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.
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 very large private for-profit school located in the suburb of Addison.
Women make up 93% of the nursing majors at the school.
Full Nursing at Chamberlain University - Illinois Report
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Grand Canyon University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. 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.
Full Nursing at Grand Canyon University Report
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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Rush University is a great place for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. 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.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Frontier Nursing University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools 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.
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Capella University ranked #6 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Capella University is a fairly large private for-profit school located in the city of Minneapolis.
Of the 171 students majoring in nursing at Capella University, 6% are male and 94% are female.
Full Nursing at Capella University Report
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Rutgers University - New Brunswick ranked #7 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Rutgers New Brunswick is a very large public school located in the city of New Brunswick.
Of the 163 students majoring in nursing at Rutgers New Brunswick, 13% are male and 87% are female.
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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 city of New York.
About 91% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 9% are male.
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University of Minnesota - Twin Cities ranked #9 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. UMN Twin Cities is a very large public school located in the large city of Minneapolis.
About 89% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 11% are male.
Full Nursing at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Report
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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 city of Baltimore.
Of the 137 students majoring in nursing at UMB, 19% are male and 81% are female.
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With a ranking of #11, University of Illinois at Chicago did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. UIC is a fairly 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.
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University of South Alabama came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. USA is a fairly large public school located in the city of Mobile.
Women make up 92% of the nursing majors at the school.
Full Nursing at University of South Alabama Report
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Samford 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 #13 on the list. Located in the suburb of Birmingham, Samford is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
Of the 129 students majoring in nursing at Samford, 11% are male and 89% are female.
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Brandman University came in at #14 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Irvine, Brandman is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.
About 84% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 16% are male.
Full Nursing at Brandman University Report
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University of Arizona 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 #15 on the list. University of Arizona is a very large public school located in the large city of Tucson.
Of the 108 students majoring in nursing at University of Arizona, 7% are male and 93% are female.
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Duke University ranked #16 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
Of the 107 students majoring in nursing at Duke, 14% are male and 86% are female.
Full Nursing at Duke University Report
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With a ranking of #16, University of Washington - Seattle Campus did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. 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.
Full Nursing at University of Washington - Seattle Campus Report
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University of Utah came in at #18 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. U of U is a very large public school located in the city of Salt Lake City.
Of the 105 students majoring in nursing at U of U, 20% are male and 80% are female.
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With a ranking of #19, University of North Florida did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large city of Jacksonville, UNF is a public college with a large student population.
About 86% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 14% are male.
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With a ranking of #19, Johns Hopkins University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Johns Hopkins is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Baltimore.
Of the 102 students majoring in nursing at Johns Hopkins, 5% are male and 95% are female.
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University of Alabama at Birmingham landed the #21 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. UAB is a fairly 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.
Full Nursing at University of Alabama at Birmingham Report
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With a ranking of #22, Creighton 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 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.
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Augusta University 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 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.
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With a ranking of #23, Missouri State University - Springfield did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the midsize city of Springfield, Missouri State is a public school with a fairly large student population.
About 65% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 35% are male.
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Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia Inc came in at #25 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. MTSA is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Madison.
About 59% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 41% are male.
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Remaining Award Winners
This list represents the remainder of the schools awarded a Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the college 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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