{"id":1389,"date":"2013-05-26T12:11:22","date_gmt":"2013-05-26T16:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marktime.org\/?p=1389"},"modified":"2013-05-26T12:10:58","modified_gmt":"2013-05-26T16:10:58","slug":"my-experience-as-a-second-career-student-at-princeton-seminary-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marktime.org\/?p=1389","title":{"rendered":"My Experience as a Second-Career Student at Princeton Seminary, part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is a continuation of post 1<\/a> from yesterday.\u00a0 I recommend that you read that post first.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 I feel like I don’t know as much as others.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 If your first degree wasn’t in Religion or Theology or something along those lines, then you will enter seminary knowing less than some of your classmates.\u00a0 Some of them will take the option to test out of classes like Greek, Hebrew, Old Testament, New Testament, or Systematic Theology based on their undergraduate work.\u00a0 Others will in essence take those classes over again.\u00a0 In your first year, it will be common for you to hear terms in class that you have never heard, but that others around you understand completely.<\/p>\n

DON’T panic.\u00a0 You can catch up.\u00a0 Google is your friend – most of the names and terms that you will hear are easily defined online.\u00a0 I remember the first time in Old Testament class that I was taking notes, and an unfamiliar name came up.\u00a0 I looked puzzled, and a young friend leaned over and wrote the correct spelling of the name on my notes.\u00a0 It was a great help.\u00a0 One staff member who was herself a second-career student at PTS told me the story of how she heard the term “hermeneutics” and wrote in a paper about the theologian “Herman Neutics”.<\/p>\n

DO get help from others.\u00a0 The professors and teaching assistants understand and are usually willing to help you catch up.\u00a0 Contrary to popular belief, the Old Testament class is not intended as a “weed out” class – the professors truly want you to get through and do your best.\u00a0 The same goes for the language classes.\u00a0 Your fellow classmates will also be willing to help – both the young and the old.<\/p>\n

DO know that the situation will reverse itself later.\u00a0 In your second and third years, the classes shift from those with a flood of information in huge lectures to classes that require more thinking and discussion in smaller settings.\u00a0 Your life experience and work experience will be of benefit to you.\u00a0 You may be taking preaching and have to write a funeral sermon, and some of your classmates may have never attended a single funeral.\u00a0 You may take a speech class where you learn to say the Words of Institution for Communion, and your years of hearing them said over and over will greatly help you memorize.\u00a0 In a pastoral care class you may be called upon to role play a situation that you’ve experienced, while your younger classmates have not.\u00a0 At this point, your willingness to share your life and experience will help them.<\/p>\n

Also, you have undoubtedly worked in the world, and the same practical work skills (organization, time management, self-direction) will be of great benefit as you learn how to study again.\u00a0 The seminary degree is one where doing all of the assigned work is impossible – you have to figure out what readings must be read, and how to skim them, and how to write.\u00a0 It’s likely that you’ve done that in your career.<\/p>\n

3. I feel like I’m missing out on things.<\/span>\u00a0 This is particularly true if you live off campus.\u00a0 A lot of the community building that happens takes place in the evenings, in the dorms, and between the apartments.\u00a0 If you come on campus for classes, bring your lunch and eat alone, and then go home you will miss out on community.\u00a0 This can also happen if you live in the dorms or apartments.<\/p>\n

There are a few ways to fix this.<\/p>\n

DO eat lunch at the dining hall every day that you can, even if you bring your own lunch.\u00a0 A lot of the social structure of the campus gets built in the dining hall.\u00a0 DO join groups of people that you don’t know periodically.\u00a0 DO meet friends of friends – some of my strongest friendships can come from those connections.<\/p>\n

DO come back to the main campus at night for events and organizations and special worship services.\u00a0 Some of the neatest things that happen at seminary happen outside of the classroom.\u00a0 I participate in the handbell choir that meets every Wednesday for rehearsal, and that time of the week feeds me.\u00a0 Others attend worship services with groups or participate in other organizations.<\/p>\n

Although, doctors recommend viagra mg<\/a> 10mg dosage for the patients and these should be rehabilitated, developed, and maintained so that it will go back to normal. It is not incorrect to say that these problems are treatable. levitra brand cheap<\/a> Similarly cialis 100mg tablets<\/a> is not recommended for patients using nitrate drugs should not take sildenafil citrate drugs because it reduces the activity of liver enzymes that breakdown many drugs. Physical injuries, alcohol or medication abuse, blocked nerves, stress line viagra<\/a> and anxiety are major causes of ED in men. <\/span>DO socialize with classmates of every age outside of class.\u00a0 Outside of lunch, too.<\/p>\n

Now, this may sound like you have to be a social butterfly, maximum participation extrovert.\u00a0 That’s not true at all.\u00a0 You know when you need to study, and you know when you need to take time for yourself.\u00a0 I’m a fairly strong introvert, and I manage this.\u00a0 One thing that I learned the hard way (by almost burning out) is that seminary forms all sides of you – the academic, the spiritual, the social, the practical.\u00a0 You won’t make it if you concentrate on homework and reading.\u00a0 Sometimes you have to make the decision that right now, this minute, it’s more important for me to connect with other people than to keep up in a specific class.\u00a0 And you have to listen for the working of the Holy Spirit in those moments.\u00a0 Sometimes the best thing you can do is to sit in the dining hall hoping that someone will sit and distract you from work.\u00a0 Because those conversations turn out more often than you’d think to be important moments in your formation.<\/p>\n

4. A few last thoughts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Attend chapel.\u00a0 It’s worth it.\u00a0 And the preacher is often a senior.\u00a0 Someday you will be that senior, and want others to attend your service.<\/p>\n

The schedule isn’t set up for those who work.\u00a0 It’s just not – that’s not their priority.\u00a0 Even if you construct the perfect schedule that balances your classes and work and whatever outside life needs there are, it’s not going to work every week.\u00a0 Shoot, the schedule isn’t even set up for those who have Field Ed (except for Wednesday afternoon), and that’s a requirement.\u00a0 Here’s the thing – ministry isn’t on a perfect schedule either.\u00a0 You have to learn to be flexible, and to build resources into your life to compensate for those unexpected emergencies.<\/p>\n

Ask for help when you need it – with schoolwork, with mental health, in spiritual crisis, when your car breaks down.\u00a0 There’s an aura at Princeton that seems to require us to act as though we have our stuff together all of the time.\u00a0 The truth is the total opposite – nobody has their stuff together all of the time, and it’s rare that any person has all of their stuff together at the same time.\u00a0 The school is starting to work on breaking down this need for apparent perfection.\u00a0 What that means for us is that we need to work on it from the other side.\u00a0 Let your dirty laundry show some, let people know that you need help, and offer help to others.\u00a0 I hear from others that this is an issue unique to Princeton.\u00a0 Let’s fix it.<\/p>\n

Have fun.\u00a0 It’s not possible to study and work and pray and such all of the time.\u00a0 Be sure to take time out to enjoy yourself and recharge your batteries.\u00a0 A 20-minute power nap helps many people to work for several more hours.\u00a0 It’s the same with fun – a fun afternoon helps you to work all weekend to finish a paper.\u00a0 All work and no play makes you a terrible minister.<\/p>\n

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Last – if you are planning to attend Princeton or considering it, please feel free to contact me with questions.\u00a0 If you will be there for the 2013-14 year (my senior year), please find me and we’ll chat.\u00a0 I live in the area and expect to do so after graduation, so I’ll be around.<\/p>\n