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Research & Experimental Psychology

Colleges offering this major Rankings Trends

What you'll do in college

This is psychology with the lab coat on. You'll take the same intro courses as everyone else, then veer hard into research methods, experimental design, and enough statistics to make an economist nervous. Coursework leans cognitive, developmental, social, and behavioral neuroscience — the science of minds in general, not the treatment of any mind in particular.

Expect to run subjects, get run as a subject, work as a research assistant by junior year, and produce a senior thesis with actual data in it. You will learn R. Not the letter grade — though possibly also that.

What you'll do after college

The classic move is the lab-manager-to-PhD pipeline: two years running someone's lab, then graduate school in cognitive, social, developmental, or quantitative psychology. The professor route requires the doctorate and a tolerance for peer review.

Everyone else takes the methods training straight to industry: UX research, behavioral science teams, people analytics, market research, and data analysis all pay real money for someone who can design a clean study and smell a fake effect. To be clear, this major does not make you a therapist — it makes you the person who checks whether the therapy works.

Famous graduates

  • Elizabeth Loftus — The world's leading researcher on false memory; B.A. in Mathematics and Psychology from UCLA
  • B.F. Skinner — Father of operant conditioning and professional pigeon supervisor; B.A. in English from Hamilton College (the box came later)
  • Stanley Milgram — Ran history's most famous obedience experiments; B.A. in Political Science from Queens College
  • Philip Zimbardo — Architect of the Stanford Prison Experiment; B.A. in Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology from Brooklyn College

Selectivity vs. earnings

By acceptance rate

$50,450
841
100–91%
$50,170
1,746
90–83%
$51,034
2,536
83–68%
$54,929
3,289
68–48%
$57,596
3,522
47–35%
$60,189
2,757
32–14%
$65,350
1,733
14–6%
$72,344
852
6–0%
Acceptance rate · bar = degree-weighted earnings

By SAT median

$48,656
658
400–1050
$48,031
1,239
1060–1170
$53,882
1,798
1170–1280
$54,215
2,411
1290–1360
$56,961
2,596
1370–1460
$62,677
2,141
1460–1480
$68,539
1,158
1480–1530
$69,791
661
1530–1600
Combined SAT composite median (submitters + non-submitters) · bar = degree-weighted earnings

