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2024 Best General Psychology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

65 Colleges in California
14,881 Bachelor's Degrees
$29,553 Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a bachelor's degree in general psychology, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #3 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

College Factual reviewed 65 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of general psychology. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 14,881 bachelor's degrees in general psychology during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great General Psychology School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Best General Psychology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California The psychology bachelor'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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general psychology students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank General Psychology Schools

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Psychology Rankings Other Ranking Categories

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 General Psychology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.


 

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study General Psychology in California

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for general psychology students seeking a a bachelor's degree.

10 Top California Schools for a Bachelor's in Psychology

1
630 Annual Graduates
$30,127 Median Starting Salary
$14,500 Median Student Debt

University of California - Los Angeles is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in general psychology. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the psychology program earn about $30,127 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in general psychology from University of California - Los Angeles

2
177 Annual Graduates
$34,924 Median Starting Salary
$14,000 Median Student Debt

University of Southern California is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in general psychology. USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles.

Bachelor's recipients from the general psychology program at University of Southern California get $5,371 more than the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in general psychology from University of Southern California

3
366 Annual Graduates
$28,714 Median Starting Salary
$14,883 Median Student Debt

University of California - Irvine is a wonderful option for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in general psychology. UC Irvine is a very large public university located in the city of Irvine.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the psychology program report average early career income of $28,714.

More information about a bachelor’s in general psychology from University of California - Irvine

4
SCU crest
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA
104 Annual Graduates
$50,081 Median Starting Salary
$17,667 Median Student Debt

Santa Clara University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in general psychology. Located in the medium-sized city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.

Those general psychology students who get their bachelor's degree from Santa Clara University make $20,528 more than the average psychology graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in general psychology from Santa Clara University

5
216 Annual Graduates
$28,185 Median Starting Salary
$16,124 Median Student Debt

UCSD is a fairly large public university located in the city of La Jolla.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the psychology program state that they receive average early career earnings of $28,185.

More information about a bachelor’s in general psychology from University of California - San Diego

6
510 Annual Graduates
$27,446 Median Starting Salary
$18,902 Median Student Debt

UC Santa Cruz is a large public university located in the city of Santa Cruz.

Soon after graduation, psychology bachelor's recipients usually earn about $27,446 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in general psychology from University of California - Santa Cruz

7

San Jose State is a very large public university located in the city of San Jose.

Those general psychology students who get their bachelor's degree from San Jose State University make $4,298 more than the standard psychology graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in general psychology from San Jose State University

8
37 Annual Graduates
$35,500 Median Starting Salary
$40,645 Median Student Debt

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.

General Psychology bachelor's degree recipients from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles earn a boost of around $5,947 above the average income of general psychology graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in general psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles

9
601 Annual Graduates
$25,695 Median Starting Salary
$14,301 Median Student Debt

SDSU is a fairly large public university located in the large city of San Diego.

Soon after graduation, psychology bachelor's recipients generally make about $25,695 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in general psychology from San Diego State University

10
507 Annual Graduates
$26,891 Median Starting Salary
$12,000 Median Student Debt

CSULB is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Long Beach.

After graduation, psychology bachelor's recipients typically earn around $26,891 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in general psychology from California State University - Long Beach

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for General Psychology students in the state of California that almost earned our Best General Psychology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California award.

Rank College Location
11 University of San Diego San Diego, CA
12 Pepperdine University Malibu, CA
13 California State University - Sacramento Sacramento, CA
14 California State University - Fullerton Fullerton, CA
15 University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA
16 California State University - Northridge Northridge, CA

Best General Psychology Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best General Psychology Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Washington 226 1,675
Oregon 185 1,582
Nevada 129 728
Hawaii 112 371
Alaska 75 99

View All Rankings >

General Psychology is one of 24 different types of Psychology programs to choose from.

Psychology Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General Psychology 14,881

Related Major Annual Graduates
Child Development & Psychology 3,804
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology 341
Other Psychology 127

Notes and References

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