Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #8 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 3 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in Virginia ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 247 doctor's degrees in clinical, counseling & applied psychology during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Choosing a Great Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology School for Your Doctor's Degree
Your choice of clinical, counseling & applied psychology for getting your doctor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor'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 - How many other clinical, counseling & applied psychology students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
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 much debt clinical, counseling & applied psychology students go into to obtain their doctor'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 colleges for clinical, counseling & applied psychology students working on their doctor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in Virginia list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology in Virginia
Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for clinical, counseling & applied psychology students seeking a a doctor's degree.
Top Virginia Schools for a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology
Regent University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the city of Virginia Beach, Regent is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology doctor's degree recipients from Regent University earn a boost of approximately $5,230 above the average earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology majors.
Liberty University is a good decision for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Liberty University is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Lynchburg.
After graduating, clinical psychology doctorate recipients typically earn about $70,534 in their early careers.
It is difficult to beat Virginia Commonwealth University if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. VCU is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Richmond.
Soon after graduating, clinical psychology doctorate recipients generally earn around $68,489 in their early careers.
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 doctor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
