Popular Searches
Maci Sepp had a sudden realization during her first week as a student at Princeton Theological Seminary. “I felt like everyone should go to seminary,” said Sepp MDiv ’21, ThM ’22. “There is just nothing like this opportunity. It’s unlike any other graduate school experience you could possibly have.”
Although that memorable first week on campus happened seven years ago, the impact endures to this day. Sepp has become a powerful witness for a seminary education—a Princeton Seminary education in particular. “Especially with the way the world is going,” she says.
There is something really unique to Princeton Seminary’s tradition of being theologically grounded, academically rigorous, and eager to speak truthfully to the moment, whatever moment we’re in.
Sepp is now carrying that message into the world. On Aug. 1, she became the Seminary’s Director of Admissions, leading a five-person office responsible for recruiting, admitting, and enrolling each new class of Seminarians.
The job returns Sepp to her alma mater as well as the office where she began her career. She worked in the admissions office for two years as a Recruitment Associate and then Associate Director of Recruitment before joining Columbia Theological Seminary in Georgia in August 2024, as the Director of Vocational Outreach.
“Everyone is saying, ‘Welcome home,’ and I am like, ‘Yeah, that’s so true,”’ Sepp said. “That’s what it feels like.” It’s also a bold new undertaking.
Sepp takes the job at a time when the field of ministry and seminary education are evolving in exciting ways. Graduates of Princeton Seminary serve the world in many roles, from church leadership to academia to nonprofit management as well as careers in public service, teaching, and the arts. Some are developing new forms of ministry beyond church walls. Sepp is ready to jump right in and show prospective students all the possibilities the Seminary offers.
“When I was here as a student I can remember thinking: ‘Do I go for ordination? Do I go the chaplaincy route? Do I pursue a PhD?” she said.
There are so many things that open up when you are here and you see what your peers, your mentors, and the people you look up to are doing. It’s more multifaceted than I ever imagined.
For Sepp, working in admissions is a ministry, a calling that requires the ability to engage with students in a spirit of empathy, trust, and acceptance.
During her earlier stint in admissions, she heard from a recent college graduate who was geared toward the sciences but interested in pursuing a master of divinity degree. He was accepted into the Seminary but declined the offer. He applied again a year later but decided to pursue a graduate degree in data analytics. Both times Sepp told him she understood and respected his decision. When he reached out for a third time this year, Sepp and her staff once again responded warmly, encouraging his continuing interest and letting him know they would answer any question he had.
“When we say, ‘Our doors are open,’ and when we say, ‘We’re ready when you’re ready,’ “we really mean it,” she said. “And I don’t know of any other institution quite like that, in our willingness to walk with students.” Many students, she adds, “are navigating complex life and career choices but yearn to forge a path that aligns with their values.”
“There is this back and forth, a real discernment process going on with students,” she said. “It’s my duty in this role to make sure that whether it’s your first time walking on campus or whether it’s your third time applying, that you feel welcomed, encouraged, and supported. And we won’t fault you for doing what you think is right.”
Born in China and adopted into an American family, Sepp grew up never imagining she would attend seminary. She majored in chemistry and public relations at Greenville University, a Christian liberal arts school in Illinois. Toward the end of her undergraduate years, as she was developing her faith life, an acquaintance recommended seminary.
“Because I didn’t grow up in the church, I didn’t know what seminary was until this recommendation came to me late in college,” she said. “I went to seminary because someone told me they saw gifts in ministry in me.”
She chose Princeton Seminary after seeking a strong academic program as well as a campus culture that was friendly, stimulating, and oriented toward social justice. She had also wanted a place where she would be accepted as an Asian American woman. Then, in her second week at Princeton Seminary, she saw a person of Asian descent preaching for the first time in her life. “That was mind blowing,” she said.
I felt, ‘This is where I am supposed to be.’ Not only am I allowed to be in this space, but I am encouraged to be in this space. And I am welcomed, I am wanted.
And that is a message she wants to make sure prospective students also receive. “What makes the Princeton Seminary experience so unique is that we have this centeredness in church, academia, and in our commitments to each other,” she said.
One of the most poignant ways to see that in action, she said, is the Seminary’s chapel program where every day the worship is led by a different person in the community, with many of them incorporating elements from their own faith background.
“It’s students, it’s staff, it’s faculty, it’s guests, each coming to share the Word,” she said. “Whoever is up in that pulpit preaching gets to speak to the moment we are in. I’ve never seen any other institution do that.”
