In September 1951, King enrolled in Boston University's Ph.D. program in systematic theology. He met Coretta Scott while at Boston University, and they were married on June 18, 1953, in Perry County, Alabama. He received his Ph.D. in June 1955. During his last year of residential studies at Boston University, he was offered a position at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1954, he and Coretta moved to Montgomery.