Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #7 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 358 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Master's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 26,529 master's degrees in clinical, counseling & applied psychology to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology School for Your Master's Degree
The clinical psychology master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to clinical, counseling & applied psychology students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for clinical, counseling & applied psychology to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized clinical, counseling & applied psychology related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for clinical, counseling & applied psychology students working on their master's degree.
The clinical psychology 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 Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Master's Degree Schools.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology in the United States
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
25 Top Schools for a Master's in Clinical Psychology
Northwestern University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the clinical psychology program earn around $43,591 in their early career salary.
University of Pennsylvania is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.
Students who graduate with their master's from the clinical psychology program report average early career earnings of $52,641.
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology has to take a look at University of Southern California. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their master's degree from University of Southern California receive $18,903 more than the typical clinical psychology grad.
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology has to take a look at Northeastern University. Located in the large city of Boston, Northeastern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology program at Northeastern University make $6,758 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Loyola Chicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from Loyola University Chicago earn a boost of around $10,524 over the average income of clinical, counseling & applied psychology graduates.
Located in the small city of Melbourne, Florida Tech is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
Master's recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology program at Florida Institute of Technology get $17,322 above the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
SCU is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Santa Clara.
Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their master's degree from Santa Clara University receive $12,947 more than the typical clinical psychology graduate.
Texas A&M College Station is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of College Station.
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from Texas A&M University - College Station earn a boost of approximately $7,909 over the typical earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology graduates.
Located in the city of San Francisco, USFCA is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.
Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their master's degree from University of San Francisco receive $12,764 more than the typical clinical psychology graduate.
National University is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of San Diego.
Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their master's degree from National University make $5,240 more than the typical clinical psychology student.
UCONN is a fairly large public university located in the town of Storrs.
Master's recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology program at University of Connecticut earn $2,428 more than the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from George Washington University earn a boost of approximately $5,947 above the average earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology majors.
Cal Baptist is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Riverside.
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from California Baptist University get an earnings boost of around $2,705 over the average earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology majors.
UGA is a very large public university located in the city of Athens.
Master's recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology program at University of Georgia earn $12,368 above the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large city of Boston, Simmons is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Master's recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology program at Simmons University get $15,579 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the midsize suburb of Seaside, CSUMB is a public university with a medium-sized student population.
Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their master's degree from California State University - Monterey Bay make $31,418 more than the average clinical psychology graduate.
Located in the city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public university with a very large student population.
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from California State University - Long Beach get an earnings boost of approximately $28,406 over the average income of clinical, counseling & applied psychology graduates.
Hofstra is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Hempstead.
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from Hofstra University receive an earnings boost of approximately $10,586 above the typical earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology graduates.
This section shows the rest of the colleges awarded a Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Master's Degree Schools badge.
Showing in this list means the college was ranked in the top 20% of the 358 different United States clinical, counseling & applied psychology schools we analyzed.
Here are some additional great schools for Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology students that almost earned our Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Master's Degree Schools 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.
The clinical psychology master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
