If you pursue a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #7 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 56 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 6,383 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider 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.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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 in the Far Western US Region.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology in the Far Western US Region
Below you'll see a list of 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.
11 Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Master's in Clinical Psychology
Any student pursuing a degree 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 fairly large student population.
Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their master's degree from University of Southern California earn $12,640 more than the standard clinical psychology student.
Santa Clara University is a great option for students pursuing a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. SCU is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Santa Clara.
Master's recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology major at Santa Clara University make $6,684 above the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Pepperdine University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Pepperdine is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Malibu.
Students who graduate with their master's from the clinical psychology program state that they receive average early career earnings of $49,456.
University of San Francisco is a wonderful option for individuals interested in a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the large city of San Francisco, USFCA is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.
Master's recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology major at University of San Francisco make $6,501 above the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the midsize suburb of Seaside, CSUMB is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from California State University - Monterey Bay receive an earnings boost of around $25,155 above the average earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology majors.
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 receive an earnings boost of approximately $22,143 above the typical income of clinical, counseling & applied psychology majors.
Located in the midsize city of Orange, Chapman 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 Chapman University make $31,782 more than the standard clinical psychology graduate.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
