<p>First, focus on schools in terms of their fit for you (e.g., size, region, urban/rural, selectivity, affordability, etc). Also, make sure they are good across several disciplines since many students will change their majors. As an undergrad applicant, you are applying to a school, not to a particular department. So, focus on getting into the best school you can that is a good fit for you.</p>
<p>Second, psychology is a core discipline at a wide range of schools. There are many schools with strong psychology departments. Most psychology departments have a pretty similar structure for their major requirements: general psychology, research methods, statistics, some distribution of courses across various subfields of psychology in intermediate level courses, and advanced courses (including specialized research methods) on more specialized topics which build on intermediate-level courses. Some departments require a senior capstone course or a thesis. In years past, many departments required a course in the history of psychology, but this is much less common now. </p>
<p>Some guidance as to strong departments is found in the USNWR graduate psychology department rankings, but this tells you very little about the quality of teaching at the undergrad level. Some things to look for: better departments offer many more seminars at the undergrad level; have an active chapter of Psi Chi or a psychology club; offer undergrad research opportunities; offer undergrad practicum or field experiences; have good advising; have faculty who are actively involved in national professional organizations; have faculty who are actively publishing in major journals; number of department faculty who have won teaching awards; etc. Another consideration is the availability of supporting coursework in related fields, e.g., animal behaviors and neuroscience in the biology dept, linguistics, speech & hearing sciences, philosophy, etc. (though in the case of some who wants to go to law school, I’d also look at the strength of departments like political science, economics, history, sociology, etc.) Good departments can be found in liberal arts colleges as well as in research universities. (Since you plan on law school, research opportunities might be less important for you.)</p>
<p>Some departments offer sub-specializations, e.g., neuroscience, or, participate in interdisciplinary programs in areas such as cognitive science. Some of the stronger programs in neuroscience will require a stronger core in basic supporting sciences, e.g., chemistry, physics, math.</p>
<p>Finally, as I mentioned above, a wide range of schools will have strong departments. Several of the UCs have strong departments, e.g., UCB, UCLA, UCI, UCSD. Outside California, pretty much all of the Big 10 universities have strong departments. In the SW, Texas, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado are strong. In the NW, U Washington is strong.
Really, there are just too many good departments to list for your stated purposes.</p>