<p>What schools have excellent psychology programs? In terms of good faculty, rankings, research oppurtuinities, good honors type programs, course selection, good resources, etc. I know of some of the obvious ones like Yale, Stanford, UMich, etc but I'm wondering about a wide range of colleges from different admission levels. Also would be interested to hear about any unique programs in it as well. I'm hoping to go to graduate school in psychology probably for social but maybe IO, educational or cognitive and am also interested to try out clinical/counseling as well as internship possibilities.</p>
<p>The top 2 schools for Psychology are Stanford University and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Other than those two, you have several others that are excellent:</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon University (Cognitive and Experimental)
Columbia University
Cornell University
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cognitive)
Princeton University (Behavioral, Experimental and Social)
University of California-Berkeley
University of California-Los Angeles
University of California-San Diego
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign
University of Pennsylvania
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Yale University</p>
<p>I've heard of those but I'm looking for more of a range of schools, not just the top ones and schools that offer special programs. Does anyone know schools like that?</p>
<p>any LAC is going to offer a good psych program.
psych is a general enough major that you can just choose your school based on what school you like, not on the supposed "quality" of the program.
For example, i think Rollo May, the renowned humanist, was a student at Oberlin for a while. (but i think hes dead now).</p>
<p>If you really enjoy psychology, or in other words, want to go to grad school for it, you can do that wherever. My AP psych teacher used to be a prof at a small womens LAC in georgia (wesleyan college in Macon) and she has a couple students who are current Ph.D. candidates in psych at Stanford. </p>
<p>i dont think ive ever seen a college that doesnt offer psych as a major.. or a college that didnt say "intro to psych" is the class that has the most students in it.</p>
<p>Some hidden gems for psychology, at varying rates of selectivity:</p>
<p>Smaller schools: Clark U in Mass., Santa Clara U in California, Pitzer in California, Trinity U in Texas, Southwestern U in Texas, Pomona in California, Denison in Ohio, Lake Forest in Il. Muhlenberg in PA, Creighton in Nebraska, Beloit in Wisconsin, Flagler in Florida, Rhodes in Tenn, Reed in Oregon, Kenyon in Ohio, Macalester and St. Olaf in Minn, Bryn Mawr and Smith, Allegheny, Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, Colorado College, Carleton, Haverford, Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Larger schools: Brandeis, Boston U, Notre Dame, U of Arizona, U of Chicago, Emory, Indiana U, Arizona State, U of Denver, Colorado State, U of Pittsburgh, Florida State, Case Wesern Reserve, U of Minnesota, U of Oregon, U of Washington U of Texas-Austin, Syracuse U, Vanderbilt, U of Missouri-Columbia, University of Southern California, U of Rochester.</p>
<p>All of these schools do a very good job of getting their students into good graduate programs.</p>
<p>I'm aware that psychology is a popular major and there are generally good LAC colleges for it. I'm just looking for anywhere <em>special</em> ie not the normal psychology major you see at most schools. </p>
<p>carolyn, thanks for all your suggestions. I'll definitely look into those schools.</p>
<p>I would suggest going to various schools' web sites and looking at the faculty bios for those who teach in the psych department. The bios may indicate where the faculty did their graduate work, and more importantly, what research topics they are working on. A larger department will give you more choices, and the nature of the research being done will tell you a lot about whether the school is a good match for your interests. I wouldn't select a particular school because of one faculty member's research, but the number of faculty and the range of interests reflected will be informative.</p>
<p>TheCity: Your right on both counts--Rollo May, whose lectures I had the great fortune to attend was and continues to be a student at Oberlin, and he's also dead. Quite an achievement!</p>
<p>whoo hoo go stanford for having the top psychology program</p>
<p>Clark has an excellent reputation for undergraduate psychology programs and, if I recall correctly, gets undergrads involved in psych research in some unusual ways. I'd start there on my list of recommendations.</p>
<p>santa clara university has a great psych. master's program, and they're rated 2nd best in the west for master's. you might want to start their as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Here are the raw numbers for the top 125 PhD producers. Total PhDs awarded in Pscyhology from 1993 to 2004 for students from each undergrad college. Data is from the NSF database. I'll post the per capita numbers sometime.</p>
