Accelerated Program with Catholic Theological Union

Our coordinated 3+1 program with Catholic Theological Union allows you to earn—at an accelerated pace—both a BA at Dominican and a MA in Hispanic Theology and Ministry at CTU. You’ll prepare for professional life as economically and efficiently as possible. The program offers two paths to the combined degree.

Option 1: Advanced Standing with Credit

This option allows you to earn up to 12 credit hours of advanced standing. You’ll earn credit for specific courses that apply toward both your undergraduate degree at Dominican and your master’s degree at Catholic Theological Union. The courses include:

• Latin@ American Religious Experience and Theology
• Latin@ Spirituality: Origins, Roots, and Contemporary Experience of a People
• Our Lady of Guadalupe: Mother of a New Creation
• Internship in Latin@ Context

Additional 200- and 300-level courses may be eligible for advanced standing with credit through the following process:

• Confer with your academic advisors at both Dominican and CTU.
• Petition for advanced standing with credit.
• Submit supporting documentation, including a course syllabus, the name and credentials of the faculty member teaching the course, a description of the context of learning, and a transcript or certificate of completion.
• Apply to the instructor of the respective course for assessment.

Students pay one-third of CTU’s tuition rate for the credits granted.

If you wish to seek advanced standing with credit for practicum work, please work with your faculty advisor at Dominican and the director of field education at CTU to ensure that you meet the requirements for the CTU practicum

Option 2: Three Plus One

The accelerated 3+1 option allows you to complete both your BA and MA in just five years. You may apply to CTU to begin the MA in Hispanic Theology and Ministry after you have earned 97 credit hours toward your bachelor’s degree at Dominican, and have completed all of your major and core curriculum requirements (except credits from CTU that may be applied toward your major). You may transfer up to 27 credit hours from CTU to Dominican to fulfill either the major or elective requirements toward your bachelor’s degree.

Program eligibility

The coordinated program with Catholic Theological Union is limited to students who:

• Have a GPA of 3.0 or above.
• Are recommended to CTU by their faculty advisor at Dominican.
• Complete at least 97 semester credit hours toward the BA at Dominican.

How to apply

To apply for the coordinated program:

• Submit your online application to Catholic Theological Union. 
• Ask a Dominican faculty member to send a letter of recommendation to CTU, including an assessment of your readiness for graduate work.
• Ask a supervisor or mentor at one of your experiential learning sites to send a second recommendation to CTU.
• Send CTU transcripts from Dominican and any other colleges or university where you have earned academic credit.
• Write a personal statement for admission to CTU. (see Guidelines and Requirements on CTU’s website for details)
• Submit a $55 application fee to CTU.