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. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 41,633 degrees in psychology during the 2021-2022 academic year.
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.
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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 great 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 approximately 702 psychology students who graduated with this degree at The Chicago School Los Angeles Campus in the most recent year we have data available. Psychology degree recipients from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles get an earnings boost of approximately $13,170 over the typical earnings of psychology graduates.
Every student who is interested in psychology needs to check out University of Southern California. USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were approximately 335 psychology students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the psychology major at University of Southern California earn $6,119 more than the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
University of California - Los Angeles is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in psychology. Located in the large 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 1101 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the psychology program make around $37,572 for their early career.
University of California - Irvine is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in psychology. UC Irvine is a fairly large public university located in the city of Irvine. A Best Colleges rank of #61 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UC Irvine is a great university overall.
There were approximately 1056 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UC Irvine in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, psychology degree recipients typically earn around $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 schools nationwide means Fielding is a great university overall.
There were about 185 psychology students who graduated with this degree at Fielding in the most recent year we have data available. Those psychology students who get their degree from Fielding Graduate University earn $22,387 more than the typical psychology graduate.
Located in the medium-sized city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #50 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means SCU is a great university overall.
There were about 227 psychology students who graduated with this degree at SCU in the most recent year we have data available. Those psychology students who get their degree from Santa Clara University receive $13,827 more than the standard psychology student.
UCSD is a fairly 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 approximately 781 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the psychology program report average early career income 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 roughly 240 psychology students who graduated with this degree at Pacific Graduate School of Psychology in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the psychology major at Palo Alto University get $17,547 above the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the 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 approximately 659 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, psychology degree recipients generally make an average of $28,978 in the first five years of their career.
UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the midsize 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 roughly 371 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, psychology degree recipients typically earn around $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 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 447 psychology students who graduated with this degree at UC Santa Cruz in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the psychology program earn about $27,446 in the first couple years of working.
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 about 960 psychology students who graduated with this degree at Pepperdine in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the psychology program at Pepperdine University get $3,167 more than the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
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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.
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.
