2027 Edition
The ranking finds five PsyD programs in Texas that hold APA accreditation and take new students, each in its own city. The highest score among PsyD programs in Texas is 79.6, earned by Baylor University in Waco, Texas, which stands 2nd nationally.
By Trevor Rupe, Contributor at Savo Media Group
By APA area of accreditation, that is 2 clinical, 2 counseling and 1 combined clinical and school programs. Public universities run two of them (University of Houston-Clear Lake and Angelo State University).
Texas does not require APA accreditation, though graduates of APA-accredited programs can count more of their training hours toward the postdoctoral requirement. BLS reports a median of $83,660 for clinical and counseling psychologists in Texas (May 2025), against $100,580 nationwide. School psychologists earn more, at $83,690.
All five ranked PsyD programs in Texas, in order. The number on each card is its place in Texas, and its national rank is beside the school.
Incoming class pays 5% of tuition, about $3,460 a year by this site’s count, from 2027-2028
Full profile of Baylor University in Best PsyD Programs
Sources: APA record, ASPPB, APPIC and the school’s APA disclosure, read October 12, 2026.
Ranks 2nd: it retains 94% of the students who enter (higher than 3 of 4 other programs in Texas).
The University of Houston-Clear Lake's combined clinical and school Psy.D. in Houston, Texas, offers practitioner-scientist training with a particular emphasis on cognitive-behavioral psychology, and every student receives a doctoral fellowship stipend that does not cover tuition.
The Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in Health Service Psychology (Combined Clinical/School) provides broad practitioner-scientist training with an emphasis on clinical practice, built around the provision of health services with particular emphasis on cognitive-behavioral psychology, and prepares students for careers as health professionals in clinical and school settings. The full-time, full-residency program is designed to be completed in five years, including a one-year doctoral internship, and requires 108 semester credit hours of coursework. Students take two semesters of internal practicum in the UHCL Psychological Services training clinic, then at least four semesters of external practicum in community or school placements, and should have at least 600 hours of direct client contact before applying for internship. Along the way they complete a thesis (which students with a prior thesis or substantial research project can apply to waive), a Qualifying Exam Paper and a doctoral dissertation, and every student completes a year-long, full-time internship to graduate.
Applicants typically hold a bachelor's, master's or specialist degree in psychology, clinical psychology, school psychology or a closely related discipline. GRE scores are not required, applications are taken once a year with a December 15 deadline, and an admissions committee invites selected applicants to campus for an interview. Students who enter with graduate coursework can waive up to 27 credits through a formal waiver process, and the handbook says students who enter with a master's or specialist degree could finish in less time. Every student receives a doctoral fellowship for full-time study that carries 20 hours a week of research or teaching duties, but the fellowship does not cover tuition or student fees. Almost all classes are in person and held during the day, and employment outside the fellowship is generally discouraged.
Scored under methodology v2.0
Sources: APA record of University of Houston-Clear Lake (Clinical and School Psychology), ASPPB, APPIC and APA disclosure of University of Houston-Clear Lake (Clinical and School Psychology), read October 12, 2026.
Ranks 3rd: it retains 96% of the students who enter (the highest in Texas), and it registers about 7 students a year in the APPIC internship match (the most in Texas).
Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas, admits students who already hold a master's degree to its counseling psychology Psy.D., starts their clinical training on faculty-supervised treatment teams in its Community Counseling Service and offers a certificate in psychological services for Spanish-speaking populations.
OLLU's Doctor of Psychology with a concentration in counseling psychology follows a practitioner-scholar model that puts more weight on applying psychology and delivering services than on traditional research, and it emphasizes brief, systemic, strengths-based approaches to psychotherapy. Students begin practicum in the spring of their first year at the university's Community Counseling Service, where treatment teams supervised by doctoral faculty use video recording and live supervision, and later train at off-campus sites such as schools, universities, hospitals and community agencies. Students pass written and clinical qualifying examinations, complete a dissertation on a topic related to the practice of counseling psychology and finish with a pre-doctoral internship of 1,900 to 2,000 hours, taken in one year full time or two years part time.
