SME provides each student with an opportunity for learning by experience in a congregation, agency, or school under a qualified supervisor. A three-semester program SME is individually tailored for each student to provide a supervised ministry experience in as many dimensions of Christian ministry as possible, using supervisors, lay mentoring teams, theological reflection groups, case studies, experience-in-ministry reports, supervisory conferences, and a variety of evaluative and assessment tools, including the ATS-provided Profiles of Ministry Entrance and Exit instruments.