SUMMARY
Studying Religious Studies is not only a valuable choice, but generally a mandatory first step for undergraduates trying to enter a career as a religious missionary, an outreach worker, or a charity officer. In fact, religious studies is fairly common coming in at the 97th most popular degree. Last academic year, there were 3,941 religious studies degrees conferred. In-state tuition for religious studies at private schools is, on average, 3.9 times more spendy than their public fellows.
There are 640 institutions that offer this degree. 640 schools is on par with other degrees offered in the United States. If you are looking to immerse yourself with other religious studies majors, consider schools in Virginia which have more undergrads admitted to religious studies than any other state. More generally, the best region to study religious studies is in the Southeast region with New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Liberty University, and University of Virginia-Main Campus best representing the region. Interestingly, our pick of the top conference to major in religious studies is the Big South Conference with Campbell University, Charleston Southern University, and Liberty University representing the conference. From our list of the best colleges, our selection for the best university for religious studies is Harvard University.
The 'best' school does not mean it is the 'best' school for every student. There can be a bunch more facets to think about when selecting ​university. Things like campus amenities, transportation services, and food could definitely sway one's feelings of which college to attend. Here at authority.org, we've evaluated the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you are intrigued by which religious studies university boasts the best campus, the answer is Harvard University. If you are very interested in which school boasts the best campus, then we have a whole page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through student reviews, government databases, professor reviews, and more to compare every U.S. major in an unbiased and informative way. You can find our well researched list for the universities with the best student life here and our pick of the school with the best student life for religious studies is Georgetown University. Are you curious why? Keep reading to discover more about Authority's top recommendations. Many of our conclusions will probably surprise you.
If expense is a primary factor in your decisions, you might be cautious about Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York is our most expensive school for religious studies, at least for out of state enrollment. That being said, we have a list of the most expensive colleges that might put the price tag at Columbia University in the City of New York into perspective. You could also be interested to know that religious studies is the 18th most expensive program in the nation, with an average expense of $54,000. To zoom out a little, the most costly state for religious studies on our list is Rhode Island with costs at the primary university, Brown University, of $57,112. Even more broadly, the most costly region for religious studies is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Wesleyan University with a cost of $56,704, Amherst College with a cost of $57,640, and Brown University with a cost of $57,112.
Our cheapest region for religious studies is the Southeast region which is represented by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary with a cost of $8,784, College of Charleston with a cost of $70, and American Public University System with a cost of $6,804. On the bright side, the most affordable university for religious studies is Andrews University. Authority's comprehensive list of the most affordable schools can be found here.
In-state students can anticipate paying around $10,800 for a degree in religious studies. The cost swells substantially to a median of $28,900 for an out-of-state public-school student. On that note, our choice for the school with the best value for religious studies: Duke University. Here you will see our comprehensive list about the colleges we see as being the best value overall. That being said, this section is predicated on the assumption that you are an out-of-state student. The value proposition changes when in-state tuition costs are considered, as such, we are using out-of-state tuition as the baseline.
Earnings for religious studies students differ widely, but within two years leaving college students will typically make around $53,200. While there can be much variation in earnings potential; highest paid earners can rake in up to $110,500. Right out of school, the lowest earning opportunities within the religious studies field earn $24,900, which could be worse. The highest earning graduates from religious studies studied at Duke University and if you want to find the colleges with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.
The overall diversity of religious studies ranks subpar, falling within the 38th percentile of all majors. The university with the most composite diversity for religious studies is Andrews University and here you can find our general list for the colleges with the most diversity. The financial diversity of Religious Studies is only in the 28th percentile compared to all other majors. Racial diversity is actually above financial diversity, in the 30th percentile. White collegians make up the largest proportion, 70%, of scholars studying religious studies. Additionally, 56% of undergrads pursuing a religious studies degree are men.
The median ranking of religious studies professors is 4.1 stars, a rating that is 2% higher than the average across every major; which is a good score. If you want to find the most popular religious studies instructor nationally, look no further than Michael Wintz from Mesa Community College. It might be surprising, but the highest rated professors for religious studies according to students come from Arizona State University-Tempe. If we including data beyond simply rankings it becomes clear that the college possessing comprehensively the best professors for religious studies is Harvard University. One will find an explanation of our evolving ranking methodology of the best overall professors here, along with some of the best instructors in the country.
Finally, the most difficult college to get into for religious studies is Harvard University. While we are unsure why you would be interested, we do have a detailed page for the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, we hope you believe that considering university from context primarily built on superlatives might cause problems. We at Authority hope you explore our other pages on different colleges and peruse a couple of our background articles on useful things to look out for as you continue your school search.