<p>Like the title.... Which of these colleges/universities do you think tend to be the best (and the worst) for majoring in psychology? </p>
<p>Beloit
Clark
Colby
Carleton
Earlham
Grinnell
Kenyon
Knox
Lewis and Clark
Macalester
Middlebury
University of Rochester
University of Tulsa
Witman</p>
<p>psychology is such a popular major that any decent school will have a solid department.</p>
<p>That's good! But still, some schools must still have BETTER departments than others, right? :)</p>
<p>I think the University of Rochester has the best psych dept of the ones you listed. If you prefer a liberal arts college, here are some with relatively large psych depts:
national liberal arts colleges - proportion of psychology graduates </p>
<hr>
<p>Here is a list of top national liberal arts colleges sorted by the proportion of bachelors graduates in psychology. From IPEDS 2004.</p>
<p>ST MARY'S COLLEGE OF MARYLAND 396 90 0.23
GOUCHER COLLEGE 272 51 0.19
SPELMAN COLLEGE 533 88 0.17
WELLS COLLEGE 91 14 0.15
HENDRIX COLLEGE 230 32 0.14
CENTRE COLLEGE 258 36 0.14
DREW UNIVERSITY 359 51 0.14
UNION COLLEGE 132 19 0.14
AGNES SCOTT COLLEGE 204 26 0.13
OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 377 50 0.13
OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE 459 58 0.13
ST LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY 499 64 0.13
COLLEGE OF THE HOLY CROSS 675 88 0.13
WHEATON COLLEGE 356 47 0.13
KALAMAZOO COLLEGE 285 35 0.12
DAVIDSON COLLEGE 426 50 0.12
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE 553 66 0.12
MILLSAPS COLLEGE 225 27 0.12
WABASH COLLEGE 181 22 0.12
BARNARD COLLEGE 600 72 0.12
DENISON UNIVERSITY 514 57 0.11
BATES COLLEGE 450 49 0.11
HANOVER COLLEGE 217 24 0.11
MACALESTER COLLEGE 428 47 0.11
KNOX COLLEGE 265 27 0.1
REED COLLEGE 310 32 0.1
COLLEGE OF WOOSTER 391 39 0.1
HAVERFORD COLLEGE 323 31 0.1
AUSTIN COLLEGE 310 31 0.1
ALBION COLLEGE 309 31 0.1
MUHLENBERG COLLEGE 595 59 0.1
HOLLINS UNIVERSITY 189 19 0.1
UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND 579 56 0.1
CLAREMONT MCKENNA COLLEGE 288 28 0.1
HOBART WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES 446 44 0.1
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY 722 73 0.1
VASSAR COLLEGE 614 62 0.1
RANDOLPH-MACON COLLEGE 235 24 0.1</p>
<p>Clark U. is especially well known for psychology.</p>
<p>ok, thanks</p>
<p>When evaluating psych departments, also evaluate their focus. Is it experimental? Clinical? Abnormal? Social? Or are all of those available?</p>
<p>I went to a school with a great undergrad psych department, but the focus was experimental while I was more interested in clinical. So I was challenged, but not engaged.</p>
<p>Chevda is correct - this is an important consideration. I want to add that Earlham has a very nice psychology department, and a unique cross-disciplinary major in Human Development as well. My daughter is considering majoring in psychology at Beloit, and the department is nice there as well, but I would give the edge to some of the other schools on the list, especially Clark.</p>
<p>I hadn't even thought of that different colleges have different focuses. That's definatly something to consider then. How can I find that out? Are the any colleges are that pretty good all-around? Which are the most "specialized"?</p>
<p>my opinion (i have my BA in psych, my MA in psych, and have been working in the field in both a research and clinical environment for the past few years):</p>
