Accelerated Master's Degree

While the regular course load allows for students to balance a full-time work load with graduate classes, many seminary students have some additional flexibility in their schedules and are interested in shortening the amount of time it takes to complete a master’s degree. Toward this end Northeastern Seminary offers both a regular and an accelerated track for qualified students. The chart below highlights the number of years it can take a student to complete a program under each track.

There are several important factors to take into consideration relative to the accelerated track:

1. Declaration of the Accelerated Track - It is assumed that all students will go through the programs under the regular track. If a student wants to pursue the accelerated track, they will need to meet with their advisor during the second half of the first semester to discuss pursing the accelerated track. It is recommended that all students assess several months of the first semester’s workload before adding additional classes. Both the student and advisor plan out the schedule for the subsequent semesters and the summer terms, which play important roles in helping a student complete their degree. The accelerated schedule does not begin until the second semester of the first year.
2. Schedule
   • Regular: under the regular track, it is not necessary to take either summer classes or any classes above and beyond the Core classes for the first two years.
   • Accelerated: under the accelerated model, for the first two years, the student would take both classes in the summer and additional classes along with the Core for semesters 2, 3, and 4.
3. Cost – Any student who decides to pursue the accelerated track should understand that the cost for each year will increase since they are taking more credit hours per semester. As they apply for financial aid, they should be aware of the financial implications of taking more credits within an academic year.