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Getting a DMIn Degree.



Is Another Degree for Me?

Things to Consider before Pursuing a Doctoral Degree

Four Key Components for Success


Questions to Consider Before Pursuing Another Degree


When providing a Life Coaching session, I begin with two vital questions: "What do you want to accomplish?" and "Why is this important to you?" Before enrolling in a doctoral program. Both answers must be very clear. It is much better to confidently say “No” or “Not now” before starting a degree program than to come to that realization halfway through.


Receiving the degree will take more time and perseverance than you can calculate. My D Min project alone took ~1,300 hours to complete. That calculation does not include my time preparing for, sitting in, or writing for the seminars. It also does not include extracurricular activities like meeting with a mentor weekly for eighteen months and meeting with selected classmates regularly.


So, your first task is to pray. Ask God if this is how He is leading you. Second, talk to your immediate family and workplace to ensure you have enough margin to bury yourself in books, books, and more books. If your wife or someone important reminds you that you hate research and spending days on the computer for more than just games, consider their words seriously. The process will have regular ups and downs but should not be drudgery from beginning to end.


PhD or DMin?


Many other doctoral degrees are available, but these two are the most popular. If you prefer, add your preferred degree to this list and decide which one is best for you.


The PhD takes general knowledge and adds new facts. It is theory-based and requires sophisticated research. The audience primarily consists of fellow scholars. In many cases, it also requires a basic understanding of various languages, like Latin and German.


The DMin is ministry-focused. Typically, a specific area of the candidate's current ministry is evaluated. A plan is formulated and executed through thorough research to improve the current ministry situation. Once the plan has run its course, the results are recorded and written in the second half of the project. The DMin is written for the church and related leaders. The entire process creates a bridge from theology to practice.


For both degrees, your specific topic must be approved by the department and your sponsoring professor (often called “the chair”). My school provided a seminar centered on choosing a topic, a method of approach, and how to word the project plan. I ended that seminar with an approved plan. However, when the chair was assigned, I quickly discovered I needed to re-due the form – multiple times. Although I started doing some project research along the way, I did not have a completely approved project plan for six more months.


Each school sets up its program slightly differently. I sought out a program that did not require campus visits. Depending on the location and the cost of travel, lodging, and food, the “low-low price” of the degree could double or triple if you need to visit the campus multiple times. If I had attended my graduation ceremony, it would have cost me ~$3,000. That was far beyond my budget.



Four Key Components for Success


Although this could be a never-ending list, the four main components to complete the degree are (1) persistence, (2) goal setting, (3) a calendar, and (4) rewards. 


  1. Persistence 


First, God gives you the inclination to move forward with the degree. You have an inspiring area of study and a passion for learning. Next, the first class is primarily an orientation seminar you can handle in your sleep. But then the second and third seminars require more significant chunks of your time, and each one requires a major-league research paper. At this point, persistence must kick in because the process will not get easier. After the seminars, the candidate must work on the thesis or project. And trust me, there will be many times when you question your resolve. Persistence is key.


  1. Goal Setting 


Second, the way to complete large jobs is to break them down into small steps. That is true for each seminar and the large project at the end. First, locate and list all the class requirements, thesis/project, and extra assignments. Next, lay out a logical order of completion and keep pecking away at the list. For example, if a seminar requires you to read five two hundred fifty-page books within eight weeks, set a goal to read 155 pages a week or twenty-two pages daily. Use this simple method of breaking down assignments for everything the school requires. Because I was under a time constraint, I set a goal of reading ~100 pages daily and marking the valuable information I came across.


  1. Calendar 


I could only maintain this routine and many other goals by putting everything on my calendar. I use my calendar as a combination of a to-do list and a record of my activities. Not everything gets listed, but the important items do and are almost always accomplished. If calendars and to-do lists are not your thing, find and use a system that works for you. It is only possible to complete a degree like this with a system that records small accomplishments and keeps the candidate on track.


