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

If you pursue a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #8 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

College Factual looked at 19 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 773 doctor's degrees in clinical, counseling & applied psychology to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

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

The clinical psychology doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. 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 quality 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.

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 clinical, counseling & applied psychology students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of clinical, counseling & applied 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 clinical, counseling & applied 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 clinical, counseling & applied psychology related body.

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

More Ways to Rank Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Schools

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 Southeast Region.

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

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

10 Top Southeast Region Schools for a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

1

University of Georgia
Athens, GA

25 Annual Graduates

$70,197 Median Starting Salary

University of Georgia is a great choice for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the city of Athens, UGA is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their doctorate from the clinical psychology program report average early career wages of $70,197.

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

2

Nova Southeastern University
Fort Lauderdale, FL

99 Annual Graduates

$63,861 Median Starting Salary

Nova Southeastern University is a great option for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. NUS Florida is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Fort Lauderdale.

Soon after graduating, clinical psychology doctorate recipients typically earn around $63,861 in the first five years of their career.

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

3

Florida Institute of Technology
Melbourne, FL

26 Annual Graduates

$88,733 Median Starting Salary

Florida Institute of Technology is a good choice for students pursuing a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Florida Tech is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Melbourne.

Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology doctor's degree recipients from Florida Institute of Technology receive an earnings boost of around $16,295 over the typical earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology graduates.

More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Florida Institute of Technology

4

Auburn University
Auburn, AL

21 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology has to check out Auburn University. Auburn is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Auburn.More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Auburn University

5

University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY

10 Annual Graduates

$94,684 Median Starting Salary

UK is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Lexington.

Doctorate recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology major at University of Kentucky get $22,246 above the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

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

6

Regent University
Virginia Beach, VA

73 Annual Graduates

$77,356 Median Starting Salary

Regent is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Virginia Beach.

Doctorate recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology degree program at Regent University get $4,918 above the average graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

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

7

University of South Florida - Main Campus
Tampa, FL

11 Annual Graduates

USF Tampa is a fairly large public university located in the city of Tampa.More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from University of South Florida - Main Campus

8

Liberty University
Lynchburg, VA

118 Annual Graduates

$70,534 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Doctorate students who receive their degree from the clinical psychology program earn about $70,534 in the first couple years of working.

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

9

University of Memphis
Memphis, TN

15 Annual Graduates

$85,214 Median Starting Salary

UofM is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Memphis.

Doctorate recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology program at University of Memphis earn $12,776 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

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

10

Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL

10 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Tallahassee, Florida State is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from Florida State University

Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Colleges by State

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	138	215
Virginia	127	141
Georgia	126	59
North Carolina	115	25
Mississippi	113	49
Louisiana	103	9
Tennessee	102	29
Alabama	98	28
South Carolina	91	10
Kentucky	87	74
Arkansas	58	8
West Virginia	49	17

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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	312
Clinical Psychology	288
Educational Psychology	45
School Psychology	41
Health/Medical Psychology	26
Industrial & Organizational Psychology	25
Applied Behavior Analysis	15
Other Psychology & Counseling	12
Community Psychology	6
Applied Psychology	3

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
General Psychology	414
Child Development & Psychology	97
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.