<p>1 University of Michigan at Ann Arbor 451
2 University of California-Los Angeles 419
3 University of California-Berkeley 332
4 University of Texas at Austin 331
5 Cornell University, All Campuses 324
6 University of Wisconsin-Madison 272
7 University of Florida 256
8 Brigham Young University, Main Campus 255
9 University of California-Irvine 238
10 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 230
11 University of Pennsylvania 229
12 University of California-San Diego 227
13 Michigan State University 210
14 Ohio State University, Main Campus 208
15 Pennsylvania State U, Main Campus 203
16 Brown University 201
17 Duke University 201
18 University of PR Rio Piedras Campus 199
19 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 195
20 University of Maryland at College Park 187
21 Indiana University at Bloomington 183
22 Rutgers the State Univ of NJ New Brunswick 179
23 SUNY at Binghamton 179
24 University of Virginia, Main Campus 177
25 University of Washington - Seattle 174
26 New York University 173
27 San Diego State University 169
28 Yale University 168
29 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities 163
30 Stanford University 162
31 University of California-Santa Cruz 159
32 Texas A&M University Main Campus 158
33 University of California-Santa Barbara 156
34 University of Colorado at Boulder 154
35 Tufts University 152
36 Emory University 151
37 Harvard University 151
38 University of California-Davis 150
39 SUNY at Albany 149
40 Northwestern Univ 144
41 University of Rochester 136
42 Boston University 136
43 SUNY at Buffalo 135
44 Arizona State University Main 132
45 California State University-Northridge 130
46 University of Notre Dame 129
47 University of Iowa 125
48 Washington University 122
49 University of Arizona 121
50 Florida State University 121
51 University of Massachusetts at Amherst 118
52 Miami University, All Campuses 118
53 University of Missouri, Columbia 117
54 California State University-Long Beach 117
55 University of Southern California 116
56 Purdue University, Main Campus 115
57 Louisiana State Univ & Agric & Mechanical Col 114
58 Wesleyan University 114
59 Brandeis University 110
60 Vassar College 106
61 Boston College 105
62 SUNY at Stony Brook, All Campuses 103
63 Barnard College 103
64 University of South Florida 103
65 University of Connecticut 101
66 Columbia University in the City of New York 101
67 California State University-Fullerton 99
68 University of Kansas, Main Campus 98
69 Smith College 97
70 University of Chicago 97
71 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univ 96
72 San Francisco State University 95
73 University of Utah 94
74 Oberlin College 93
75 University of Miami 92
76 Wellesley College 90
77 University of Georgia 89
78 Iowa State University 89
79 University of Houston 89
80 Southern Methodist University 87
81 University of Nebraska at Lincoln 85
82 Vanderbilt University 84
83 College of William and Mary 84
84 Georgetown University 84
85 Dartmouth College 82
86 University of Tennessee at Knoxville 81
87 University of Oklahoma, Norman Campus 80
88 University of Delaware 80
89 Princeton University 80
90 Temple University 79
91 Loyola University of Chicago 79
92 University of California-Riverside 78
93 Kent State University, All Campuses 78
94 CUNY Hunter College 78
95 Wake Forest University 78
96 Colorado State University 77
97 Florida International University 75
98 Oklahoma State University, All Campuses 75
99 Pomona College 74
100 Western Michigan University 73
101 University of New Mexico, All Campuses 73
102 Tulane University 73
103 Williams College 73
104 Baylor University 72
105 Wayne State University 72
106 Clark University 72
107 University of Cincinnati, All Campuses 72
108 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 72
109 California State University-Fresno 72
110 Howard University 71
111 Swarthmore College 71
112 Fordham University 69
113 University of Oregon 68
114 University of South Carolina at Columbia 68
115 Syracuse University, Main Campus 68
116 Texas Tech University 67
117 CUNY Brooklyn College 66
118 Hofstra University 66
119 University of Pittsburgh Main Campus 64
120 American University 64
121 Bowling Green State Univ, All Campuses 64
122 Marquette University 63
123 Johns Hopkins University 63
124 University of Kentucky 62
125 San Jose State University 62</p>
<p>I will make the same comment that was made on another thread regarding undergraduate economics programs. I do not think that the number of future PhDs is necessarily a good indicator at all of the strength of an undergraduate program in any particular field. </p>
<p>Many students opt to go to professional schools (law, medicine, business), or seek employment directly upon graduation from an undergraduate institution. These motivated students may be the best and brightest students in a particular undergraduate program (such as psychology or economics). However, they simply may have no desire or inclination to pursue a PhD in that field. That does not mean that the undergraduate program at a particular institution is not a strong program.</p>
