If you plan on majoring in religious studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #90 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 8 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for religious studies students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 420 degrees in religious studies during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Your choice of religious studies school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for religious studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
The religion 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 Religious Studies Schools in California.
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.
The schools below may not offer all types of religion degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
University of Southern California is a wonderful choice for students interested in a degree in religious studies. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 8 religious studies students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year.
Every student pursuing a degree in religious studies has to check out University of California - Santa Barbara. UCSB is a very large public university located in the suburb of Santa Barbara. A Best Colleges rank of #45 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UCSB is a great university overall.
There were about 38 religious studies students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the religion program make about $26,438 for their early career.
University of California - Davis is a great decision for students pursuing a degree in religious studies. UC Davis is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Davis. A Best Colleges rank of #52 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UC Davis is a great university overall.
There were roughly 10 religious studies students who graduated with this degree at UC Davis in the most recent data year.
Chapman University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in religious studies. Located in the midsize city of Orange, Chapman is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #191 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Chapman is a great university overall.
There were about 2 religious studies students who graduated with this degree at Chapman in the most recent data year.
University of California - Riverside is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in religious studies. UCR is a very large public university located in the city of Riverside. This university ranks 36th out of 168 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 12 religious studies students who graduated with this degree at UCR in the most recent year we have data available.
Cal Baptist is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Riverside. This university ranks 82nd out of 168 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 30 religious studies students who graduated with this degree at Cal Baptist in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the religion program make an average of $23,660 in the first couple years of their career.
CSUN is a very large public university located in the city of Northridge. This university ranks 49th out of 168 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 12 religious studies students who graduated with this degree at CSUN in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the religion program report average early career wages of $25,606.
Cal State Fullerton is a very large public university located in the suburb of Fullerton. This university ranks 41st out of 168 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 10 religious studies students who graduated with this degree at Cal State Fullerton in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 35th out of 168 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 3 religious studies students who graduated with this degree at SFSU in the most recent data year.
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).
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Your choice of religious studies school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for religious studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
