<p>What are the best schools for undergrad psychology? I'm looking for either regular universities or liberal arts, preferrably close to a city, but I don't really mind the woods... Thanks!</p>
<p>Here are some schools known for top notch general psych departments (according to those in the field):</p>
<p>Brandeis University
Butler University
Colgate University
Colorado College
Connecticut College
Dartmouth College
Dickinson College
Duke University
Lafayette College
Pomona College
Rutgers University
Smith College
Stanford University
SUNY-Binghamton
SUNY-Stonybrook
Swarthmore College
Temple University
UC-Berkeley
UCLA
University of Iowa
University of Michigan
University of North Carolina
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
University of Rochester
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin
Vassar College
Wesleyan University
Yale University</p>
<p>I found a ranking:</p>
<p>1 Stanford University Psychology 4.66
2 Yale University Psychology 4.65
3 University of Pennsylvania Psychology 4.64
4 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor Psychology 4.63
5 University of Minnesota--Twin Cities Psychology 4.62
6 University of California--Berkeley Psychology 4.61
7 Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges Psychology 4.59
8 University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign Psychology 4.57
9 University of Chicago Psychology 4.56
10 Columbia University Psychology 4.55
11 University of California--San Diego Psychology 4.54
12 University of California--Los Angeles Psychology 4.52
13 Indiana University--Bloomington Psychology 4.51
14 University of Colorado--Boulder Psychology 4.49
15 Carnegie Mellon University Psychology 4.48
16 University of Wisconsin--Madison Psychology 4.47
17 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Brain and Cog Sci 4.46
18 Princeton University Psychology 4.45
19 University of Washington Psychology 4.44
20 University of Oregon Psychology 4.42
21 Cornell University Psychology 4.41
22 University of Texas--Austin Psychology 4.40
23 University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill Psychology 4.39
24 Brown University Psychology 4.38
25 Northwestern University Psychology 4.37
26 State University of New York at Stony Brook Psychology 4.36
27 Johns Hopkins University Psychology 4.35
28 Duke University Psychology 4.34
29 Pennsylvania State University--University Park Psychology 4.32
30 New York University Psychology 4.30 </p>
<p><a href="http://www.socialpsychology.org/gunder.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.socialpsychology.org/gunder.htm</a></p>
<p>Is this credible?</p>
<p>the problem with that website is that the rankings are based on the productivity of the faculty, the majority who teach in very specific specialties and will rarely interact with the undergrads (hence the lack of liberal arts schools).</p>
<p>to determine strength of UNDERGRAD psych department, you need to look at research opportunities for UNDERGRADUATES, success of alumni (i.e. how successful they are getting into graduate programs or research positions), variety of courses available, the actual faculty that teach these undergrad courses, if it is the faculty that teach or is it the graduate student TAs, and any awards the UNDERGRAD department or UNDERGRAD students have won.</p>
<p>most undergrad department rankings are useless because they are viewing the department as a whole, including all of the graduate programs</p>
<p>Do you know how Swarthmore, UPenn, Columbia, Stanford, Wellesley, Williams, Barnard, and Brown compare/fare in the undergrad psychology world? Those are pretty much the schools I'm looking at, so... yeah. Thanks.</p>
<p>all excellent</p>
<p>How are Bard and Hampshire for Psych?</p>
<p>Here's one crude data point to add to the mix. The number of future Psych PhDs per 1000 overall graduates. Doesn't help with schools that send a lot of students on to social work fields, but would capture the research Psych career paths.</p>
<p>Academic field: Psychology </p>
<p>PhDs and Doctoral Degrees: ten years (1994 to 2003) from NSF database
Number of Undergraduates: ten years (1989 to 1998) from IPEDS database
Formula: Total PhDs divided by Total Grads, multiplied by 1000 </p>
<p>Note: Does not include colleges with less than 1000 graduates over the ten year period </p>
<p>
Psych PhDs per 1000 overall graduates:</p>
<p>21 Pomona College
19 Swarthmore College
19 Barnard College
19 Vassar College
17 Bryn Mawr College
16 Wesleyan University
16 Pitzer College
16 Brandeis University
15 Wellesley College
15 Grinnell College
14 Spelman College
14 Williams College
14 Clark University
14 Haverford College
14 Brown University
14 Smith College
13 Kalamazoo College
13 Oberlin College
13 Scripps College
13 Yale University
13 Duke University
13 Carleton College
13 Drew University
12 Rhodes College
12 Hendrix College
12 Tufts University
12 Antioch University, All Campuses
12 Davidson College
12 Sarah Lawrence College
12 University of Chicago
12 Hamilton College
11 University of Rochester
11 Amherst College
11 Trinity University
11 Southwestern University
11 Austin College
11 Bennington College
11 Reed College
11 Emory University
11 Union College (Schenectady, NY)
10 Denison University
10 St John's College (both campus)
10 Kenyon College
10 Mount Holyoke College
10 Bates College
10 Occidental College
10 Franklin and Marshall College
10 Stanford University
10 Cornell University, All Campuses
10 Knox College
10 Allegheny College
9 Wake Forest University
9 Hope College
9 Earlham College
9 Beloit College
9 Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL)
9 Birmingham Southern College
9 Trinity College (Hartford, CT)
9 University of California-San Francisco
9 University of Pennsylvania
9 Benedictine College
9 Washington University
9 University of PR Rio Piedras Campus
9 Muhlenberg College
9 Agnes Scott College
9 Connecticut College
8 Harvard University
8 University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
8 Mills College
8 Colgate University
8 Rice University
8 College of the Holy Cross
8 Bard College
8 University of California-Irvine
8 SUNY at Binghamton
8 Carroll College (Waukesha, WI)
8 Macalester College
8 Hanover College
8 Randolph-Macon Woman's College
8 Dartmouth College
8 University of California-Los Angeles
8 Transylvania University
8 Furman University
7 Bowdoin College
7 University of California-San Diego
7 Columbia University in the City of New York
7 Whitman College
7 University of California-Santa Cruz
7 Northwestern Univ
7 Bucknell University
7 University of Dallas
7 Princeton University
7 Hampshire College
7 Pacific Union College
7 Fisk University
7 University of Denver
7 Chatham College
7 Southern Methodist University
7 Gettysburg College
7 Johns Hopkins University
7 Skidmore College
7 University of Notre Dame
7 Tougaloo College
7 Nebraska Wesleyan University
7 Goshen College
7 Bethany College (Bethany, WV)
7 College of William and Mary
</p>
<p>Majors like psych are less department based, and the reputation of the school overall matters more. USNEWS overall ranking is in my opinion the most accurate ranking.</p>
<p>slipper, there don't seem to be many here who value the one-size-fits-all US News ranking nonsense (just so you know what I think :) not that it matters). Can you be more specific about why it's useful for undergrad psych? Thanks.</p>
<p>Because program rank is really only critical in very select areas (nursing, the arts, accounting, etc). For most students, the overall rank of the school is what gets them into grad school, gets them the best jobs, and give them the greatest resources for undergraduate work. I strongly believe its far better to be a psych or history major at Dartmouth, Duke, Princeton and the like, where there are strong undergrad resources than a top state school. ACCESS to funding, research, etc is what gets you a leg up when it comes to applying to grad schools, this is why the LACs do so well at grad placement.</p>
<p>Also, the top USNEWS schools give far greater flexibility. Top recruiters are used to hiring majors of all types from the Ivies+. USNEWS is good at ranking schools OVERALL, which makes sense for the majority of students not in very specific majors.</p>