What are the Best Graduate Level Counseling Schools?

U.S. News & World Report is a publication known for their annual rankings of the nation’s best universities. Graduate Level Counseling Schools are still relatively rare in American universities, but the closest popular major is psychology, the foundation upon which counseling is built. Here is a list of the top ten graduate schools of psychology according to the U.S. News & World Report.

8. University of Wisconsin – Madison (Tied). UW is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin system, and also has very high research activity, making it the ideal graduate level counseling school for those interested in experimental psychology.

8. University of Minnesota – Twin Cities (Tied). U of M is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Minnesota System, and currently boasts the fourth largest main campus student body in the United States.

8. Princeton University (Tied). This private university is one of the eight schools that make up the Ivy League. It is also one of the nine Colonial Colleges that were founded prior to the American Revolution.

7. University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign. The oldest and largest campus of the University of Illinois System has the tenth largest enrollment of any university. The Psychology Department is one of the most distinguished programs that the university offers, making it a competitive graduate level counseling school.

3. Yale University (Tied). Yale University is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Like Princeton, it is also an Ivy League university and a Colonial College.

3. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor (Tied). UMich is the flagship campus of the University of Michigan and also one of the best public universities in the world. It is one of the original Public Ivies – public universities that offer “an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price” (Richard Moll).

3. University of California – Los Angeles (Tied). UCLA has the distinction of being the only leading research institute in the world founded in the twentieth century. It has more applicants than any other university in the United States.

3. Harvard University (Tied). The oldest university in the United States, it is also the first and oldest corporation in the United States. It joins Princeton and Yale in the Ivy League and as a Colonial College. Harvard’s Department of Psychology has been considered a top-ranked graduate level counseling school for decades.

1. University of California – Berkeley (Tied). Berkeley is the oldest school in the University of California System. Berkeley is the only school to receive top five rankings in all of the doctorate disciplines offered by the school.

1. Stanford University (Tied). This private research university constantly ranks among the world’s top universities. It has held the top spot for psychology for over fifty years; an achievement recognized and honored by the Smithsonian Institution in 2003. It’s the brass ring of graduate level counseling schools.