2025 Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Master's Degree Schools in South Dakota

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 2 schools in South Dakota to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of clinical, counseling & applied psychology. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 44 master's degrees in clinical, counseling & applied psychology during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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

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

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on clinical, counseling & applied psychology students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other clinical, counseling & applied psychology students want to attend this school to pursue a master'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.
• Student Debt - How much debt clinical, counseling & applied psychology students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized clinical, counseling & applied psychology related body.

Our complete 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.

More Ways to Rank Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Master's Degree Schools in South Dakota ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology in South Dakota

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology.

Top South Dakota Schools for a Master's in Clinical Psychology

1

University of South Dakota
Vermillion, SD

18 Annual Graduates

$48,320 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology needs to take a look at University of South Dakota. Located in the town of Vermillion, USD is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.

Soon after graduation, clinical psychology master's recipients usually make an average of $48,320 at the beginning of their careers.

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

2

South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD

25 Annual Graduates

$45,975 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat South Dakota State University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. South Dakota State is a fairly large public university located in the town of Brookings.

Students who graduate with their master's from the clinical psychology program report average early career income of $45,975.

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

Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Colleges in the Plains States Region

Explore all the Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Schools in the Plains States Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Missouri	193	315
Minnesota	174	2,040
Iowa	154	50
Kansas	149	151
Nebraska	123	124
North Dakota	115	47

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Rankings in Majors Related to Clinical Psychology

One of 24 majors within the Psychology area of study, Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology has other similar majors worth exploring.

Clinical Psychology Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Counseling Psychology	44

Most Popular Majors Related to Clinical Psychology

Related Major	Annual Graduates
General Psychology	10

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.