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 reviewed 47 schools in the Southwest Region to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of clinical, counseling & applied psychology. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 2,825 master's degrees in clinical, counseling & applied psychology during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Choosing a Great Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of clinical, counseling & applied psychology for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality clinical psychology program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
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 for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on clinical, counseling & applied psychology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other clinical, counseling & applied psychology students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt clinical, counseling & applied psychology students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized clinical, counseling & applied psychology related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for clinical, counseling & applied psychology students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Schools
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 Southwest Region.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology in the Southwest Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology.
10 Top Southwest Region Schools for a Master's in Clinical Psychology
It is hard to beat Texas A&M University - College Station if you want to pursue a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the midsize city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public university with a very large student population.
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from Texas A&M University - College Station receive an earnings boost of around $10,186 above the average earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology majors.
Baylor University is a good choice for students interested in a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Baylor is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Waco.
Master's recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology degree program at Baylor University make $8,346 more than the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
It is hard to beat The University of Texas at Austin if you wish to pursue a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from The University of Texas at Austin earn a boost of about $2,918 over the typical earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology majors.
University of North Texas is a great option for students interested in a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the city of Denton, UNT is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology degree program at University of North Texas earn $4,491 above the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the small city of Flagstaff, NAU is a public university with a very large student population.
Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their master's degree from Northern Arizona University earn $11,958 more than the typical clinical psychology grad.
Located in the small city of San Marcos, Texas State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology program at Texas State University earn $2,766 more than the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
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 Southwest 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.
Your choice of clinical, counseling & applied psychology for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality clinical psychology program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
