Career Opportunities

What can you do with religious studies?

Associate professor Jocelyn McWhirter helps a student.Although religious studies may be interesting in and of itself, one cannot live on academic interest alone. Studying religion also has practical payoffs. Students who have graduated from Albion with a major in religious studies are now involved in a wide variety of careers. Some have earned graduate degrees in religious studies and teach in leading colleges and universities. Many are in human services of some kind: pastoral ministry in churches, social work, counseling, and education.

Religious studies, like its sister disciplines in the liberal arts, helps students learn to think critically, not just about religion, but about all aspects of human existence. The study of religion helps students understand themselves and their families’ heritage. Religious studies helps us understand our world, past and present, and to apply this understanding to many areas of life. Accordingly, many of our students end up in the professions: writing, law, business, and industry. Many of our students have chosen to double-major in areas like history, anthropology, psychology, or English.

Because religion is concerned with integrating different aspects of human existence, the study of religion has applications, both practical and theoretical, that are far-reaching. We know, from the testimonies of our alumni, that employers appreciate the balance and breadth that the study of religion offers.

Where might this major take you? Look where it's taken us!

Careers

Graduate Schools

  • Mickey Benson: currently the Hillel International Ezra Springboard Fellow at Binghamton University.
  • Madison Kase: AmeriCorps VISTA at Community Action Network, working with development team on food security and community resilience grants.
  • Dylan Cooper: 2nd Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Alpha, 2-44 ADAR
  • Lenell McGee: CDO analyst for US Bank.
  • Cameron Voss: Peace Corps
  • Tim DeLong: Harvard Divinity School
  • Dustin Moretz: Luther Seminary
  • Christine Hallam: Princeton Theological Seminary
  • Tyler Eyster: Miami University of Ohio
  • Jacob Lyday: J.D. Program, Michigan State University College of Law
  • Jessika Anderson: MSW Program, Spring Arbor University
  • Lenell McGee: full-time student at Denver Seminary, Master of Theological Studies with an Old Testament concentration.
  • Kenton McCosh: 3rd-year medical student at the Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine in Las Cruces, NM. Full tuition scholarship through the Peyton Yates Foundation.
  • Troy Trombley: M.Div Program, Duke Divinity School (full scholarship)
  • Marah Ranger: Master’s Program, Medical Anthropology and Cross-Cultural Practice at Boston University School of Medicine.  Accepted into Western Michigan University’s School of Medicine, Fall 2022.
  • Jalisa Cortez: enrolled in master’s program in Social Work with a School Specialization and a Concentration in Leadership and Change, Northeastern Illinois University
  • Alexis Wilkerson: University of Pennsylvania Biomedical Sciences Post-Baccalaureate Program.
  • Leo Horn: summer study at the Field School in Medieval Archaeology and Bioarchaeology, Bodia Pozzeveri, Italy