2025 Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in California
Ranked #8 in popularity,
clinical, counseling & applied psychology is one of the most sought-after doctor's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 10 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for clinical, counseling & applied psychology students pursuing a doctor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 843 doctor's degrees in clinical, counseling & applied psychology during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology School for Your Doctor's Degree
The clinical psychology doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality clinical psychology program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree 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 doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor'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
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 - The number of clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
- 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 easy is it for clinical, counseling & applied psychology to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor'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 schools for clinical, counseling & applied psychology students working on their doctor'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 Doctor's Degree Schools in California.
Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology in California
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology.
10 Top California Schools for a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology
It's difficult to beat Palo Alto University if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Pacific Graduate School of Psychology is a small private not-for-profit university located in the rural area of Palo Alto.
Students who graduate with their doctorate from the clinical psychology program state that they receive average early career earnings of $71,023.
More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Palo Alto University
Pepperdine University is a great option for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the suburb of Malibu, Pepperdine is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Doctorate recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology major at Pepperdine University earn $10,031 above the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Pepperdine University
It is difficult to beat The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, The Chicago School Los Angeles Campus is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology doctor's degree recipients from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles get an earnings boost of around $4,011 above the typical income of clinical, counseling & applied psychology graduates.
More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles
Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology needs to check out National University. Located in the large city of San Diego, National University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from National University
SDSU is a fairly large public university located in the city of San Diego.
Doctorate recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology degree program at San Diego State University get $9,132 more than the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from San Diego State University
Located in the suburb of La Mirada, Biola is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their doctor's degree from Biola University earn $8,602 more than the standard clinical psychology grad.
More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Biola University
Located in the medium-sized city of Thousand Oaks, CLU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
After graduating, clinical psychology doctorate recipients typically make about $72,291 in the first five years of their career.
More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from California Lutheran University
Located in the large suburb of La Verne, ULV is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from University of La Verne
Located in the suburb of Los Alamitos, TUW is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Touro University Worldwide
Located in the large city of San Diego, Northcentral University is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Northcentral University
