Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries isn't the most popular bachelor's program in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #161 in popularity out of 363 majors in the country. As such, the degree program isn't offered at every college in the United States, but there are schools that do have a program in the field that are top-notch when it comes to quality.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 180 bachelor's degrees in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of pastoral counseling & specialized ministries for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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 bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
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 - How many other pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
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 easy is it for pastoral counseling & specialized ministries to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor'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 bachelor'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 Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list to help you make the college decision.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries in the Plains States Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries.
Top Plains States Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Pastoral Counseling
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries needs to look into North Central University. North Central University is a fairly small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Minneapolis.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the pastoral counseling program state that they receive average early career wages of $27,370.
It's difficult to beat Crown College if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries. Located in the rural area of Saint Bonifacius, Crown is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
After graduating, pastoral counseling bachelor's recipients generally earn about $26,538 in the first five 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.
Your choice of pastoral counseling & specialized ministries for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
