If you plan on getting your master's degree in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #100 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 239 master's degrees in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries to qualified students.
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Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for pastoral counseling & specialized ministries to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
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 schools for pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students working on their master's degree.
The pastoral counseling school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region.
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It's hard to beat Luther Rice College & Seminary if you wish to pursue a master's degree in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries. Located in the large suburb of Lithonia, Luther Rice is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the pastoral counseling program earn about $38,760 in their early career salary.
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Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Related Rankings by Major
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.