2025 Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #7 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

College Factual reviewed 52 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Combined, these schools handed out 3,379 master's degrees in clinical, counseling & applied psychology to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology School for Your Master's Degree

The clinical psychology master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to clinical, counseling & applied psychology students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for clinical, counseling & applied psychology to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized clinical, counseling & applied psychology related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology in the Great Lakes Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Master's in Clinical Psychology

1

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

372 Annual Graduates

$43,591 Median Starting Salary

Northwestern University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the clinical psychology program make about $43,591 for their early career.

More information about a master’s in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Northwestern University

2

Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, IL

61 Annual Graduates

$63,118 Median Starting Salary

Loyola University Chicago is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.

Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from Loyola University Chicago get an earnings boost of around $11,197 above the average earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology graduates.

More information about a master’s in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Loyola University Chicago

3

University of Cincinnati - Main Campus
Cincinnati, OH

225 Annual Graduates

$55,052 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat University of Cincinnati - Main Campus if you wish to pursue a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the city of Cincinnati, UC is a public university with a very large student population.

Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus receive an earnings boost of around $3,131 over the average income of clinical, counseling & applied psychology graduates.

More information about a master’s in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from University of Cincinnati - Main Campus

4

University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI

95 Annual Graduates

$55,617 Median Starting Salary

University of Wisconsin - Madison is a wonderful choice for students interested in a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. UW - Madison is a fairly large public university located in the city of Madison.

Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology master's degree recipients from University of Wisconsin - Madison earn a boost of around $3,696 above the average earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology majors.

More information about a master’s in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from University of Wisconsin - Madison

5

National Louis University
Chicago, IL

139 Annual Graduates

$48,351 Median Starting Salary

NLU is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.

Students who graduate with their master's from the clinical psychology program report average early career wages of $48,351.

More information about a master’s in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from National Louis University

6

Ball State University
Muncie, IN

126 Annual Graduates

$47,314 Median Starting Salary

Located in the small city of Muncie, Ball State is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the clinical psychology program report average early career income of $47,314.

More information about a master’s in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Ball State University

7

Indiana University - Bloomington
Bloomington, IN

18 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Indiana University - Bloomington

8

Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI

58 Annual Graduates

$61,846 Median Starting Salary

WMU is a fairly large public university located in the city of Kalamazoo.

Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their master's degree from Western Michigan University make $9,925 more than the typical clinical psychology grad.

More information about a master’s in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Western Michigan University

9

Miami University - Oxford
Oxford, OH

34 Annual Graduates

$59,464 Median Starting Salary

Located in the town of Oxford, Miami University - Oxford is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their master's degree from Miami University - Oxford make $7,543 more than the standard clinical psychology student.

More information about a master’s in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Miami University - Oxford

10

DePaul University
Chicago, IL

58 Annual Graduates

DePaul is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.More information about a master’s in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from DePaul University

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.

Rank	College	Location
11	Wayne State University	Detroit, MI
12	Wheaton College Illinois	Wheaton, IL
13	Illinois State University	Normal, IL
14	Kent State University at Kent	Kent, OH
15	University of Dayton	Dayton, OH
16	Roosevelt University	Chicago, IL
17	Michigan State University	East Lansing, MI

Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Colleges by State

Explore the best clinical, counseling & applied psychology schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Illinois	221	1,441
Michigan	211	448
Ohio	207	549
Indiana	191	317
Wisconsin	173	399

View All Rankings >

Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Related Rankings by Major

Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology is one of 24 different types of Psychology programs to choose from.

Clinical Psychology Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Counseling Psychology	1,237
School Psychology	448
Clinical Psychology	381
Industrial & Organizational Psychology	374
Educational Psychology	363
Applied Behavior Analysis	362
Other Psychology & Counseling	65
Forensic Psychology	61
Community Psychology	60
Applied Psychology	24

Most Popular Majors Related to Clinical Psychology

Related Major	Annual Graduates
General Psychology	474
Child Development & Psychology	249
Other Psychology	73

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.