If you plan on majoring in psychology, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #8 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
College Factual reviewed 81 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of psychology. Combined, these schools handed out 40,588 degrees in psychology to qualified students.
The psychology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Psychology rankings. For our Best Overall Psychology 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.
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 Psychology Schools in California list to help you make the college decision.
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.
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the psychology degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles is a good choice for students interested in a degree in psychology. Located in the city of Los Angeles, The Chicago School Los Angeles Campus is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
There were about 603 psychology students who graduated with this degree at The Chicago School Los Angeles Campus in the most recent data year. Those psychology students who get their degree from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles receive $13,208 more than the standard psychology grad.
Any student who is interested in psychology needs to look into University of Southern California. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were approximately 313 psychology students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year. Those psychology students who get their degree from University of Southern California receive $6,157 more than the standard psychology graduate.
University of California - Los Angeles is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in psychology. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #26 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were about 1116 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the psychology program earn an average of $37,572 in the first couple years of their career.
University of California - Irvine is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in psychology. UC Irvine is a very large public university located in the city of Irvine. A Best Colleges rank of #61 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UC Irvine is a great university overall.
There were about 1206 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UC Irvine in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, psychology degree recipients usually earn an average of $28,150 in their early careers.
Fielding is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Santa Barbara. A Best Colleges rank of #47 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Fielding is a great university overall.
There were approximately 205 psychology students who graduated with this degree at Fielding in the most recent data year. Those psychology students who get their degree from Fielding Graduate University receive $22,425 more than the typical psychology student.
Located in the midsize city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #50 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means SCU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 202 psychology students who graduated with this degree at SCU in the most recent year we have data available. Psychology degree recipients from Santa Clara University earn a boost of approximately $13,865 over the average income of psychology graduates.
UCSD is a very large public university located in the large city of La Jolla. A Best Colleges rank of #38 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UCSD is a great university overall.
There were about 589 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the psychology program report average early career earnings of $29,034.
Pacific Graduate School of Psychology is a small private not-for-profit university located in the rural area of Palo Alto.
There were about 222 psychology students who graduated with this degree at Pacific Graduate School of Psychology in the most recent data year. Those psychology students who get their degree from Palo Alto University earn $17,585 more than the typical psychology student.
Located in the medium-sized suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #45 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UCSB is a great university overall.
There were roughly 602 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, psychology degree recipients usually make around $28,978 in the first five years of their career.
UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the city of Berkeley. A Best Colleges rank of #18 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were about 326 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, psychology degree recipients generally earn about $34,767 in their early careers.
UC Santa Cruz is a large public university located in the small city of Santa Cruz. This university ranks 19th out of 168 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 520 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UC Santa Cruz in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the psychology program make around $27,446 in their early career salary.
Located in the large suburb of Malibu, Pepperdine is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #94 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Pepperdine is a great university overall.
There were approximately 793 psychology students who graduated with this degree at Pepperdine in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the psychology program at Pepperdine University earn $3,205 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Here are some additional great schools for Psychology students in the state of California that almost earned our Best Psychology Schools in California award.
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).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Nevit Dilmen.
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The psychology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Psychology rankings. For our Best Overall Psychology School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
