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Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

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2023 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

30 Colleges
$115,233 Avg Salary
$76,952 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Nursing Doctor's Degree School for You

Nursing is the most popular major in the United States with 42,378 degrees and certificates handed out in 2021-2022.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which nursing program is right for you. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Nursing Degree Search has created its Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. This report analyzed 30 schools in the Southwest Region to see which ones offered the best doctor's degree programs for nursing students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Southwest Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for nursing majors pursuing a doctor's degree.

Top 10 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools

Our analysis found Midwestern University - Glendale to be the best school for nursing students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in the Southwest Region . Midwestern University - Glendale is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Glendale.

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#2

Texas Christian University

Fort Worth, TX

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Texas Christian University is a great place for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Fort Worth, TCU is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

On average, nursing graduates from TCU take out $99,078 in student loans while working on their Doctor's Degree.

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The excellent doctor’s degree programs at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best nursing schools in the Southwest Region . UTHealth is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Houston.

Nursing majors at UTHealth take out an average of $71,786 in student loans while working on their Doctor's Degree.

Read full report on Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Out of the 30 schools in the Southwest Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Baylor College of Medicine landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the large city of Houston, Baylor College of Medicine is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

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#5

Texas Wesleyan University

Fort Worth, TX

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at Texas Wesleyan University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best nursing schools in the Southwest Region . Located in the city of Fort Worth, Texas Wesleyan is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

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The University of Texas Medical Branch landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree nursing programs. UTMB Galveston is a small public school located in the fringe town of Galveston.

Read full report on Nursing at The University of Texas Medical Branch

#7

Aspen University

Phoenix, AZ

Aspen University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Southwest Region ranking. Aspen University is a medium-sized private for-profit school located in the city of Phoenix.

Read full report on Nursing at Aspen University

With a ranking of #8, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. TTUHSC is a medium-sized public school located in the city of Lubbock.

On average, nursing graduates from TTUHSC take out $51,255 in student loans while working on their Doctor's Degree.

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The University of Texas at Austin did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. UT Austin is a very large public school located in the city of Austin.

After completing their Doctor's Degree, nursing graduates from UT Austin carry an average student debtload of $52,271.

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Abilene Christian University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree nursing programs. Abilene Christian is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Abilene.

Read full report on Nursing at Abilene Christian University

Best Nursing Colleges by State

Explore the best nursing colleges for a specific state in the Southwest region.

State Degrees Awarded
Arizona 12,966
Texas 21,862
New Mexico 1,390
Oklahoma 3,009

Nursing Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing 262,974
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing 16,647
Nursing Practice 8,862
Nursing Administration 8,663
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 4,717
Nursing Science 4,701
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing 2,895
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing 2,075
Public Health/Community Nurse/Nursing 2,011
Nurse Anesthetist 1,768
Critical Care Nursing 747
Geriatric Nurse/Nursing 622
Nurse Midwife/Nursing Midwifery 567
School Nursing 539
Clinical Nurse Leader 502
Clinical Nurse Specialist 340
Perioperative/Operating Room and Surgical Nurse/Nursing 269
Women’s Health Nurse/Nursing 262
Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/Nursing 192
Emergency Room/Trauma Nursing 87
Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing 26
Forensic Nursing 23
Palliative Care Nursing 13

Majors Similar to Nursing

Related Major Annual Graduates
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants 85,339

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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