<p>The vast majority of folks "employed in psychology" do NOT go on to Ph.Ds in psychology, but to terminal MSWs in some field of social work, MAs in counseling psychology, and the like. Relative strenth of the institution might be better measured by the rate of folks going into those programs, which is likely not only a measure of the academics on campus, but the encouragement of extracurricular/community service interests. </p>
<p>And in government-related social service fields, at least in our state, almost none of the leaders have Ph.Ds in psychology or related areas, though virtually all are MAs/MSWs - some few have additional MBAs. One has a Ph.D. - in computer science.</p>
<p>Interestingly, Psych was the third most popular non-Engineering doctoral degree over the last ten years, behind "Non-Science Education" and "Biological Sciences", just ahead of "English and Literature" and "Chemistry".</p>
<p>I agree that the vast majority of Psych majors do not get doctoral degrees. That is true of all fields.</p>
<p>The same could be said of college admissions when selecting a high school. The majority of students at most high schools don't go to elite colleges. But, we still look at elite college admissions when considering high school options.</p>
<p>Psych is admittedly a bit of unusual case because there is such a divide between the "hard science" folk and the clinicians. However, any good undergrad program is going to expose students to both sides over the course of their 12 or so classes.</p>
<p>I don't think you are suggesting that, just because a college like Smith is right at the very top of heap in Psych PhDs per capita, it would be a BAD place for a Psych major looking to pursue an MSW career path! Surely, a good department is a good department.</p>
<p>I don't follow the logic at all about high school selection as it relates to this discussion.......</p>
<p>However, I still maintain that PhD's per capita tells me nothing about the quality of a college, or about the quality of an individual program.
I am much more interested in a college that has programs that help develop marketable and practical skills. Many skills can be obtained without the pursuit of a PhD. I think it is important to develop skills and enter in to careers that allow a student to earn a living!</p>
<p>I recently read an article that highlighted a dramatic increase in the unemployment and / or underemployment of many PhD's in many fields. Many are struggling to earn a living in their chosen field. Their PhD's may be nice to have, but are relatively worthless in the "real" world.</p>
<p>"I am much more interested in a college that has programs that help develop marketable and practical skills"</p>
<p>Then I would avoid a general psych major.--Or practice these words--"room for cream?" and "do you want whip on that?"</p>
<p>I have generally liked the data regarding Ph.D. productivity because it allows me to thumb my nose at the Ivies and Stanford, which, except for Princeton in two of the sciences, and Yale in English, never break the top 10, and generally rank below Kalamazoo, Earlham, Hope, Grinnell (and Swarthmore and Amherst of course). I think that is useful to degree that graduate school committees think highly enough of these schools so as to use them as feeders in reproducing themselves. And, hey, if you want to be a college teacher and researcher (as I once did), it can be important stuff to the extent that you are sure that the school has a good track record.</p>
<p>Beyond that, however, the usefulness is limited. The terminal degree in economics for those going into the work world (and making the big bucks) is the MBA. In most social work/child welfare areas, it is the MSW or MA in counseling. In teaching (sadly), it is M.A.T.; in architecture, the terminal degree is M.Arch. Engineering, ditto. (For high school principals, much more often the Ed.D. than the Ph.D.) </p>
<p>To the degree that future Ph.D. productivity is an indication of teaching good research/study/writing skills, it has its usefulness. But it may also be an indication of the "ivory tower", where students are less engaged in their communities or thinking about the "helping" professions (other than the highest status ones - MDs.) Of course, neither may be true, and, in many circumstances, it may simply be an indication of the type of students going into the schools, rather than what they got out of them (which is why the figures on Kalamazoo, Earlham, Hope, etc, are so impressive.)</p>
<p>At any rate, most of the college sites such as Reed's won't tell you about their MSW productivity because, likely, is ain't that high.</p>
<p>
[quote]
However, I still maintain that PhD's per capita tells me nothing about the quality of a college...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I respect that opinion. I still maintain that the percentage of seniors going on to complete a four-year college program tells me nothing about the quality of a high school.</p>
<p>Mini, Do you have any experience with MSW programs? If so, I'm curious about what type of undergraduate majors they prefer. Is it necessary to have a psych. BS or will something like sociology or even another liberal art degree be acceptable?</p>