  1. Rewards


Finally, when you achieve a goal, small or large, find ways to celebrate the event. When the degree is 100% complete, you can take the Alaskan cruise you always dreamed about. But leading up to the cruise, find small ways to reward yourself for your progress. Celebration is like landing on a small plateau of a large mountain. On the plateau, you can catch your breath and admire the scenery. As often as you look at the climb before you, remember to look back and acknowledge the progress you have made thus far.



Classes


My school required six online and two in-person classes. The online courses included one or two three-hour sessions. The requirements for each class were ongoing reading and posting insights on a private site. Professors required several short, well-written papers based on the assigned books and one large research paper. This was true for every class I took. 


Because I am not a professional writer and need help with the proper form for footnotes, I signed up for the advanced version of Grammarly and hired a qualified proofreader. Grammarly helped, but I needed more formal assistance. Thankfully, I found a very good person on the first try. The proofreading added two or three weeks to the writing process, but it helped me produce quality papers. It was worth every dollar I spent. 


My in-person classes were cancelled due to Covid. The classes would have been in Singapore, and I looked forward to visiting the sites. However, based on the required work, I would have had no time to see the city. In this case, Covid saved me a lot of travel money and the disappointment of sitting and working in a hotel room in an amazing city. Instead of sitting for five full days of classes, I sat in front of my computer for five four-hour days. As I recall, that was a hectic week of schoolwork, and, of course, the class required another research paper.


Outside Assignments


 In addition to classes, each school has several other requirements to be completed in a timely fashion. For example, I had to write several ministry reports. Ministry reports were a word-for-word manuscript of a counselling session I conducted with someone whom I was guiding in some way. Also, I needed to participate in two separate groups with classmates. These groups needed to meet about fifteen times each and required a written report after each meeting. Finally, I had to keep a journal and meet regularly with a school-approved mentor for eighteen months.


I sub-titled my school, "The school that keeps you guessing," because my classmates and I were never exactly sure what we should be doing at any given time. In addition, it seemed the professors worked independently from the school, so they often gave conflicting information. Neither the school nor the professors acted in spite, but uncertainty was a common part of the program.


Final Project


The final project is officially started once the classes and extra assignments are completed. I say "officially" because gathering resources and talking to people about your project can start as soon as the idea pops into your mind. However, for the school, you must complete the steps in the prescribed order.


  1. Topic Approval 

Step one is to have the chair approve your topic and plan of approach. Each school uses a specific form for this step. Take the form very seriously and make sure it is professionally written. I should have taken my form more seriously the first few times. Guaranteed you will submit the form multiple times before it is approved, and there is a good chance you receive inconsistent guidance on exactly how it should be done.


I needed to have a better line of communication with my chair. That cost me time and unneeded confusion. Without clear guidance, I submitted my work and found that it differed from what he sought. Although the process was not a total loss, some of my busy work could have been avoided. Therefore, learn from my mistakes. Talk to your chair often enough for them to approve and guide your work. You should walk away with greater clarity and a direction for the following several portions of your research. 


  1. Research


I mentioned previously that you should be ready to read many books. Online resources can be just as helpful. You can access your school's library and international database while enrolled at a school (unfortunately, not after graduation). Take extra time to become familiar with that system. Although there are library assistants to help you find resources, they only sometimes find the most helpful items. I needed help finding what I was looking for in the library database, so I either needed to ask for help or went without.


Another key insight I learned the hard way was only to read the most helpful materials and only the relevant pages. I read everything and took notes on all of it. Although my general knowledge increased greatly, I was overwhelmed with notes when it came time to start writing. Of course, you will need to footnote everything significant, so make sure your note-taking process includes the resource details and page number. I used Zotero, but I know there are other fine programs. 


