2025 Best Child Development & Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

Child Development & Psychology is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #38 most popular doctor's degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Child Development & Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 97 doctor's degrees in child development & psychology during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of doctorate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their doctor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on child development & psychology students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of child development & psychology students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for child development & psychology to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized child development & psychology related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for child development & psychology students working on their doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Child Development & Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Child Development & Psychology in the Southeast Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for child development & psychology students seeking a a doctor's degree.

Top Southeast Region Schools for a Doctorate in Child Development

1

Duke University
Durham, NC

17 Annual Graduates

Duke University is a good choice for students interested in a doctor's degree in child development & psychology. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in child development & psychology from Duke University

2

University of Georgia
Athens, GA

11 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat University of Georgia if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in child development & psychology. Located in the city of Athens, UGA is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in child development & psychology from University of Georgia

Best Child Development & Psychology Colleges by State

Explore the best child development & psychology colleges for a specific state in the Southeast Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	138	9
Virginia	127	2
Georgia	126	5
Tennessee	102	13
South Carolina	91	5
Kentucky	87	5

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Rankings in Majors Related to Child Development

Child Development & Psychology is one of 24 different types of Psychology programs to choose from.

Child Development Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Other Research & Experimental Psychology	72
Experimental Psychology	11
Behavioral Neuroscience	8
Psychometrics & Quantitative Psychology	3
Developmental & Child Psychology	2
Cognitive Psychology & Psycholinguistics	1

Majors Similar to Child Development

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	773
General Psychology	414
Other Psychology	29

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.