Counseling Psychology
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Overview
Counseling psychology is a program that prepares individuals for the independent professional practice of psychological counseling, involving the rendering of therapeutic services to individuals and groups experiencing psychological problems and exhibiting distress symptoms. includes instruction in counseling theory, therapeutic intervention strategies, patient/counselor relationships, testing and assessment methods and procedures, group therapy, marital and family therapy, child and adolescent therapy, supervised counseling practice, ethical standards, and applicable regulations.
Highlights
School with the highest reported median starting salary ($88K) with a Doctorate: Hofstra University
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Careers for program graduates
Counseling psychology majors work in these careers, which are sized by percentage of majors in the career (at least 1%) and colored by the predominant level of education.
Educational, Guidance, and Car...Specialized CounselorsMental Health CounselorsSpecialized Social WorkersElementary and Middle School S...Specialized TherapistsSubstance Abuse and Behavioral...Social and Community Service M...Education and childcare admini...Specialized ManagersPostsecondary TeachersMedical and Health Services Ma...Specialized PsychologistsMarriage and Family TherapistsChild, Family, and School Soci...Residential AdvisorsRehabilitation CounselorsClergy
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Current completions
What level of degree do most graduates achieve, and do they match what your goals?
05K10K0-1 Year CertificateAssociate's DegreeBachelor's DegreePostbaccalaureate CertMaster's DegreePost-master's CertProfessional DegreeResearch Doctorate
SOURCES:
Completions over time
Have completions for counseling psychology changed over time? Increasing completions may mean you'll likely have an easier time finding a school that offers this degree, with the opposite being true as well.
Show percentages
Number of graduates
02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,000200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Other Doctorate
Research Doctorate
Professional Degree
Post-master's Cert
Master's Degree
Postbaccalaureate Cert
Bachelor's Degree
Associate's Degree
2-4 Year Certificate
1-2 Year Certificate
0-1 Year Certificate
Salary and Debt
How are students who recently completed a degree in counseling psychology doing?
Below is the distribution of starting salaries along with accumulated federal and private education loans across schools that offer a degree in the field clinical, counseling and applied psychology, which includes counseling psychology.
Median starting salaries
$32K$46K$54K$65K$0$20K$40K$60K$80KDoctoratePost-master's CertMaster'sBachelor's
Median cumulative loan amount
$26K$50K$42K$140K$0$50K$100K$150K$200KDoctoratePost-master's CertMaster'sBachelor's
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Context: median salaries
How does the median (middle) salary for counseling psychology majors compare to the median salaries for other college majors?
$51K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K
Distribution: counseling psychology majors' salaries by education level
What is the salary distribution for graduates with a bachelor's incounseling psychology by the level of their highest degree (Graduate degrees may not be in the same field as the bachelor’s)
$53K$41K$67K$54K$0$50K$100K$150KBachelor'sMaster'sDoctorateProfessional
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
Is a bachelor's degree all you need?
Education level of workers with a bachelor's in counseling psychology
Is a bachelor's degree going to be sufficient to make you competative in the job market? We can look at the education level of workers with a bachelors in this degree to see if there is a likely need for a graduate degree. You'll also want to check out the careers section on this page to where they are employed.
This chart shows the level of education of workers with a bachelor's degree in counseling psychology. The worker's graduate degree may have been completed in a different field.
Education level of workers
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Context: Graduate degrees in any field by undergraduate ACS degree
About 76% of counseling psychology majors chose to also earn a graduate degree (possibly of a different major). The percentage of counseling psychology majors who also earned a graduate degree is higher than about 98% of other fields.
76%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Percentage salary boost obtained with a graduate degree
How important is a graduate degree for earning a higher salary? We can see the difference in salary of workers with a bachelors in this degree to workers with a bachelor’s AND a graduate degree.
28%62%30%0%20%40%60%80%Bachelor's to Master'sBachelor's to DoctorateBachelor's to Professional
Careers
Top careers for those with a degree in counseling psychology
Following are the most frequent jobs held by people who earned a bachelor's degree in Counseling Psychology (which combines 9 programs), though may not be limited to just those with a bachelor’s.
  1. Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
  2. Specialized Counselors
  3. Mental Health Counselors
  4. Specialized Social Workers
  5. Elementary and Middle School School Teachers
  6. Specialized Therapists
  7. Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors
  8. Social and Community Service Managers
  9. Education and childcare administrators
  10. Specialized Managers
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Careers for counseling psychology majors
Where do counseling psychology majors work, and how well do those jobs pay? A ** in the job title indicates that the Department of Education recommends this job for this program.
Not so much?
The top ten careers for workers with a bachelor's in counseling psychology
Take a minute to interact with this sankey diagram. Follow the top ten jobs held by counseling psychology graduates through to their most hired majors. Learn where it may easiest to find work. Expand the careers to explore other majors that might lead to the job that excites you the most. *For many majors, the top ten jobs don't even include half of graduates!*
Expand careers
Educational, Guidanc...Specialized Counselo...Mental Health Counse...Specialized Social W...Elementary and Middl...Specialized Therapis...Substance Abuse and ...Social and Community...Education and childc...Specialized ManagersAll othersThis degreeTop 10 Careers
What careers hire counseling psychology majors as one of their top 10?
To the left of this diagram, see all careers that hire counseling psychology majors as one of their top 10 majors, and on the right, see what proportion of openings for the jobs on the left are filled by counseling psychology majors.
Counseling PsychologyAll other degreesMental Health CounselorsSpecialized CounselorsEducational, Guidance, an...Marriage and Family Thera...Rehabilitation CounselorsSubstance Abuse and Behav...Clinical and Counseling P...All other careersDegreeDegree in top 10 employed
Where can I complete this degree
Explore schools that offer counseling psychology degrees and certificates
You can use this table to find schools that offer this program based on location and program level offered. Each entry goes to a school page similar to this one with all our information about that school.
Understanding the columns