My system worked this way: I moved my smart TV in front of my desk and linked it to my computer monitor. Then, I moved the dining room table next to my desk so I had a larger workspace. Finally, I printed my notes from Zotero for each sub-section of the paper. This is when I realized I had a problem. Simply put, I had sixty pages or more of footnote material to fit into eight pages of the finished report. The rule of thumb is to have up to two footnotes per page (a guideline, not a rule). Every section of my paper was too long and very difficult to shorten. 


  1. Outline and Rough Draft


Whether I liked it or not, schools provided the basic outline for the paper. However, from writing other books, I knew that the more detailed my outline, the easier the paper is to write. The outline will keep you on topic and lead you into what comes next. A DMin project is broken down into two parts. The first five chapters focus on your project's theology, theory, objectives, and methods. The school must approve this portion of the paper (see below) before the candidate can implement the project. After the project is implemented and evaluated, the final three chapters are written, edited, and submitted for approval.


  1. Editing 


Once you have the rough draft complete, it is time for editing. Start with the school's guidelines. The guidelines often change yearly, so use the most recent version. Once you know what the school requires, begin with content editing. Content editing makes major changes like adding, deleting, and moving paragraphs. Next is line editing. Line editing is verifying that you are communicating your ideas in the best possible way. After these steps, you should move into copy editing. At this point, you check the grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style. If you are using a professional editor, it is at this stage that you send them your paper. But remember to ask them how much time they need to work through the paper. For a non-school project, a seminary professor took six or more months to proofread a teaching outline. He offered to look at all my outlines, and I politely said you take too much time. The very last step is time to format the paper. Finally, the paper is ready to submit.


  1. Evaluation 


The chair and his or her assistant will most likely take one month to respond. Make the most of this time by catching up on neglected things (like family) and resting your brain. Once the paper is returned, you can go back to work.


Ninety-nine percent of the time, your first attempt will be rejected. I do not have percentages for rejections on the second, third, or fourth attempts, but submitting the paper three times is expected. Each time the paper is returned, the chair provides comments and suggestions. It took me two to three weeks of serious work to work through all the changes. Once I did, I repeated the editing process and sent the updated version of the paper to the proofreader. Ultimately, I submitted my paper three times before it was accepted. 


  1. Oral Defense and Printing 


Shortly after the paper is accepted, a date is fixed for your oral defense. The chair and a small council listen to your defense, ask why you did this or that, and either approve your work or tell you to make more changes. 


I have rarely been so nervous about a meeting as I was about this one. I prayed, had others pray, and prayed some more. I also made sure everything I thought I might need to refer to was within reach. My meeting was online, which was a bit less intimidating.


Within fifteen minutes of starting, my confidence increased, and although I was unsure what the result would be, I was no longer nervous. After forty-five minutes of questions, the group put me on hold for the next ten minutes. My chair returned with the words, "Congratulations, Dr. Mauger!" I went from being nervous to being speechless within one hour. It has been several years since I received this distinction, and I still am praising God.


After all this, there are still several more steps to complete. First, the school gives your paper to one of their professional proofreaders. This person has the final word on the project's style and format. After this person returned my paper, I had three full days of edits to make. Some of the edits resulted from not reading the school guidelines closely enough; others were things I would have never known.


The last step was to have four copies of the project bound and printed. The school is very particular about the type and size of paper one needs to use—it is not cheap, either. The books were sent to my school's library and sit on a shelf where they will never be touched. However, a copy is available online for future researchers.


The title is: "Sharing the Gospel in Bangladesh Using a Power and Fear Dynamic." This is one of the few resources focusing on a power and fear view of daily life and sin.


Conclusion


I used one more secret ingredient during every part of my degree process. I used this element when deciding whether or not to start the program and to keep on track. The secret item was life coaching. I believe in the benefits of life coaching so much that I not only provide coaching for others but also use it for myself. I received what I needed along the way through a series of power questions and observations. 


Each degree is as unique as the individual pursuing it. However, by following my advice and engaging in professional life coaching you can succeed.

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