Andy Rowell

The largest seminaries: Fall 2012 enrollment data for Association for Theological Schools

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Andy Rowell

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I looked at the Association for Theological School data and made a simple chart of the largest seminaries by enrollment Head Count. The Excel document is linked to below. 

 

2012 Most enrollment total : Head Count and
Full Time Equivalent (Ordered by Head Count)
             
  Total Enrollment          
Rank School 2012 HC 2012 FTE      
1 Fuller
Theological Seminary		 3579 1708      
2 Southern Baptist Theological Seminary 2561 1424      
3 Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary		 2338 1241      
4 Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary 2033 1069      
5 Dallas
Theological Seminary		 1962 1057      
6 Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary 1907 1447      
7 Golden
Gate Baptist Theological Seminary		 1683 667      
8 New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary 1596 1290      
9 Asbury
Theological Seminary		 1488 755      
10 Trinity Evangelical Divinity School 1229 848      
11 Talbot
School of Theology		 1224 541      
12 Reformed Theological Seminary 1096 561      
13 Seventh-day
Adventist Theological Seminary		 1025 605      
14 Denver Seminary 932 479      
15 Regent
University School of Divinity		 881 497      
16 Bethel Seminary of Bethel University 861 405      
17 Western
Seminary		 797 422      
18 Alliance Theological Seminary 760 396      
19 Luther
Seminary		 756 548      
20 Ashland Theological Seminary 744 360      
21 Tyndale
University College & Seminary		 683 339      
22 Midwestern Baptist Seminary 656 337      
23 Duke
University Divinity School		 639 588      
24 Concordia Seminary (MO) 621 441      
25 Westminster
Theological Seminary		 617 420      
26 Princeton Theological Seminary 514 500      
27 Candler
School of Theology of Emory University		 478 441      
             

Table
2.15 Head Count and Full-Time Equivalent Enrollment by Degree Category, Fall
2012
http://www.ats.edu/Resources/PublicationsPresentations/Documents/AnnualDataTables/2012-13AnnualDataTables.pdf
             
             
Annual
Data Tables/FactBooks 		          
The
Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada		    
Collated
by Andrew D. Rowell, April 2013		          

 

 

2012 Most enrollment total : Head Count and
Full Time Equivalent (Ordered by Full Time Equivalent)
       
  Total Enrollment    
Rank School 2012 HC 2012 FTE
1 Fuller
Theological Seminary		 3579 1708
2 Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary 1907 1447
3 Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary		 2561 1424
4 New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary 1596 1290
5 Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary		 2338 1241
6 Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary 2033 1069
7 Dallas
Theological Seminary		 1962 1057
8 Trinity Evangelical Divinity School 1229 848
9 Asbury
Theological Seminary		 1488 755
10 Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary 1683 667
11 Seventh-day
Adventist Theological Seminary		 1025 605
12 Duke University Divinity School 639 588
13 Reformed
Theological Seminary		 1096 561
14 Luther Seminary 756 548
15 Talbot
School of Theology		 1224 541
16 Princeton Theological Seminary 514 500
17 Regent
University School of Divinity		 881 497
18 Denver Seminary 932 479
19 Concordia
Seminary (MO)		 621 441
20 Candler School of Theology of Emory University 478 441
21 Western
Seminary		 797 422
22 Westminster Theological Seminary 617 420
23 Bethel
Seminary of Bethel University		 861 405
24 Alliance Theological Seminary 760 396
25 Ashland
Theological Seminary		 744 360
26 Tyndale University College & Seminary 683 339
27 Midwestern
Baptist Seminary		 656 337

 

 

Download Excel document of this chart on the Fall 2012 Most enrollment total

 

Comments: 

  • There are a lot Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) schools on the list. (The denomination for each school is listed in the ATS data but I have not included it here–sorry). 
  • It would be great to compare this data with earlier ATS data which you could do but I haven't taken the time to do so–sorry! However, I did do lists of the biggest seminaries in 2006 and 2009 which you can look at.
  • I have heard that #1 Fuller Theological Seminary has frozen faculty hiring and cut staff because of financial pressures. 
  • Note the article about Luther Seminary below with the title "Struggling Seminaries."
  • Note that Duke Divinity School and Princeton Theological Seminary are much higher on the list if one considers Full Time Equivalent. However, Greg Henson, in an article linked to below, notes that FTE is rather subjective and thus is not a great indicator. 

 

 

 

Other things worth reading about seminaries:

Barely 4 in 10 MDivs Plan To Pastor: Full-Time
Seminary grads who expect to pursue full-time ministry careers are down 10 percent over the past decade. May 30, 2013. Melissa Steffan. Christianity Today Gleanings

The Struggling Seminaries Mar 29, 2013 By Libby A. Nelson Inside Higher Ed

Greg Henson, Chief of Institutional Advancement at Northern Seminary, has done a lot of superb work on Association for Theological Schools data:

Incoming
Seminary Students – What do they bring?

Incoming
Seminary Students – Why are they here?

Incoming
Seminary Students – Who are they?

3
Reasons to Forget About FTE Part 2

3
Reasons to Forget About FTE

I just read a great piece by Will Willimon on seminaries: Ministry As Difficult As It Ought to Be

Andy Crouch and Richard Mouw did a lot of research on seminaries for a report called: Seminary of the Future. (The website has not been very well maintained or linear. It is probably best to read the content by reading through the Discussion Points).

Note: I did this research for a separate project but thought I would share it here for others' benefit.

Comments

2 responses to “The largest seminaries: Fall 2012 enrollment data for Association for Theological Schools”

  1. Patrick O Avatar
    Patrick O

    “I have heard that #1 Fuller Theological Seminary has frozen faculty hiring and cut staff because of financial pressures.”

    I’ve not heard about faculty hiring freezes at Fuller–indeed there are some overloaded departments–but there definitely have been staff cuts, both in letting people go and, mostly, in not replacing positions when someone leaves. Fuller has also made major changes in its housing and bookstore, which were the 2 big money drains. Definitely in a tight financial position, but I don’t think the quality of education has suffered because of it.

    Like with a lot of companies and institutions, expansion during flush times causes a fair amount of problems when times are lean.

  2. Andy Rowell Avatar
    Andy Rowell

    Thanks for that correction. I have crossed out the “frozen faculty hiring” above.

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