The school list includes a few facts about each school that give you an idea of the educational quality each school might offer:

  • Student-Faculty Ratio: A small number of students per full-time instructor suggests individual attention for each student and an up-to-date curriculum.

  • Satisfaction Rate: A high percentage of returning first-year students should correlate with satisfaction (schools call this their retention rate).

  • Repayment Rate: A high repayment rate means most alumni earn enough to make progress repaying loans within 7 years of leaving.

We also show the total enrollment for the school as measured by full-time-equivalent (FTE) students enrolled annually.

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Offering this program at this level
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Related Programs
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Careers for counseling psychology majors
counseling psychology is part of a larger collection of programs: Psychology. Is there a different program that's close to counseling psychology that might be a better match for your interests? You can use this table to see a little about the programs that fall under this umbrella. If you click on any of the table headers, that will sort the table by that column, or click on a row and see Ididio's profile for that program.
Gender
Gender of recent graduates
Of all people with any degree in counseling psychology earned in the last academic year, 83% were women.
Gender
Men
Women
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Completions over time
Have completions by gender changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
02K4K6K8K10K12KNumber of graduates200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Women
Men
Context: Gender representation
How does the gender distribution in this major compare to all other majors?
73%27%0%20%40%60%80%100%WomenMen
Context: Percentage women
This major has a higher percentage of women than 84% other programs.
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary with this degree? The closer the bar are, the less discrepancy there is.
$50K$54K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K$250KWomenMen
Context: Salary inequity
For counseling psychology graduates, men have a 7% higher median salary than women, This is better than many: 92% of programs have graduates with higher salary inequities.
7%7%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race/Origin of recent graduates
Here is an overview of race/origin for all counseling psychology graduates from this last academic year. We found a lower percentage of international graduates than in 55% of other programs.
Race/Origin
White
Black
Pacific Islander
Hispanic
Asian
American Indian
Multiracial
Not Reported
International
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Completions over time
Have completions by race/origin changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
02K4K6K8K10K12KNumber of graduates200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
International
Not Reported
Multiracial
American Indian
Asian
Hispanic
Pacific Islander
Black
White
Context: Percentage of Minority Graduates
Minority students comprise a lower percentage of graduates than in 45% of other programs.