2025 Best Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Schools in the Great Lakes Region
6Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
775Pastoral Counseling Degrees Awarded
$38,263Avg Early-Career Salary
When it comes to popularity, pastoral counseling & specialized ministries sits in the middle of the road, ranking #171 out of 395 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 6 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 775 degrees in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries annually.
Choosing a Great Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries School
The pastoral counseling program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries rankings. For our Best Overall Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Rankings by Degree Level
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Schools for Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries in the Great Lakes Region
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the pastoral counseling degree levels they offer.
Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Pastoral Counseling
Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global is a good option for students interested in a degree in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries. Located in the rural area of Marion, IWU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #224 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means IWU is a great university overall.
There were about 40 pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students who graduated with this degree at IWU in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the pastoral counseling program make an average of $35,881 in the first couple years of working.
Indiana Wesleyan University is a great choice for students interested in a degree in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries. Located in the town of Marion, IWU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 12th out of 41 schools for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were approximately 73 pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students who graduated with this degree at IWU in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, pastoral counseling degree recipients usually make about $29,318 at the beginning of their careers.
Moody Bible Institute is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries. Moody Theological Seminary and Graduate School is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.
There were about 67 pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students who graduated with this degree at Moody Theological Seminary and Graduate School in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the pastoral counseling program report average early career income of $35,426.
Grace College and Theological Seminary is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in pastoral counseling & specialized ministries. Grace College is a small private not-for-profit college located in the distant town of Winona Lake. This college ranks 25th out of 41 schools for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were about 34 pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students who graduated with this degree at Grace College in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the pastoral counseling program make around $25,060 for their early career.
Located in the small city of Wyoming, Grace is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly small student population.
There were roughly 53 pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students who graduated with this degree at Grace in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the pastoral counseling & specialized ministries program at Grace Christian University earn $4,035 more than the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Valor Christian College is a small private not-for-profit college located in the large city of Canal Winchester.
There were about 38 pastoral counseling & specialized ministries students who graduated with this degree at Valor Christian College in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the pastoral counseling program report average early career earnings of $29,571.
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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The pastoral counseling program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries rankings. For our Best Overall Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
