The Mississippi Baptist Seminary sponsors an Academic Advising Program throughout the year for all enrolled and prospective students. A majority of the Seminary staff participate in these activities (administrators, instructional staff, registrar, business manager, extension Directors and Counselor/Advisors.) Advisement begins with the first contact that students make when they request an application. Other advisement activities follow with registration; scheduled orientation sessions for students at each academic level; and 50-minute counseling appointments with students’ personal academic/career counselors. Additional assessments recommended by counselors/advisors depend on students’ individual needs and are scheduled as needed at the student’s convenience (daytime, evening, weekends). The curriculum focus areas of academic counseling include class scheduling; personal goal settings and development; arranging for testing to meet admission requirements; Faith-based career planning; and redefining self-following the completion of a degree at the Seminary. All students enrolling with 60 or fewer hours are encouraged to begin in the Summer to become acclimated to college life and to take English, Mathematics, Computer Literacy, and Seminary Success courses (No more than 15 hours).
Additionally, the Mississippi Baptist Seminary has a remediation program called Academic Development I and II. The PACE Learning System is the instrument used. The TABE test which is the assessment instrument for PACE is administered to determine the students’ level of performance in English, Reading, and Mathematics. The TABE is scheduled and administered before admittance. It prescribes specific lessons to address the students’ deficiencies. The admission to the Remediation Program will be assessed based on the criteria following:
The PACE Learning System will be used in Academic Support I as the remediation program. PACE uses the TABE test to determine the students’ weaknesses and deficiencies and prescribes specific lessons to address those needs to include English, Reading and Mathematics. Once the needs have been identified, PACE systems prescriptive lesson(s) that will be facilitated by the instructor and will continue until post-testing shows mastery. This is an intensive program that emphasizes skill building in reading, writing and mathematics that are essential to Seminary success. The Semester-long Academic Support Program will include classroom, individual, career counseling and computer-assisted instruction. Those who fail to make an acceptable entry-level score following the semester remediation, will not be allowed to enroll in the regular curriculum courses until the student can meet the required entry-level requirements. Students will receive a grade of “PASS”, “FAIL”, or “I” for incomplete. Incompletes must be cleared within one year after dropping out. Students who fail to complete requirements in Academic Development I and II are not eligible to enroll in the regular academic program until the requirement is satisfied.