2025 Best Psychology Master's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania

If you plan on getting your master's degree in psychology, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #7 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 24 schools in Pennsylvania to determine which ones were the best for psychology students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 1,493 master's degrees in psychology to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Psychology School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of psychology for getting your master'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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master'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 psychology students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of psychology students who choose to seek a master'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 much debt 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 psychology related body.

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

More Ways to Rank Psychology Schools

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

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Psychology in Pennsylvania

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in psychology.

10 Top Pennsylvania Schools for a Master's in Psychology

1

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

205 Annual Graduates

University of Pennsylvania is a wonderful decision for students interested in a master's degree in psychology. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from University of Pennsylvania

2

Villanova University
Villanova, PA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

17 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat Villanova University if you want to pursue a master's degree in psychology. Located in the suburb of Villanova, Villanova is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from Villanova University

3

Temple University
Philadelphia, PA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

87 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in psychology has to take a look at Temple University. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, Temple is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from Temple University

4

Saint Joseph's University
Philadelphia, PA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

30 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in psychology has to check out Saint Joseph's University. St. Joe's is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.More information about a master’s in psychology from Saint Joseph’s University

5

La Salle University
Philadelphia, PA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

47 Annual Graduates

La Salle is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.More information about a master’s in psychology from La Salle University

6

University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus
Pittsburgh, PA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

49 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Pitt is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus

7

Chestnut Hill College
Philadelphia, PA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

64 Annual Graduates

CHC is a small private not-for-profit college located in the city of Philadelphia.More information about a master’s in psychology from Chestnut Hill College

8

Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

64 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Philadelphia, Drexel is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from Drexel University

9

Widener University
Chester, PA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

29 Annual Graduates

Widener is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Chester.More information about a master’s in psychology from Widener University

10

Carlow University
Pittsburgh, PA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

23 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Carlow is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in psychology from Carlow University

Best Psychology Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

Explore all the Best Psychology Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
New York	35	2,016
New Jersey	32	597
Maryland	32	197
District of Columbia	32	232
Delaware	24	15

View All Rankings >

Psychology Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	1,043
General Psychology	240
Child Development & Psychology	179
Other Psychology	31

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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Nevit Dilmen. More about our data sources and methodologies.