2025 Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Doctor's Degree Schools in the Plains States 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 reviewed 6 schools in the Plains States Region to determine which ones were the best for doctor's degree seekers in the field of clinical, counseling & applied psychology. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 322 doctor's degrees in clinical, counseling & applied psychology during the 2022-2023 academic year.

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 consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor'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 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 complete 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.

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 Plains States Region.

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

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

Top Plains States Region Schools for a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

1

University of North Dakota
Grand Forks, ND

12 Annual Graduates

$89,256 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat University of North Dakota if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. UND is a fairly large public university located in the city of Grand Forks.

Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology doctor's degree recipients from University of North Dakota get an earnings boost of around $13,082 over the typical earnings of clinical, counseling & applied psychology majors.

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

2

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN

16 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat University of Minnesota - Twin Cities if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. UMN Twin Cities is a very large public university located in the large city of Minneapolis.More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

3

University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS

19 Annual Graduates

$79,622 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat University of Kansas if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. Located in the city of Lawrence, KU is a public university with a very large student population.

Doctorate recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology program at University of Kansas earn $3,448 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

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

4

University of St Thomas Minnesota
Saint Paul, MN

15 Annual Graduates

$87,867 Median Starting Salary

University of St Thomas Minnesota is a good option for students interested in a doctor's degree in clinical, counseling & applied psychology. UST MN is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Saint Paul.

Those clinical, counseling & applied psychology students who get their doctor's degree from University of St Thomas Minnesota receive $11,693 more than the typical clinical psychology student.

More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from University of St Thomas Minnesota

5

Saint Louis University
Saint Louis, MO

15 Annual Graduates

$62,182 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Saint Louis, SLU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their doctorate from the clinical psychology program state that they receive average early career income of $62,182.

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

6

University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE

11 Annual Graduates

$79,011 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Lincoln, UNL is a public university with a very large student population.

Doctorate recipients from the clinical, counseling & applied psychology program at University of Nebraska - Lincoln earn $2,837 more than the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a doctorate in clinical, counseling & applied psychology from University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Colleges by State

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Missouri	122	16
Minnesota	120	192
Iowa	110	13
Kansas	97	25
Nebraska	70	10
North Dakota	68	16
South Dakota	45	3

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	78
Industrial & Organizational Psychology	66
Counseling Psychology	47
Educational Psychology	46
Forensic Psychology	26
Other Psychology & Counseling	22
School Psychology	18
Applied Behavior Analysis	10
Clinical Child Psychology	6
Community Psychology	2

Most Popular Majors Related to Clinical Psychology

Related Major	Annual Graduates
General Psychology	220
Child Development & Psychology	109

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.