Applicants must hold a master's degree of at least 45 semester hours in psychology or a closely related discipline with a cumulative 3.50 GPA, and those with a shorter master's degree should expect leveling coursework. The program is full time with no part-time option, doctoral students attend classes on campus full time for at least three consecutive years, and students typically finish coursework in four years before the internship year. Elective concentrations cover health psychology, psychological services for Spanish-speaking populations, and child, adolescent and family therapy, and the school says the program meets the academic requirements for licensure as a psychologist in Texas and most other states.
Scored under methodology v2.0
Sources: APA record of Our Lady of the Lake University (Counseling Psychology), ASPPB, APPIC and APA disclosure of Our Lady of the Lake University (Counseling Psychology), read October 12, 2026.
46.9
Ranks 4th: it publishes tuition of $11,975 for the first-year cohort, but it registers about 1 student a year in the APPIC internship match (the fewest in Texas).
Angelo State University's Psy.D. in Counseling Psychology in San Angelo, Texas, is a practitioner-scholar program in the Archer College of Health and Human Services that admits students from a bachelor's or a master's degree.
The Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in Counseling Psychology follows the Practitioner-Scholar Model: students learn through practice grounded in theory and scientifically supported methods, engage with research throughout and complete a dissertation. The degree plan requires 105 SCH, with coursework that includes Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Multicultural Counseling and Psychology, A Survey of Vocational Psychology and Psychopharmacology, supervised practicum in counseling psychology with practicum experiences in intervention and assessment at community agencies, dissertation credits and a final Internship in Professional Psychology. As part of the Archer College of Health and Human Services, the program offers learning and collaboration across fields such as nursing, physical therapy and public health.
The program admits students for the fall semester only; applicants need a GPA of 3.50 in psychology coursework and 3.00 overall, and 3.50 in any graduate work, need not have majored in psychology, and selected applicants interview virtually in mid-January. Students entering with a bachelor's degree can expect at least five years in training plus an internship year, and up to 24 credit hours of graduate coursework may transfer. The program works with incoming doctoral students to secure graduate and research assistant positions in the department, half-time jobs of approximately 17.5 hours a week, and the ASU Distinguished Graduate Scholarship qualifies eligible students for in-state tuition rates for up to six years. Angelo State says its graduates are eligible to sit for the EPPP upon completion of the doctoral program in all states but California, Hawaii, Maine, New York and Washington; licensure is granted by each state's psychology board.
Scored under methodology v2.0
Sources: APA record of Angelo State University (Counseling Psychology) and APA disclosure of Angelo State University (Counseling Psychology), read October 14, 2026.
20.8
Worth knowing: it publishes tuition of $65,765 for the first-year cohort (the highest in Texas).
The Chicago School's Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology at its campus in Plano, Texas, trains practitioner-scholars across several theoretical orientations and offers optional major areas of study in clinical health psychology and in clinical child and adolescent psychology.
The program follows the practitioner-scholar model and the NCSPP core competencies, and the department does not advocate a single theoretical orientation: students learn conceptualization and technique across several theories and then choose one in which to specialize. The catalog totals 106 credit hours, with a 600-hour basic practicum in Year 2, a 600-hour intermediate practicum in Year 3 and a 600-hour advanced practicum in Year 4, a series of competency and comprehensive examinations, a dissertation and a pre-doctoral internship of at least 2,000 hours over a 12-month period. Students who choose a major area of study, in Clinical Health Psychology or in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, take all program electives in that area, complete supervised practicum in a related setting and write a dissertation on a topic in the field; choosing one is optional.
Admission is open to applicants with a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution and an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher, whose transcripts show 18 hours of psychology credit including Child/Human Development or Lifespan, Abnormal Psychology and Statistics. The program runs five years full time and on the ground at the campus in Plano, Texas, and at least one of the full-time academic years must be completed in full-time residency. It is affiliated with the Lone Star Psychology Internship Consortium. The Clinical Psychology Impact Fellowship awards one full-tuition fellowship to a new, incoming student at each Psy.D. Clinical Psychology location. The school says the program is designed to meet the educational requirements for clinical psychologist licensure; licensure is granted by each state's psychology board.
