2023 Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools
Finding the Best Nursing Doctor's Degree School for You
Nursing is the most popular major in the United States with 322,592 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021.
There are so many nursing programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.
To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Nursing Degree Search has created its Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. This report analyzed 424 schools in the United States to see which ones were the most popular doctor's degree programs for nursing students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Nursing program at each school on the list.
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2023 Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the United States
The colleges and universities below are the most popular for nursing majors pursuing a doctor's degree.
Top 25 Most Popular Schools for a Doctorate in Nursing
Our analysis found Chamberlain University - Illinois to be the most popular school for nursing students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in the United States. Chamberlain - Illinois is a fairly large private for-profit school located in the large suburb of Addison.
Women make up 93% of the nursing majors at the school.
A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Grand Canyon University is a great place for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Grand Canyon University is a fairly large private for-profit school located in the city of Phoenix.
Women make up 90% of the nursing majors at the school.
The in-demand doctor’s degree programs at Rush University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in the United States. Rush University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.
Of the 199 students majoring in nursing at Rush University, 12% are male and 88% are female.
Out of the 424 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Frontier Nursing University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the rural area of Hyden, Frontier Nursing University is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Women make up 92% of the nursing majors at the school.
Capella University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. Capella University is a very large private for-profit school located in the large city of Minneapolis.
Of the 171 students majoring in nursing at Capella University, 6% are male and 94% are female.
Rutgers University - New Brunswick came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Rutgers New Brunswick is a fairly large public school located in the small city of New Brunswick.
Of the 163 students majoring in nursing at Rutgers New Brunswick, 13% are male and 87% are female.
With a ranking of #8, Columbia University in the City of New York did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.
About 91% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 9% are male.
Read full report on Nursing at Columbia University in the City of New York
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. UMN Twin Cities is a very large public school located in the city of Minneapolis.
About 89% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 11% are male.
Read full report on Nursing at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
University of Maryland - Baltimore came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. UMB is a moderately-sized public school located in the large city of Baltimore.
Of the 137 students majoring in nursing at UMB, 19% are male and 81% are female.
University of Illinois at Chicago landed the #11 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. UIC is a very large public school located in the large city of Chicago.
Of the 134 students majoring in nursing at UIC, 10% are male and 90% are female.
Read full report on Nursing at University of Illinois at Chicago
University of South Alabama did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #11 on the list. USA is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Mobile.
Women make up 92% of the nursing majors at the school.
With a ranking of #13, Samford University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large suburb of Birmingham, Samford is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
Of the 129 students majoring in nursing at Samford, 11% are male and 89% are female.
With a ranking of #14, Brandman University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Irvine, Brandman is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
About 84% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 16% are male.
University of Arizona landed the #15 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. University of Arizona is a very large public school located in the city of Tucson.
Of the 108 students majoring in nursing at University of Arizona, 7% are male and 93% are female.
Duke University came in at #16 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.
Of the 107 students majoring in nursing at Duke, 14% are male and 86% are female.
University of Washington - Seattle Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #16 on the list. UW Seattle is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Seattle.
About 85% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 15% are male.
With a ranking of #18, University of Utah did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. U of U is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized city of Salt Lake City.
Of the 105 students majoring in nursing at U of U, 20% are male and 80% are female.
University of North Florida did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #19 on the list. Located in the large city of Jacksonville, UNF is a public college with a fairly large student population.
About 86% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 14% are male.
Johns Hopkins University landed the #19 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. Johns Hopkins is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Baltimore.
Of the 102 students majoring in nursing at Johns Hopkins, 5% are male and 95% are female.
With a ranking of #21, University of Alabama at Birmingham did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. UAB is a very large public school located in the city of Birmingham.
Of the 98 students majoring in nursing at UAB, 27% are male and 73% are female.
Creighton University came in at #22 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the city of Omaha, Creighton is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
About 95% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 5% are male.
Augusta University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #23 on the list. Located in the medium-sized city of Augusta, Augusta University is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
About 80% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 20% are male.
Missouri State University - Springfield came in at #23 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the medium-sized city of Springfield, Missouri State is a public college with a fairly large student population.
About 65% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 35% are male.
Full Nursing at Missouri State University - Springfield Report
Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia Inc ranked #25 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. MTSA is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Madison.
About 59% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 41% are male.
Full Nursing at Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia Inc Report
Rest of the Top Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools
Remaining Award Winners
This list shows the remainder of the colleges awarded a Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 15% of the 424 different United States nursing schools we analyzed.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 51 | University of Missouri - Kansas City | Kansas City, MO |
| 51 | Florida Atlantic University | Boca Raton, FL |
| 53 | East Carolina University | Greenville, NC |
| 53 | University of Iowa | Iowa City, IA |
| 53 | University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester | Worcester, MA |
| 56 | The University of Texas at Arlington | Arlington, TX |
| 57 | University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA |
| 57 | The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston | Houston, TX |
| 57 | Baylor University | Waco, TX |
| 57 | Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN |
| 57 | Medical University of South Carolina | Charleston, SC |
| 57 | Washington State University | Pullman, WA |
| 63 | University of Central Florida | Orlando, FL |
Additional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional popular schools for Nursing students that almost earned our Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools award.
Nursing by Region
View the Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
Majors Related to Nursing
Nursing Focus Areas
Most Popular Majors Related to Nursing
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants | 84,274 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
- 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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