Columbia Evangelical Seminary

Special Word to Prospective Students About Performance Anxiety

The Majors

The Certificates
Bachelor's Certificates
Master's Certificates
Doctoral Certificates

The Degrees
Undergraduate
Bachelor's
Master's
Doctoral
Courses

Special Word to Prospective Students

A Word About Performance Anxiety

Over the years, we've had many would-be students openly tell us that they did not select our seminary because they felt that CES would be too difficult. Sadly, many of them opted for some less-than-wonderful schools with easy degrees.

Many of these people later wrote to express their regret for not attending CES.

Some of them even actually enrolled with CES and re-did their degrees with us because they realized that the schools they received their degrees from were not well recognized and not well regarded. (See Culleges: The Tertium Quid.)

We've known some students who actually mailed their degrees back to their former "schools" and demand to be removed from their alumni lists.

Everyone Has Performance Anxiety
You should know that you are not alone! Every student (at least all that we've ever known) suffers from some level of performance anxiety. No one is immune.

In the two paragraphs below we give an actual email communication between a would-be CES student and Dr. Ric Walston.

Prospective Student: I'm concern that my writing skills will not be satisfactory considering the academic writing guidelines that Columbia adheres to. I hold a bachelor's and master's from accredited schools, but both degrees are in ministry, and the emphasis was on practical ministry and not academic standards of writing. Would you have any suggestions as I am considering enrolling for a doctoral degree with CES?

Response: Two things . . . first, we have a class that will help you get up and running with the writing requirements. You can take the class for credit or you can take it as an audit. Second, our faculty members work with students to help them improve as they go. So, you do not have to have perfect writing or academic skills to do our program; the goal is to see improvement in your skills as you progress through your program. We know that all of our talk about good writing can be off putting, but it is a goal, not a prerequisite.

In a Coffee Talk, Dr. Walston describes in humorous fashion what it takes to go from a student to a scholar: Coffee Talk # 94: The Academic Jungle -- Trust Your Guide

Quick Links for Prospective Students
Here are some very helpful links for you to get some quick facts and information about CES and what we have to offer.

Various PDF Downloads that will give samples of student papers, syllabi, and more.

Bachelor's, Master's, & Doctoral Certificates

Printable Application Form for a Degree (HTML)

Printable Application Form for a Degree (PDF)

Reading and Writing Requirements

The CES Faculty

Columbia Evangelical Seminary History