Master of Divinity (MDiv)

Applicants are required to hold an Honours (4 year) Bachelor’s degree from any field, with a minimum GPA of B. 

NOTE: Casper tests are no longer required to apply to Luther programs. 

Deadlines are the same for all applicants (full or part time, domestic or international). 

The application process and the uploading of supplemental documentation, which includes references, typically takes two weeks. To avoid disappointment, please apply early. 

Applications that are missing documents after the Supplemental Documentation due date and/or the referee 14-day window will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed. 

Step 1: Apply through OUAC 

Review Step 1 of the Graduate Admissions Toolkit. 

Fill out the OUAC application. 

Step 2: Submitting Documentation 
Review Step 2 of the Graduate Admissions Toolkit. 

All supplemental documents as noted in the Application Checklist must be uploaded and submitted by the Supplemental Documentation due date.  

• Once you have uploaded your documents, please use "Review" button to download a copy of your application and check your documents. 
  • Ensure your transcripts are legible, documents are facing the right direction, scrutinize for typos, etc. 
  • Fix and re-upload any document corrections. 
• When you are sure everything is correct and you are satisfied with your submission, click on “Submit my application.” After this point, changes cannot be made to your application. 
• We encourage you to ask your referees to submit by the Step 2 Supplemental Documentation due date however, we will honour the full 14 days from the date they received the email request to submit the online reference without penalty to the applicant. 
  • Reference Letter FAQs 
• Once your application is submitted, the application is received in real-time and no further confirmation of receipt of application is provided. 
• No further updates will be provided on the application until decisions are issued.
  
  

About three to five days after you have submitted your OUAC application, paid the non-refundable application fee, and Laurier has received your application, you'll receive an email from gradadmissions@wlu.ca advising you to login and upload the additional required documents to Laurier’s Online Registration and Information System (LORIS). 

If you have questions or concerns about any of the required supplemental documents, please review our FAQ. 

Upload the following documents: 

• The Application Summary Form, which is generated after you complete your OUAC application (log back in to OUAC to retrieve it). 
• Digital Unofficial Transcripts  
  • All postsecondary educational institutions must be declared on your OUAC application, and transcripts must be provided for each. This includes all past and current degree(s), diploma(s), postsecondary studies for which academic credit was earned (including on letter of permission or exchange), in-progress courses, incomplete postsecondary education and transfer credit courses. 
  • Unofficial transcripts are accepted for the application. Official transcripts are only required if you receive an offer of admission to the program. 
  • All transcripts must be dated as having been issued/printed within the last 6 months. You may need to contact your previous schools’ Records Office or Enrollment Office to request updated copies. 
  • Ensure that each transcript indicates all courses, grades, credit hours, awarding of degree/diploma/degree certificate (if applicable), your full name, student ID number, and full name of the institution. 
  • Include the degree certificate/provisional certificate for any completed degrees. 
  • Include the grading scale/legend as part of your transcript upload. 
  • Transcripts must be uploaded as one .pdf file per institution attended. 
  • Transcripts must be in the original language and include a certified translation if the transcript is not in English. 
  • We do not accept WES transcripts. 
• A completed statement of intent. 
• A resume of your academic and relevant work experience. Include a history of your publication and scholarly paper activity if applicable, and any other information you feel will interest the admissions committee. 
• A sample of your scholarly writing (10-20 pages in length). This may be a chapter of your thesis, or a paper written as an assignment at the undergraduate level. 
• Completed reference forms. Two academic or professional references are required.
  • NOTE: Reference forms are electronically submitted to Laurier by the referee and do not need to be uploaded. 
  • Academic references must be from an instructor or supervisor you had at a university. 
  • Professional references must be from someone who has supervised you at a work or volunteer position. 
  • We do not accept references from friends or relatives.

Proficiency in written and spoken English is essential to graduate studies at Laurier. Applicants whose language of instruction during their previous postsecondary education was not in English must submit evidence of proficiency in English. If applicable, results from accepted testing services must be uploaded to LORIS. 

Religious Faith and Heritage

• Demonstrate an understanding of the genesis, content and history of reception of the Christian Scriptures and the ability to interpret them in response to contemporary needs using a variety of methods, sources, and norms.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the development of Christian doctrine and ideas, including the student’s own denominational history, polity, and authoritative documents, in order to engage in constructive theology.
• Demonstrate a critically informed understanding of Christianity’s complicity in colonization and its social and personal impacts.

Culture and Context

• Demonstrate critical self-awareness with regard to the student’s own personal, multiple layers of identity and social assumptions, and develop capacity to address how these impact ministry responsibly.
• Demonstrate the ability to explore and employ diverse methods of contextual analysis in service of ministry informed by decolonization.
• Demonstrate the ability to identify, respect, engage with and be challenged by a diversity of theological viewpoints and practices within ecumenical, multi-faith, and multicultural contexts.

Personal and Spiritual Vocational Formation

• Demonstrate an ability to reflect critically on the student’s own sense of call to leadership and service alongside an appreciation of the variety of callings and spiritual practices of others.
• Demonstrates a sense of call that reflects both personal conviction and communal confirmation in service for the well-being of all.
• Demonstrate faith that is evident in daily life and develop competencies for self-reflective and theologically integrated ministry.

Ministerial and Public Leadership

• Demonstrate academic and practical competencies in congregational and community leadership, administration, preaching, worship, teaching, communication and technology, stewardship, collaboration, and spiritual care.
• Demonstrate an understanding of professional ethics in the practice of ministry and competency in public ethics, i.e., how the church functions as an agent for the common good.

Students in the coursework option (24 courses) are either already working in a ministerial setting or are preparing for non-congregational ministry. This option includes 3 additional electives (in place of the Internship and Entry to Parish for those in the contextual option) allowing students to focus coursework on areas of particular interest.

Students in the contextual option are normally preparing for professional ministry. Such students are required to obtain, before the end of their first term, endorsement as acceptable ministry candidates by the church in which they are members. Continuance in the contextual component of the MDiv program after the first term is contingent upon the maintenance of such an endorsement. 

Contextual Education: 

Students enrolled in the contextual option are required to be involved in field placements concurrent with their coursework. Placements are arranged through the supervisor of contextual education. 

Internship: 

Students in the contextual option must complete a 12-month internship that is normally taken after completing coursework.