2025 Best Clinical Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

If you pursue a doctor's degree in clinical psychology, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #12 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 12 schools in the Far Western US Region to determine which ones were the best for clinical psychology students pursuing a doctor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 779 doctor's degrees in clinical psychology during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Clinical Psychology School for Your Doctor's Degree

Your choice of clinical psychology for getting your doctor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality clinical psychology program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Other Factors We Consider

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

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to clinical psychology students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other clinical psychology students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
• 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.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized clinical psychology related body.

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

More Ways to Rank Clinical Psychology Schools

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

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Clinical Psychology in the Far Western US Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in clinical psychology.

10 Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

1

Palo Alto University
Palo Alto, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

91 Annual Graduates

Palo Alto University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in clinical psychology. Pacific Graduate School of Psychology is a small private not-for-profit university located in the rural area of Palo Alto.More information about a doctorate in clinical psychology from Palo Alto University

2

Pepperdine University
Malibu, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

28 Annual Graduates

Pepperdine University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in clinical psychology. Located in the large suburb of Malibu, Pepperdine is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University

3

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

32 Annual Graduates

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles is a wonderful choice for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in clinical psychology. Located in the city of Los Angeles, The Chicago School Los Angeles Campus is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles

4

Pacific University
Forest Grove, OR

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

67 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a doctor's degree in clinical psychology needs to check out Pacific University. Located in the large suburb of Forest Grove, Pacific is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical psychology from Pacific University

5

National University
San Diego, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

17 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of San Diego, National University is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical psychology from National University

6

San Diego State University
San Diego, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

14 Annual Graduates

SDSU is a very large public university located in the large city of San Diego.More information about a doctorate in clinical psychology from San Diego State University

7

George Fox University
Newberg, OR

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

21 Annual Graduates

Located in the fringe town of Newberg, GFU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical psychology from George Fox University

8

Biola University
La Mirada, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

27 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of La Mirada, Biola is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical psychology from Biola University

9

California Lutheran University
Thousand Oaks, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

15 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Thousand Oaks, CLU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical psychology from California Lutheran University

10

Seattle Pacific University
Seattle, WA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

11 Annual Graduates

SPU is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Seattle.More information about a doctorate in clinical psychology from Seattle Pacific University

Best Clinical Psychology Colleges by State

Explore the best clinical psychology schools for a specific state in the Far Western US Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	381	628
Washington	216	27
Oregon	145	82
Hawaii	65	16

View All Rankings >

Clinical Psychology Related Rankings by Major

One of 17 majors within the Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology area of study, Clinical Psychology has other similar majors worth exploring.

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Applied Behavior Analysis	60
Educational Psychology	50
Performance and Sport Psychology	41
Counseling Psychology	33
Applied Psychology	32
Industrial & Organizational Psychology	20
Forensic Psychology	17
School Psychology	11
Transpersonal/Spiritual Psychology	7
Community Psychology	5

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.