Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #74 most popular doctor's degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 245 doctor's degrees in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries during the <nil> academic year.
DEBUG: After cleaning major_slug = "theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries"
DEBUG: Before URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After TrimSuffix = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After HTTPS placeholder = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After slash cleaning = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: offers_url is valid, proceeding to fetch data
DEBUG: No offers_data.offers found, showing generic ESYOH widget
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How much debt pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students go into to obtain their doctor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized pastoral counseling & specialized ministries related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students working on their doctor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Schools
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Doctor's Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "theology-and-religious-vocations//pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries"
DEBUG: After cleaning major_slug = "theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries"
DEBUG: Before URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After TrimSuffix = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After HTTPS placeholder = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After slash cleaning = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After cleaning major_slug = "theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries"
DEBUG: Before URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After TrimSuffix = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After HTTPS placeholder = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After slash cleaning = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
DEBUG: After URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/theology-and-religious-vocations/pastoral-counseling-specialized-ministries/offers.json"
One of 7 majors within the Theology & Religious Vocations area of study, Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries has other similar majors worth exploring.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
by our College Data Analytics Team
