission of a completed application for all degree programs as a regular student for the fall semester is 1 July, and the spring semester is 1 December.  All applications must be accompanied by a $50.00 non-refundable application fee.  An application is not considered complete until all required items are received, including letters of recommendation, the completed application form and fee, a recent photograph, and transcripts from all colleges, universities and seminaries attended.  It is the applicant’s responsibility to insure that transcripts and all necessary references are sent to the Dean of the Pontifical Faculty.

When completed, all applications will receive prompt attention by the Admissions Committee of the Pontifical Faculty.  The Pontifical Faculty reserves the right to request an interview or additional information from any applicant.  Applicants who are denied admission may re-apply for admission after one year.

The Pontifical Faculty believes that a bachelor’s degree is important preparation for theological study.  Applicants for admission to the Pontifical Faculty are required to hold a bachelor’s degree, or its equivalent, from a college or university regionally accredited in the United States or Canada.  For students from other countries, the following would be accepted as equivalent: a post-secondary baccalaureate degree awarded for academic studies, a degree higher than a post-secondary baccalaureate degree awarded for academic study, or (for M.A., M.Div. or S.T.B. applicants educated in seminaries outside the United States or Canada) completion of all philosophical studies necessary for admission to theological study in their home country.  Official transcripts from each undergraduate and graduate school attended must be submitted at the time of application.

Prospective students who do not have a bachelor’s degree but who have done substantial college-level work and who show evidence of promise for graduate work in theology may in exceptional circumstances be allowed to begin coursework as special students while completing their undergraduate studies.

An applicant to the M.A., M.Div., or S.T.B. program who does not have a college degree or is a graduate of an institution without regional accreditation may be admitted to the Pontifical Faculty only under exceptional circumstances, and then only through special admission.  To be considered for admission, an applicant must apply before June 1 for the fall semester or before 1 November for the spring semester, and must come for an interview with the Academic Dean and the Admissions Committee.

Such candidates, if admitted, are accepted provisionally and on probation as special students working toward a degree program.  Ordinarily, after the completion of no more than 30 hours of course work – which must be completed in no more than three semesters – the Faculty will vote as to whether or not a person in this category will be allowed to continue in the degree program.

Academic pre-requisites and requirements for individual degree programs are listed in the description of each degree.

English as a Second Language:  Students for whom English is a second language are required to submit scores from a recent TOEFL examination, unless they have completed an undergraduate degree with an English language faculty.  The Pontifical Faculty accepts only students who have a score of 550 on the paper examination and 215 on the computer examination.

Registration
Students are required to pre-register for the succeeding semester at stated times and after consultation with and approval by the Academic Dean.

Applied to Federal Student Financial Aid:

To be eligible for Federal Student Aid (FSA) funds, a student must make satisfactory academic progress, which is assessed by the Academic Dean at the end of each fall and spring term. (See Satisfactory Academic Progress, above). The discussion below only addresses the qualitative and quantitative standards that a student must meet in order to be eligible for FSA aid.

By the end of the second academic year of a single or dual degree program (regardless of how many credits the student has accrued), the student must have a C average or its equivalent 2.0 GPA.  

In addition to maintaining a minimum 2.0 GPA, to be eligible for FSA, a student's academic progress must indicate that the student will successfully complete his or her degree program in less than 150% of the time or course credit hours for which the program is designed. For example, the M.A. (Theology) program entails 36 credit hours (c.h.) and no less than 2 full-time academic years (4 semesters); to remain eligible for FSA, an M.A. student's academic progress must clearly indicate that he or she is likely to complete the degree program successfully after having pursued no more than 54 c.h. or 6 full-time semesters. Likewise, M.Div. students pursue a minimum of 105 c.h. for a minimum of 8 full-time semesters; to remain eligible for FSA, their academic progress must continually indicate likely completion of the M.Div. program within no more than 160 attempted c.h. or 12 semesters. The same policy applies to the S.T.B. (minimum 90 c.h. in 6 semesters; maximum 135 c.h. in 9 semesters) and the S.T.L. (min. 36 c.h. in 4 semesters; maximum 54 c.h. in 6 semesters). 

A student who loses FSA eligibility for having failed to meet the pertinent satisfactory academic progress standards will regain eligibility when the Academic Dean determines that the student is again meeting those qualitative and quantitative standards. A student also may also regain eligibility by successfully appealing a determination of failing to make satisfactory academic progress. For Stafford and PLUS loans, students may regain eligibility for the entire period of enrollment in which they again meet satisfactory academic progress standards.