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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%
$50,387
1,775
90–82%
$51,313
2,466
82–70%
$55,113
3,466
69–47%
$57,392
3,384
47–35%
$59,653
2,664
32–14%
$65,744
1,819
14–6%
$72,344
852
6–0%
Acceptance rate · bar = degree-weighted earnings

By SAT median

$48,656
658
400–1050
$48,515
1,229
1060–1170
$53,070
1,938
1170–1290
$55,144
2,330
1290–1370
$57,381
2,811
1370–1460
$62,673
1,790
1460–1480
$68,828
1,260
1480–1530
$68,409
634
1530–1600
Combined SAT composite median (submitters + non-submitters) · bar = degree-weighted earnings

Earnings vs. selectivity rank

$45,313p10 $66,882p90 Arts Military Female-only Liberal Arts Public University Religious University Private University Liberal Arts 1–15 Public University 1–15 Private University 1–30 Woodbury University · $52,288 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Prescott · $80,929 Barnard College · $59,063 Wellesley College · $48,146 Smith College · $60,265 Mount Holyoke College · $45,313 Scripps College · $53,498 Agnes Scott College · $49,980 Bay Path University · $45,603 Bates College · $70,110 Denison University · $56,070 Vassar College · $59,286 Carleton College · $56,263 Skidmore College · $51,563 Trinity University · $60,604 Pitzer College · $53,137 Macalester College · $54,499 Reed College · $51,976 Trinity College (CT) · $63,259 Lafayette College · $65,082 Gettysburg College · $61,004 Whitman College · $50,818 Union College · $42,127 Occidental College · $53,780 Earlham College · $50,438 Wabash College · $56,666 Berry College · $49,458 Centre College · $54,827 Lake Forest College · $51,203 Albion College · $35,010 Cornell College · $51,723 Maryville College · $52,626 Eckerd College · $42,705 Knox College · $51,668 Saint Mary's College of California · $58,470 Keuka College · $51,229 Luther College · $49,433 Manchester University · $52,627 Oglethorpe University · $46,087 Eureka College · $49,904 Wilson College · $47,813 University of California, Irvine · $55,294 University of California, Santa Barbara · $59,803 University of Washington · $51,391 Florida International University · $46,504 University of Maryland, College Park · $61,635 University of California, Davis · $56,813 University of Tennessee, Knoxville · $55,113 Ohio State University · $57,734 Florida Atlantic University · $43,992 University of South Carolina · $49,973 University of Pittsburgh · $56,909 University of Central Missouri · $49,713 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities · $51,419 Central Michigan University · $52,083 University of Alabama · $57,920 Murray State University · $45,481 Northwest Missouri State University · $52,121 University of Colorado Denver · $54,382 University of Delaware · $61,101 University of Nebraska at Kearney · $50,509 University of Texas at Dallas · $55,713 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 University of Arizona · $40,906 University of Cincinnati · $55,925 Western Kentucky University · $50,468 Metropolitan State University · $38,969 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 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 Villanova University · $56,371 College of Wooster · $49,951 Saint Olaf College · $54,766 Fordham University · $61,051 Texas Christian University · $59,847 Loyola University New Orleans · $54,954 LeTourneau University · $55,979 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 University of Richmond · $65,422 Stetson University · $49,113 University of Rochester · $66,327 Brandeis University · $62,167 George Washington University · $67,917 Quinnipiac University · $62,240 Goldey-Beacom College · $51,453 Florida Institute of Technology · $64,297 Illinois Institute of Technology · $59,515 Westminster University · $44,244 University of Charleston · $52,312 Tiffin University · $53,081 Pace University · $58,695 New York Institute of Technology · $55,321 Rider University · $61,235 Drexel University · $57,391 Keystone College · $38,968 Utica University · $43,681 Maryville University of Saint Louis · $54,723 Williams College · $66,331 Pomona College · $64,119 Swarthmore College · $66,133 Amherst College · $65,334 Claremont McKenna College · $65,531 Bowdoin College · $68,289 Washington & Lee University · $64,408 Haverford College · $61,500 Middlebury College · $64,679 Colby College · $64,357 Hamilton College · $57,493 Davidson College · $62,630 Grinnell College · $60,226 Wesleyan University · $60,024 Colgate University · $60,380 Georgia Tech · $81,980 University of California, Berkeley · $55,645 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor · $63,373 University of Virginia · $66,882 UCLA · $69,193 Purdue University · $51,710 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · $60,628 University of Texas at Austin · $61,589 University of California, San Diego · $62,452 Stanford University · $71,830 Yale University · $62,070 Harvard University · $95,666 University of Chicago · $84,268 Princeton University · $58,396 Brown University · $59,965 Dartmouth · $92,721 University of Pennsylvania · $64,024 Duke University · $58,740 Columbia University · $73,499 Johns Hopkins University · $68,207 Carnegie Mellon University · $75,137 Vanderbilt University · $70,659 Cornell University · $73,954 Washington University in St Louis · $78,344 Tufts University · $72,920 Tulane University · $62,649 Northeastern University · $60,092 Arts: mean $52,288 Military: mean $80,929 Female-only: mean $51,695 Liberal Arts: mean $53,171 Public University: mean $51,302 Religious University: mean $53,819 Private University: mean $56,216 Liberal Arts 1–15: mean $63,429 Public University 1–15: mean $63,717 Private University 1–30: mean $71,286 All colleges: p10 $45,313 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 201 18,344 21% / 79% 6% $56,778 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 1,057 22% / 78% 6% $60,863 91%
Psychological Sciences 3 821 21% / 79% 5% $56,795 99%
Experimental Psychology 13 570 19% / 81% 5% $56,498 95%
Developmental and Child Psychology 18 393 10% / 90% 4% $51,666 93%
Psychological and Brain Sciences 2 298 26% / 74% 3% $69,100 97%
Social Psychology 12 220 19% / 81% 1% $52,312 94%
Industrial and Organizational Psychology 17 72 32% / 68% 3% $59,117 97%
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%