by our College Data Analytics TeamStudents interested in pastoral studies/counseling, take a look at other closely related fields of study. Below you will find majors with similar career paths, related concentrations and specializations, and the most popular similar majors, ranked by annual graduates.
These majors prepare graduates for occupations that overlap with those of pastoral studies/counseling, based on the NCES CIP-to-SOC career crosswalk. Sorted by the number of shared occupations.
| Similar Major | Shared Careers | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling | 3 | 187 |
| Contemplative Studies/Inquiry | 3 | 10 |
| Thanatology | 3 | 6 |
| Theological and Ministerial Studies, Other | 3 | 1,726 |
| Bible/Biblical Studies | 2 | 3,603 |
| Bioethics/Medical Ethics | 2 | 757 |
| Divinity/Ministry | 2 | 6,724 |
| Missions/Missionary Studies | 2 | 1,235 |
| Pre-Theology/Pre-Ministerial Studies | 2 | 192 |
| Rabbinical Studies | 2 | 148 |
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Lay Ministry | 732 |
| Pastoral Counseling and Specialized Ministries, Other | 678 |
| Youth Ministry | 327 |
| Women’s Ministry | 75 |
| Urban Ministry | 65 |
| Chaplain/Chaplaincy Studies | 30 |
Part of the broader field of Pastoral Counseling and Specialized Ministries, pastoral studies/counseling shares its foundations with the other majors in that field.
More about our data sources and methodologies.