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

Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #8 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 looked at 12 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 603 doctor's degrees in clinical, counseling & applied psychology to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

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

Your choice of clinical, counseling & applied psychology for getting your doctor's degree school matters. 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

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection 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 doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

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 - How many other clinical, counseling & applied psychology students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
• 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 much debt clinical, counseling & applied psychology students go into to obtain their doctor'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 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 doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The clinical psychology school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region.

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

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for clinical, counseling & applied psychology students seeking a a doctor's degree.

10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

1

Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, IL

31 Annual Graduates

$71,820 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology has to check out Loyola University Chicago. Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.

Soon after graduation, clinical psychology doctorate recipients generally make about $71,820 in their early careers.

More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Loyola University Chicago

2

Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI

15 Annual Graduates

$82,252 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology needs to look into Western Michigan University. WMU is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Kalamazoo.

Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology doctor's degree recipients from Western Michigan University get an earnings boost of about $8,800 over the typical income of clinical, counseling & applied psychology graduates.

More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Western Michigan University

3

University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI

19 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology has to look into University of Wisconsin - Madison. UW - Madison is a very large public university located in the city of Madison.More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from University of Wisconsin - Madison

4

Ball State University
Muncie, IN

12 Annual Graduates

$82,546 Median Starting Salary

Ball State University is a wonderful option for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the small city of Muncie, Ball State is a public university with a very large student population.

Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their doctor's degree from Ball State University make $9,094 more than the standard clinical psychology student.

More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Ball State University

5

National Louis University
Chicago, IL

48 Annual Graduates

$66,830 Median Starting Salary

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

Doctorate students who receive their degree from the clinical psychology program make around $66,830 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from National Louis University

6

Xavier University
Cincinnati, OH

18 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Cincinnati, Xavier is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Xavier University

7

DePaul University
Chicago, IL

15 Annual Graduates

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

8

Kent State University at Kent
Kent, OH

10 Annual Graduates

$58,818 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large suburb of Kent, Kent State is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Soon after graduating, clinical psychology doctorate recipients usually earn about $58,818 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Kent State University at Kent

9

University of Detroit Mercy
Detroit, MI

12 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Detroit, Detroit Mercy is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from University of Detroit Mercy

10

Roosevelt University
Chicago, IL

20 Annual Graduates

$70,211 Median Starting Salary

Roosevelt is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.

Doctorate students who receive their degree from the clinical psychology program make an average of $70,211 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Roosevelt University

Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Colleges by State

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Illinois	153	337
Michigan	149	65
Ohio	144	79
Indiana	132	68
Wisconsin	108	53

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
Clinical Psychology	368
School Psychology	64
Educational Psychology	53
Counseling Psychology	38
Industrial & Organizational Psychology	34
Community Psychology	31
Applied Behavior Analysis	8
Other Psychology & Counseling	6
Applied Psychology	1

Most Popular Majors Related to Clinical Psychology

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Child Development & Psychology	151
General Psychology	139
Other Psychology	1

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.