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Applicants for Certificate admission are Christians whose academic credentials, reputation of character, and personal goals exhibit a strong likelihood of graduating from Southeastern. Not all applicants who meet the minimum requirements can be accepted. GO Certificate applicants will agree biblical moral standards, as defined by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Administration.
All questions about admission policies or requirements should be directed to the Certificate Services Office, The College at Southeastern, P.O. Box 1889, Wake Forest, NC 27588-1889; phone: (919) 761-2356 or e-mail: cert@sebts.edu.
Apply Online for a Certificate.
Certificate Admission Procedures
Application for admission is made through the Certificate Services Office. The following items are needed before an application is considered, unless one is applying for the GO Certificates. In that case they will apply online and need no items prior to application being considered. (Note: Original forms are required. Faxed copies will be accepted only in certain situations.)
1. A completed application form
a. A completed Medical Information Form
b. A completed Immunization History Form (North Carolina State Health Department standards require that a completed immunization record be received by Southeastern)
c. A completed Southeastern Covenant
2. Two completed Character Reference Forms
3. A non-refundable application fee of $40 (Unless a Biblical Women’s Institute (BWI) student)
4. A completed Church Recommendation Form
5. Spouse’s Personal Statement (if married)
6. A completed criminal background check (Unless a Biblical Women’s Institute (BWI) student)
In some cases, additional documents may be required. The Admissions Office can provide more details.
Applicants to Southeastern waive all rights to privileged knowledge of the decision making process leading toward admission. All references and other evaluative documents will be confidential. The decision of the Admissions Committee acting officially on behalf of the faculty is final. However, an applicant who fails to be admitted may reapply with the same application materials for the following term year only if materials have not passed the 1 year expiration policy.
Background Checks
In order to facilitate student admission to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and The College at Southeastern it is necessary to conduct background checks for all applicants for on-campus studies and most distance learning students. This background check is performed by CastleBranch, a consumer reporting agency, with a report provided to the institutions Admissions Office. A copy of the report is available to the applicant through the online service portal of CastleBranch.
Each applicant must authorize Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and The College at Southeastern to obtain a background check in order to satisfy the admission requirements as set by the institution. The information provided through the background check will be used in making admissions determination by the Admissions Committee of the institution. The only exclusions to the background check will be special exemptions made for Distance Learning students, namely students admitted through a short application for one course off-campus, college applicants under age 18, or certain international applicants. These exemptions are monitored by the Certificate Services Office, which has the right to administer the exemptions as necessary.
The information to be obtained from the report can also be used by other officers of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and The College at Southeastern if authorized by the student. This would include employment, missions travel, and other services as required by the institution. A separate release form will be needed for the release of information from the student’s applicant file. Further, the requests for release cannot exceed two years from initial provision of report. If the period of two years has passed, another report may be required.
Procedure
Instructions for completion of the necessary background checks are available on our website and through our online application. It is necessary for online/digital applications that you provide a digital signature that provides authorization for the report to be provided.
On application to any program, the student must submit to a Criminal Background Check and a CastleBranch review. This includes, but is not limited to, a review of:
• County of Residence Criminal Records
• Residence History (last 7 years)
• Social Security Verification
• Nationwide Sexual Offenders Registry Scan
• Nationwide Criminal Database
Criminal background check
Students must clear a criminal background check before admission. Failure to undergo the background check will result in exclusion from admission consideration. If the background check indicates criminal behavior the student may not be awarded admission to the institution. Students may appeal the decision and will have the opportunity to present information to dispute the background check.
What if there is a conviction on the report?
The student is allowed by law to examine the report and will be allowed to dispute any findings contained in it, if they are turned down for admission because of negative information found in the background report. If a conviction was wrongly reported, the student may request that the report be amended to change this mistake. However, the occurrence of such errors is very infrequent. In some cases, one conviction may not be a permanent barrier to admission. Simply being honest about one’s past can potentially answer questions about character that arise based on the report.
Certificate Application Deadlines
Prospective students are invited to submit an application for admission up to one year in advance of anticipated enrollment. Once all of the supplemental documents arrive (references, immunization records, background check, etc.) and an application is completed, it will be sent for review and the prospective student will be notified of his/her admission decision within 30 days.
There is not a firm deadline for applications to be submitted. However, since submitted applications will not be reviewed until they are completed and since the review process can take up to 30 days, we request that all applications are submitted and completed no later than one month in advance of anticipated enrollment. Applications that are submitted or completed within the final 30 days leading up to the semester may still be considered, but we will be unable to guarantee the release of an admissions decision prior to the start of classes.
Students planning to live in campus housing should note that space is limited. Students can apply for housing once they are approved for admission. Housing applications are processed by the Housing Office in the order they are received.
Certificate Admission Process
When application materials are complete, they are reviewed by the Admissions Committee and the Director of Certificate Services.
Provisional Acceptance
Under certain circumstances, applicants may receive a conditional or a restricted admission. Details of any condition or restriction upon enrollment will be provided with the official letter of admission.
International Student Admissions
The admissions procedure for international students requires additional information and processing time due to college policies and the requirements of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.
In order to qualify for admission to the college, international students are required to provide a minimum score of 550 on the paper-based TOEFL or a 79 on the internet-based TOEFL. Southeastern’s school code for the TOEFL is 5620.
International applicants are required to complete all the forms and documentation outlined in the International Student Application Packet to insure their financial security while studying at The College at Southeastern. This packet is available from the Admissions Office. This packet must be completed in its entirety with the previously stated application requirements, prior to the application review and issuance of an I-20 form.
Certificate New Student Orientation
All students attending the main campus or beginning a degree program for the first time are required to attend New Student Orientation at the beginning of their first semester. Orientation information is delivered to accepted students in the months leading up to the beginning of the semester.
Certificate Transfer of Credits
Standard Policies
- Course work completed at other institutions and applied toward any program at Southeastern is subject to certain conditions. The Registrar can provide additional information about other institutions and the college’s interaction with these institutions.
- Course work must be complementary to the course requirements and overall purposes of Southeastern’s degree program as determined by the Registrar. In general, course descriptions, material covered, and assignments given must reasonably correspond to the complementary course at Southeastern for credit to be transferred.
- Course work must be from a school whose accreditation is commonly recognized by similar institutions in this region. The College at Southeastern is accredited by SACS. Other accrediting agencies are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. To verify accreditation of an institution, contact its Registrar. The student may be asked to provide a copy of the transfer institution’s academic catalog.
- Only college-level courses that appear on a student’s official transcript with a grade of C or better will be transferred.
- Course work taken at non-accredited institutions cannot be transferred to the college.
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