SUMMARY
Majoring in Psychology is not only a valuable choice, but typically a necessary first step for undergraduates choosing to pursue a career as a therapist, a psychologist, or a school psychologist. Interestingly, psychology is a very popular major choice, being the 5th most popular major. Last academic year alone, there were 123,980 psychology diplomas received. In-state tuition for psychology at private colleges is, on average, 3.6 times more spendy than their public counterparts.
With an impressive 1492 institutions offering this degree odds are that any institutions you are looking at will have a degree program for you. If you're hoping to immerse yourself with other psychology students, consider colleges in California which have more students admitted to psychology than any other state. Zooming out, the best region to major in psychology is in the Southeast region with University of Central Florida, Florida International University, and Liberty University best representing the region. Interestingly, our selection for the top conference to study psychology is the Big Ten Conference with University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and Rutgers University-New Brunswick representing the conference. From our list of the best colleges, our choice for the best school for psychology is Stanford University.
The objectively 'best' school might not actually be the best school for every student. There are lots more perspectives to consider when selecting ​university. Things such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food might definitely alter one's decision of which college to attend. At authority.org, we've evaluated the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you are interested in which psychology university boasts the top college campus, the answer is Harvard University. If you are very interested in which university has the finest campus, then we have a whole page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through student reviews, government databases, professor reviews, and more in order to compare every major in the United States in an unbiased and informative way. Here you can explore our well researched list for the universities with the best student life and, from that list, our pick for the college with the best student life for psychology is Cornell University. Curious why? Keep scrolling to learn more about Authority's top choices. Many of our conclusions will probably shock you.
If cost is a primary factor in your choice of where you attend college, you might be cautious about Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia University in the City of New York is our most expensive university for psychology, at least for out of state students. We do have a list of the most expensive schools that could put the expense of Columbia University in the City of New York into perspective. You could also be interested to know that psychology is the 21st most expensive degree in the United States, with an average bill of $53,700. On a broader scale, the most costly state for psychology in the country is Vermont at Bennington College, Middlebury College, and Middlebury College - the primary schools in the state - of $55,200, $55,790, and $55,790. Even more broadly, the most costly region of the U.S. for psychology is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Amherst College with a cost of $57,640, Tufts University with a cost of $57,324, and Brown University with a cost of $57,112.
Our cheapest region for psychology is the Southwest region which is represented by Dine College with a cost of $1,320, Oklahoma Panhandle State University with a cost of $4,440, and The University of Texas of the Permian Basin with a cost of $5,767. More optimistically, the most affordable school for psychology is Florida International University. Our entire list of the most affordable schools can be found here.
In-state students can anticipate paying in the neighborhood of $9,700 for a degree in psychology. The cost grows substantially to a median of $21,400 for an out-of-state public-school student. Our pick for the college with the best value for psychology: Stanford University. Through this link you will see our comprehensive list for the universities we believe to be the best value in general. Bear in mind, this discussion is based on out-of-state tuition costs. A discussion of value changes when in-state tuition costs are considered, but we do not know in which states any one student has residency.
Earnings for psychology students range widely, but within two years leaving college graduates will regularly make in the neighborhood of $37,900. While there is a lot of variation in earnings potential; top earners can rake in up to $76,900. Right out of university, the lowest end positions within the psychology field earn $17,900, which is an alright wage. The highest earning grads for psychology graduated from Stanford University and if you want to find the universities with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.
The all-around diversity of psychology sits high, being in the 88th percentile of all majors. The college with the most composite diversity for psychology is New York University and here you can find our general list for the colleges which have the most diversity. The overall financial diversity of the Psychology major only stands in the 37th percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is actually above financial diversity, ranking in the 90th percentile. White collegians compose the largest share, 48%, of those studying psychology. Additionally, 77% of scholars seeking a psychology major are women.
The median ranking of psychology professors is 4 stars, a score which is exactly the median across all majors; which is a fine. If you are searching for the most popular psychology instructor in the country, take a look at William Pelz from Herkimer County Community College. It may be a shock, but the best ranked psychology instructors according to students are at San Jose State University. If we incorporate data other than basic rankings we find that the college possessing the overall best instructors for psychology is Stanford University. You can find an explanation of our evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, along with some of the finest professors in the U.S.
Finally, the most difficult college to get into for psychology is Stanford University. While we do not necessarily see the value in it, we do have a general page of the hardest colleges to get into. With that said, we do hope you believe that considering higher education through a lens primarily built on superlatives might create problems. We encourage you to explore our more nuanced pages on different colleges and explore a few of our helpful background pages on important details to consider as your college search develops.