High school freshman looking for best colleges for Psychology

What college is best, Can anyone give me the top five in their opinion and the pros and cons?

hmmm - all of them - and you are a freshman. You don’t know what grades you’ll have, test score, your ECs, your budget.

You are years too early.

Take the most rigorous schedule you can (then you can get great grades in).

Get involved - join a sport or band or get a job or join some clubs. Or start a club.

Come back in two years and ask the same question.

You’re a bit early but I appreciate your enthusiasm. But your journey is just starting.

Good luck.

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You are way too early to be looking at colleges for specific majors. Many kids change their minds on majors during high school and even after they get to college.

If you really want to waste your time on this just google “top colleges for psychology “.

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You are getting way ahead of yourself, @Madi_8921! setting your sights on a handful of colleges at this stage is putting the cart before the horse. Luckily, more colleges than not are strong in psych- esp since almost any direct psych career will require grad school (psych can be good prep for many pathways, but for a psych-specific career it’s typically at least a Masters and often a PhD or MD).

Your job for the next couple of years is to take challenging classes, be a useful member of your community and -especially!- grow into yourself! learn about who you are, how you work, where you want to go. Learn more about the psych pathways by finding internships & work placements (v hard to do in grades 9 & 10). When you are in Grade 11, with some grades, test scores and some volunteer experiences, come back with 1) your budget, 2) the things that you have learned about what suits you (in terms of type of community, regionality, etc) and (especially) 3) what you are thinking might be your career trajectory, and then people here can help you ID colleges that are a good fit for those variables.

snap! saw the other posts when posting mine

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Here is US News and World Report’s opinion, if you want to just start familiarizing yourself with various colleges. The top colleges for psychology are, generally speaking, the top college overall (in US News’ opinion, that is). In reality, US News’ top colleges may not be YOUR top colleges for a variety of reasons (location, size, cost, just to name a few).

You have lots of time.

Take challenging classes and do your very best in them. Develop some great ECs that you enjoy, pursue your passions. And keep developing your long term interests and goals - a psychology major is a fine thing, but keep an open mind as you learn about new topics, one of which might intrigue you, too. Be open to that and don’t mentally commit yourself to anything just yet - not a major, not a college. Pursue your interests, whatever they may be, for now, and see where they take you. Good luck!

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/psychology-rankings?_sort=rank-asc

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Just to clarify - that’s grad school. I don’t think US News publishes the top undergrad in the major…others do but opinions are like - I won’t say it - but we all have them - and that’s what a rank is - an opinion backed by data the opiner chose to use :slight_smile:

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I would strongly encourage OP to not look at any rankings at this point, but instead focus on grades, extracurriculars, doing something just because it’s fun, etc.
Falling in love with a handful of schools is a recipe for disaster.

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thank you for the words! I will be back Junior year!

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There are literally hundred of colleges that will be great for psychology. And pay no mind to lists right now. Don’t make a ranking list your focus.

Definitely come back junior year.

The three priorities you should keep in mind when looking for a college are:

#1 Affordability.
Can’t go if you can’t afford it and you want to avoid going into debt if at all possible. Psychology is not a high paying profession. (My sister and niece are psychologists.)

#2 Strength of your Major and any potential minors or other subjects you are interested in.

#3 Fit or Vibe – no point in going to “the best” school if you are going to be miserable and hate your 4 years there.

Spend some time now (maybe over spring break) walking around some college campuses close to you and get a feel for a big school vs a smaller school. Bring a friend and make a day of it.You can sign up for the full tour or just do a self-guided tour. It will help you figure out what you are looking for.

Great grades and doing activities inside and outside school you really love will only help your applications when it comes time.

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