There are several crucial selection criteria for the European Summer Scholar Program.
The goal of campus life at Wheaton College is to live, work, serve, and worship together as an educational community centered around the Lord Jesus Christ. The Community Covenant is a description of the values that represent Wheaton College community. Please read this statement to understand the expectations that we agree to as a community.
1. One must have fluency in English.
A person with less than excellent English skills simply cannot gain the maximum benefit offered by the Summer Program. Applicants will submit Language Proficiency form as part of their application.
2. One should be a current or future key Christian leader within one's nation.
Some participants already hold critical leadership positions within a church, school or ministry; others are the likely "next generation" of leaders. The program is not limited to those who are in full-time Christian service, in fact we have had a number of lay-leaders take part in the program who are vocationally engaged in medicine, law, economics, politics, business, and public education. It is strongly preferred that participants have already had 5-10 years of experience within their area of vocation.
Because this is a program of the Wheaton College Graduate School, participants are required to have already earned at least a Bachelor’s Degree. Many participants have already completed Masters, Doctoral and Post-Doctoral work.
3. The potential topics for projects are wide open.
Past projects have focus on Greek and Hebrew, Biblical studies, missions, evangelism, every conceivable area of theology, Christian education, leadership development, youth ministry, children's ministry, psychology, counseling, Christian history, educational administration, publishing, and more. The only limitation is our ability to find an appropriate mentor for a particular topic. People have used the six-week program to write a thesis, do a literature search for a doctoral dissertation, write books or articles, create curriculum for a new course, or simply deepen their own vocational competencies.
4. The program provides a new experience.
Ideally, the participants are people who have not had multiple occasions to travel or study in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand or Western Europe. As one purpose of this experience is cultural exchange, the program gives preference to those who have not had other opportunities
5. Participants need to be in Wheaton for the entire six week program.
The program runs from the middle of June to the end of July. During the six weeks of the program, participants should not schedule off-campus trips for the purposes of preaching, teaching, fundraising or visiting local friends and family; such visits must be scheduled before or after the program is complete. Participants cannot bring their spouses or children. Husbands and wives may come together, but only if each of them meet the criteria, apply, and are accepted into the Summer Program.