Theological & Ministerial Studies is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #21 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 7 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Theological & Ministerial Studies Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 927 master's degrees in theological & ministerial studies to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Theological & Ministerial Studies School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of theological & ministerial studies for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality theology program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
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 much a school focuses on theological & ministerial studies students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of theological & ministerial studies students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
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 theological & ministerial studies 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 theological & ministerial studies related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for theological & ministerial studies students working on their master's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Theological & Ministerial Studies Master's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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It is hard to beat Oral Roberts University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in theological & ministerial studies. Located in the city of Tulsa, ORU is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the theology program earn an average of $42,065 in the first couple years of working.
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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Your choice of theological & ministerial studies for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality theology program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
