My Journey Toward Fuller Theological Seminary

As I have been making plans and moving across the country to attend seminary I have been asked one question numerous times: “Why Fuller?” I think some of this stems from the fact that Fuller is so far away from where I have lived most of my life. The question also comes up because choosing a graduate school is a big decision and people are curious about how I came to be at Fuller.

I figured I would type up some of my thoughts here so that anyone who might be curious about my decision making process.  Also, maybe someone who is looking into different seminaries will stumble upon this blog some day and perhaps some of this might be helpful to them.

Prestige

Fuller Theological Seminary is a very prestigious school. It is one of the biggest and best known seminaries in the world. It has world class scholars teaching here. I figured why not apply to the best of the best and see what happens. Fortunately, I got accepted.

Multi-denominational

I grew up going to the same church for most of my life. I attended a university affiliated with that denomination. I already know that denominations stance on most of the big questions. I wanted some diversity. I wanted to see things from a  different perspective. I wanted to learn a different viewpoint. I wanted to challenge myself in a place that I might not be as comfortable.

Because the school is not affiliated with a certain denominational there is great diversity here. Students come from all over the world. I look forward to learning more about different cultures and perspectives.

Size

Fuller is one of the largest seminaries in the world. I like that. I like that because I did my undergraduate work at a smaller school. Once again I wanted to experience something different.

Location

I would be lying if I said that location didn’t factor into my decision. Southern California is beautiful. The weather is great and so is the scenery. We are close to the Pacific Ocean and also close to the mountains. I like living in the city. It stinks that it is so far away from our family, but so far I love this place.

Recommendations

Everyone that I talked to that had attended Fuller spoke well of it. One of my mentors during my undergraduate education obtained a Doctorate of Ministry from Fuller and he loved it. He spoke very highly of it. Honestly, I believe that this was probably the biggest factor in my decision. I figured that if it was good enough for him it must be good enough for me.

Alumni

Fuller has graduated some pretty famous students. One of those students was Rob Bell. I have written before about how influential he has been in my journey and once again I figured that if Fuller helped him in his journey that Fuller could probably help me as well. Here is a pretty good list of well known Fuller graduates: link

Campus Visit

Ashley and I came to Fuller in April for the Prospective Students Weekend and that pretty much sealed the deal for us. The campus was beautiful and everyone associated with the school was very friendly and helpful. The other people we met who were thinking of attending Fuller were all great. Seeing the campus and having so many questions answered really helped us in our decision making. I highly recommend an in person visit of any school you might be considering.

Well, there it is. I’m sure there are other things that influenced my decision but those are the big ones. If you are looking into attending Fuller please feel free to ask any questions you might have in the comments and I will be glad to help if I can.

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