This fall, I will be starting graduate studies at Emory’s Candler School of Theology on a full-tuition scholarship!
“Congratulations!” you say. Then, “Wait, what?”
I am just as excited and confused as you are. But I might know the answers to your questions:
Why Emory?
If you’re from my community and you want to study theology, you usually go to one of two places:
Biola’s Talbot School of Theology (if you’re evangelical)
Fuller Seminary (if you’re evangelical but a bit less conservative)
You’ll have the occasional guest speaker who went to Duke Divinity (Jonathan Tran, Soong-Chan Rah) or even Princeton Theological Seminary (Janette Ok). But for 90% of aspiring divinity school applicants from SoCal, Biola and Fuller are the two main pathways.
But Brandon Harris, the former Associate Dean of Religious Life at USC, graduated from Emory.
In May 2025, I interviewed Dean Harris about divinity school. What he shared about Emory excited me: a vibrant community, a solid balance of academics and spirituality, and most importantly, credibility in both the professional and ministry worlds. It felt like this world had something for everyone, and it was one I wanted to explore further.
As I interviewed more divinity students, admissions officers, and professors, I discovered that Emory has the happiest divinity school in the entire United States: Candler School of Theology. People don’t see each other as competition, and they are genuinely willing to help you (even if they’re a bit overloaded). That’s wonderful, because I saw plenty of Asian American religions and economic history scholars among Emory’s faculty whom I wanted to work with.
It didn’t hurt that the economic historian (Professor Alison Greene) is the director of the Master of Theological Studies program.
In July, I found that Emory was also one of two schools on my college list to accept early applications (the other was Duke Divinity). I immediately started drafting essays.
In December, Duke gave me 75% tuition. Emory gave me 100%.
The choice was obvious.
What’s a Master of Theological Studies (MTS)?
In my community, going to 신학교 (seminary/divinity school) means that you want to become a pastor. That would mean studying toward a Master in Divinity, which is the religious degree most people are familiar with.
And for those of you who know my story, the idea that I would want to enter pastoral ministry would be way out of left field.
“Why are you applying for 신학교?” Mom asked me. “Your faith isn’t even that strong. You don’t even go to a church that meets every week!”
“You want to be a pastor?!” my friend Elly asked me. “I thought we were working on healing from burnout!”
I agree that theological scholarship needs to be of service to the local church. If anything, the reason why I want to enter academia was that my oral history research helped me write a kickass keynote for Epic last year. But no, I do not want to be a pastor.
I want to be a professor. And because I know I want a fast track to academia, I’m going for a Master of Theological Studies.
Wait, wasn’t this post about your personal statement?
It’s behind my paywall! And this time, I’m not lowering it after two weeks. But bite the bullet, and I’ll also gift you some personal insights on Candler admissions.