Scored under methodology v2.0
Sources: APA record of The Chicago School, Dallas Campus (Clinical Psychology), APPIC and APA disclosure of The Chicago School, Dallas Campus (Clinical Psychology), read October 14, 2026.
The figures below come from the five PsyD programs in Texas that this ranking includes, each read from the source named beside it.
5
APA-accredited PsyD programs ranked in Texas
APA directory74%
Median first-time EPPP pass rate across 3 programs
ASPPB86%
Median accredited internship match rate across 4 programs
APPIC$40,144
Median yearly tuition across 4 programs, in-state price where listed
Program disclosuresAcross the three programs with a published first-time EPPP pass rate, results run from 53% to 96%, with a median of 74%. ASPPB reports 75% for all accredited doctoral programs.
The four programs with at least 10 APPIC registrations from 2021 to 2025 matched 46% to 97% of their registered applicants with APA- or CPA-accredited internships, with a median of 86%.
Four programs list a yearly tuition, from $4,272 to $69,204, with a median of $40,144. Where a program’s cost table lists both an in-state and an out-of-state price, this page counts the in-state price (University of Houston-Clear Lake and Angelo State University); the ranking’s cost score uses the out-of-state price for every program alike. Baylor University is listed at the $69,204 it prints, and after the waiver it gives every admitted student the ranking counts about $3,460 a year.
ASPPB adds its own caution: “Please note that care should be exercised if comparisons across schools and programs are made.”
A PsyD is a degree, and the license comes from the state. These are the rules a graduate of PsyD programs in Texas meets for a license there, each linked to the page it was read on.
Licensing board: Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists (licenses issued by the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council).
BLS counts 3,640 clinical and counseling psychologists in Texas, with a median annual wage of $83,660. School psychologists number 4,250 at a median of $83,690.
$83,660
Median annual pay for clinical and counseling psychologists in Texas
Occupation: Clinical and Counseling Psychologists, SOC 19-3033.BLS counts 3,640 employed in Texas.
$83,690
Median annual pay for school psychologists in Texas
Occupation: School Psychologists, SOC 19-3034.BLS counts 4,250 employed in Texas.
Percentiles are points in each occupation’s pay distribution, not experience levels. BLS lists an area in every state its counties reach, so a metropolitan area that crosses a state line appears under each state.
In the 2027 ranking, Baylor University in Waco, Texas is first among the PsyD programs in Texas, with a score of 79.6 out of 100 and 2nd place nationally. Its program page is Baylor University’s doctorate page for the Clinical Psychology Psy.D. program. The score weighs cost, graduate earnings, completion, internship and licensure outcomes, track record, credential alignment and program reputation, and the methodology page shows each weight.
Four ranked programs in Texas list a yearly tuition, from $4,272 to $69,204, with a median of $40,144. Where a program’s cost table lists both an in-state and an out-of-state price, this page counts the in-state price (University of Houston-Clear Lake and Angelo State University); the ranking’s cost score uses the out-of-state price for every program alike. Baylor University is listed at the $69,204 it prints, and after the waiver it gives every admitted student the ranking counts about $3,460 a year. A program card labels its tuition figure with the period and rate its school printed, and Read More lists the in-state and out-of-state prices where the cost table gives both.
No. Texas asks for a doctoral degree in psychology from a regionally accredited school, with a major in psychology on the transcript. Accreditation still matters for hours: under rule 463.11, graduates of APA-, CPA- or PCSAS-accredited programs can count their extra internship hours and qualifying practicum hours toward the postdoctoral requirement.
Texas asks for 3,500 hours: at least 1,750 from a formal internship in the doctoral program and at least 1,750 as a provisionally licensed psychologist. The rule is 22 TAC 463.11.
Two: the EPPP, which needs a score of 500 on the computer-based exam under rule 463.31, and the Jurisprudence Examination, which needs 85%. The jurisprudence exam must be passed no more than six months before applying.
BLS reports a median annual wage of $83,660 for clinical and counseling psychologists (SOC 19-3033) in Texas for May 2025. The 10th percentile is $59,490 and the 90th is $136,360. School psychologists (SOC 19-3034) have a median of $83,690. Percentiles mark points in the pay distribution of everyone in the occupation, not years of experience.