<p>i actually dont recommend doing an undergrad psych degree in something too specific. you definitely need a general background, and if you wish to continue, you get that specific degree in graduate school. also, most employers want to train you in their way, so if you come from a school that only teaches psychodynamic theory, you will be at a disadvantage if they require cognitive-behavioral skills.</p>
<p>if i had to pick three schools on your list:</p>
<p>Clark
Middlebury
University of Rochester</p>
<p>you might want to look at other similar schools with excellent psych departments:</p>
<p>bates
bryn mawr
connecticut college
u. richmond
temple
vassar</p>
<p>Amherst woudl be good</p>
<p>i would just go to the school with the best overall program/reputation</p>
<p>this will not only help you in applying for jobs, but also in case you decide to change majors</p>
<p>to accomplish this i would say middlebury or urochester, with grinnell being a distant third</p>
<p>the overall quality of education at these schools will probably be better, too, so even if one school has a "good" psych department, the fact that middlebury is such a strong school might still even give it the edge in education.</p>
<p>just my best guess, although research opportunities might be better at the school with a "good" department.</p>
<p>what i find, more and more though, is that individual department rankings are worthless when it comes to marketing your degree, name-brand of the institution seems to be weighed much more heavily</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions! :)</p>
<p>Gourman Report Psychology ranking undergrad:
Stanford
Yale
U penn
U Michigan AA
U Minnesota
UC Berkeley
Harvard
U Illinois UC
U Chicago
Columbia
UC San Diego
UCLA
Indiana U Bloomington
U Colorado Boulder
Carnegie Mellon
U Wisconsin Madison
MIT
Princeton
U Washington
U Oregon
Cornell
U Texas Austin
UNC Chapel Hill
Brown
Northwestern
SUNY Stony Brook
Johns Hopkins
Duke
Penn State UP
NYU</p>
<p>Rugg’s Recommendations Psychology</p>
<p>Allegheny (PA) …….
Amherst (MA) ………
Barnard (NY) ……..
Bates (ME) …..
Binghamton (SUNY) (NY) …..
Boston U. (MA) ………
Brandeis (MA) …..
Bryn Mawr (PA) ….
Bucknell (PA) …..,
California, U. of (Berkeley) ………
California, U. of (Los Angeles) …..
California, U. of (San Diego) …
Carnegie-Mellon (PA) ………
Case Western Reserve U. (OH) ..,
Chicago, U. of (IL) …………
Claremont McKenna (CA) …..
Colby (ME) ………………”
Columbia (NY) ……..
Connecticut Cot …….
Drew (NJ: ………..
Duke (NC) ………..,
Emory (GA) …..
Furman (SC)..
George Washington (DC) ,……..
Gettysburg (PA) …..,..
Grinnell (IA) ………..
Gustavus Adolphus (MN) …._
Harvard (MA) ……
Haverford (PA) …..
Illinois, U. of (Urbana-Champaign) ….1
Kenyon (OH) …………,
Lafayette (PA) ,……
Macalester (MN) ……..
Michigan, U. of ………..
Mount Holyoke (MA) …
New College (FL) ……
New Jersey, College of ……..
New York U. ……,
North Carolina, U. of …
Notre Dame, U of (IN) ……,
Occidental (CA) …..,
Pennsylvania, U. of ……
Pitzer (CA) …….
Reed (OR) …. ,
Rhodes (TN) …….
Rochester, U. of (NY) ………
Simmons (MA) ……..
Smith (MA) ……
Southwestern (TX) ;….,
Stanford (CA) ……
St. Mary’s College of Maryland ……..
St. Olaf (MN) ……….
Swarthmore (PA)
Tufts (MA)
Tulane (LA)
Union (NY)
Vanderbilt (TN)
Vassar (NY)
Virginia, U of
Wabash (IN)
Wake Forest (NC)
Wesleyan (CT)
Whitman (WA)
Willamette (OR)
Williams (MA)
Yale (CT)
Yeshiva (NY)</p>
<p>If you have any particular interest in sleep psychology, Hendrix College would be a great choice; that's their specialty.</p>