Earnings vs. selectivity rank

$45,481p10 $66,882p90 Art & Music STEM, Business & Military Liberal Arts Public University Religious University Private University Top 61–100 Top 21–60 Top 20 Woodbury University · $52,288 Florida Institute of Technology · $64,297 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Prescott · $80,929 Bates College · $70,110 Wesleyan University · $60,024 Denison University · $56,070 Vassar College · $59,286 University of Richmond · $65,422 Skidmore College · $51,563 Trinity University · $60,604 Pitzer College · $53,137 Macalester College · $54,499 Reed College · $51,976 Trinity College (CT) · $66,199 Smith College · $60,265 Lafayette College · $65,082 Gettysburg College · $61,004 Mount Holyoke College · $45,313 Scripps College · $53,498 Whitman College · $50,818 Union College · $42,127 Occidental College · $53,780 Centre College · $54,827 Lake Forest College · $51,203 Albion College · $35,010 Cornell College · $51,723 Wabash College · $56,666 Agnes Scott College · $49,980 Berry College · $49,458 Maryville College · $52,626 Eckerd College · $42,705 Knox College · $51,668 Saint Mary's College of California · $58,470 Keuka College · $51,229 Earlham College · $50,438 Bay Path University · $45,603 Luther College · $49,433 Manchester University · $52,627 Oglethorpe University · $46,087 Eureka College · $49,904 Wilson College · $47,813 University of Tennessee, Knoxville · $55,113 Florida Atlantic University · $43,992 Florida International University · $46,504 University of South Carolina · $49,973 University of Pittsburgh · $56,909 University of Central Missouri · $49,713 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities · $51,419 University of Texas at Dallas · $55,713 Central Michigan University · $52,083 University of Alabama · $57,920 University of Delaware · $61,101 University of Colorado Denver · $54,382 Indiana University · $47,444 University of North Florida · $43,847 Middle Tennessee State University · $64,107 University of Massachusetts Boston · $54,959 Metropolitan State University of Denver · $43,966 University of Toledo · $53,121 Eastern Washington University · $50,478 University of Utah · $58,087 Purdue University Fort Wayne · $46,666 Savannah State University · $40,235 University of Nevada, Reno · $52,399 Murray State University · $45,481 University of Arizona · $40,906 University of Cincinnati · $55,925 Western Kentucky University · $50,468 Metropolitan State University · $38,969 Northwest Missouri State University · $52,121 University of California, Riverside · $44,611 University of Oregon · $58,630 Georgia College & State University · $52,147 University of Hawaii at Manoa · $47,909 University of Nebraska at Kearney · $50,509 University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee · $56,364 University of North Alabama · $35,709 Pennsylvania State University - Abington · $42,276 University of Kansas · $57,572 Western Washington University · $51,037 Pennsylvania Western University · $42,218 Kansas State University · $58,026 University of North Georgia · $46,848 University of California, Merced · $52,347 Ohio State University - Lima · $52,233 Saint Olaf College · $54,766 Loyola University New Orleans · $54,954 LeTourneau University · $55,979 Fordham University · $61,051 College of Wooster · $49,951 Creighton University · $42,796 Harding University · $51,847 Albright College · $52,054 East Texas Baptist University · $51,132 Sacred Heart University · $63,755 Brigham Young University · $64,029 Pepperdine University · $80,980 Centenary University · $38,765 Niagara University · $48,633 University of Detroit Mercy · $56,088 Lindsey Wilson College · $49,144 Emmanuel College · $55,005 Morningside University · $55,348 Southern Adventist University · $52,689 Baldwin Wallace University · $49,186 Gordon College · $47,600 Canisius University · $53,335 Concordia University - Irvine · $52,174 Mount St. Mary's University · $47,348 George Fox University · $54,615 Gannon University · $55,875 Cornerstone University · $46,044 Southern Nazarene University · $53,218 Illinois Institute of Technology · $59,515 Quinnipiac University · $62,240 University of Charleston · $52,312 Goldey-Beacom College · $51,453 Westminster University · $44,244 Stetson University · $49,113 Pace University · $49,289 Drexel University · $57,391 New York Institute of Technology · $55,321 Tiffin University · $53,081 Rider University · $61,235 Utica University · $43,681 Maryville University of Saint Louis · $54,723 Tulane University · $62,649 Brandeis University · $62,167 University of Washington · $51,391 University of California, Davis · $56,813 Ohio State University · $57,734 University of California, Irvine · $55,294 University of California, Santa Barbara · $59,803 Texas Christian University · $59,847 Washington & Lee University · $64,408 Wellesley College · $48,146 Haverford College · $61,500 Davidson College · $62,630 Carleton College · $56,263 Hamilton College · $57,493 Colgate University · $60,380 Grinnell College · $60,226 Tufts University · $72,920 Northeastern University · $60,092 George Washington University · $67,917 University of Rochester · $66,327 University of California, Berkeley · $55,645 Georgia Tech · $81,980 UCLA · $69,193 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor · $63,373 University of Virginia · $66,882 Purdue University · $51,710 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · $60,628 University of Texas at Austin · $61,589 University of Maryland, College Park · $61,635 University of California, San Diego · $62,452 Villanova University · $56,371 Williams College · $66,331 Amherst College · $65,334 Pomona College · $64,119 Swarthmore College · $66,133 Bowdoin College · $68,289 Claremont McKenna College · $65,531 Barnard College · $59,063 Colby College · $64,357 Middlebury College · $64,679 Stanford University · $71,830 Princeton University · $58,396 Yale University · $62,070 Harvard University · $95,666 University of Pennsylvania · $64,024 Duke University · $58,740 Johns Hopkins University · $68,207 Cornell University · $73,954 Brown University · $59,965 Dartmouth · $92,721 Vanderbilt University · $70,659 Columbia University · $73,499 University of Chicago · $84,268 Carnegie Mellon University · $75,137 Washington University in St Louis · $78,347 Art & Music: mean $52,288 STEM, Business & Military: mean $72,613 Liberal Arts: mean $53,375 Public University: mean $50,510 Religious University: mean $53,513 Private University: mean $53,354 Top 61–100: mean $58,547 Top 21–60: mean $64,273 Top 20: mean $72,499 All colleges: p10 $45,481 All colleges: p90 $66,882
Each dot = a college · y = degree-weighted earnings

Majors in this category

Major Colleges Degrees ▼ Male/Female Intl Earnings Employment
Research & Experimental Psychology 200 18,353 21% / 79% 6% $56,817 95%
Psychology 100 11,430 21% / 79% 7% $56,954 95%
Research & Experimental Psychology 17 2,135 23% / 77% 3% $54,165 95%
Behavioral Neuroscience 20 1,106 21% / 79% 4% $54,880 93%
Psychological Science 3 1,060 22% / 78% 6% $61,843 94%
Psychological Sciences 3 821 21% / 79% 5% $56,795 99%
Experimental Psychology 13 575 19% / 81% 5% $55,750 95%
Developmental and Child Psychology 18 393 10% / 90% 4% $51,666 93%
Psychological and Brain Sciences 2 304 26% / 74% 3% $69,100 97%
Social Psychology 11 218 18% / 82% 1% $51,980 94%
Industrial and Organizational Psychology 16 69 33% / 67% 3% $60,376 96%
Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics 2 46 15% / 85% 11% $65,184 97%
Cognitive Psychology 3 41 20% / 80% 7% $53,606 91%
Neuroscience and Behavior 1 37 32% / 68% 5% $60,024
Integrative Neuroscience 1 32 25% / 75% 3% $61,051 88%
Child Studies 1 25 12% / 88% 8% $70,659
Child Development 1 23 13% / 87% 0% $50,478 90%
Child Psychology 3 17 6% / 94% 6% $46,948 96%
Personality Psychology 2 8 12% / 88% 0% $62,754
Child and Adolescent Development 1 4 0% / 100% 0% $57,942
Psychology and Biological Sciences 1 3 0% / 100% 0% $75,137
Child and Developmental Psychology 1 2 0% / 100% 0% $51,132
Educational Neuroscience 1 2 0% / 100% 0% $57,920
Psychometrics and Quantitative Psychology 1 2 0% / 100% 0%