Ranked #18 in popularity, theological & ministerial studies is one of the most sought-after doctor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 3 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Theological & Ministerial Studies Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,048 doctor's degrees in theological & ministerial studies to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Theological & Ministerial Studies School for Your Doctor's Degree
Your choice of theological & ministerial studies for getting your doctor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality theology program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of doctorate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their doctor'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 - How many other theological & ministerial studies students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor'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 much debt theological & ministerial studies 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 theological & ministerial studies related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for theological & ministerial studies students working on their doctor's degree.
The theology 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 Theological & Ministerial Studies Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region.
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Liberty University is a great option for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in theological & ministerial studies. Located in the city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Doctorate graduates who receive their degree from the theology program earn around $56,551 in the first couple years of their career.
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 doctor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality theology program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
