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Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California

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2023 Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California

24 Colleges
$99,011 Avg Salary
$21,624 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Nursing Graduate Certificate School for You

Out of the majors we analyze each year, nursing was the most popular one in California. In total, 18,329 people earned a degree or certificate in the field from a school in California.

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 help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Nursing Degree Search has developed this Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 24 schools in California to see which graduate certificate programs were the most popular for nursing students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Nursing program at each school on the list.

The colleges and universities below are the most popular for nursing majors pursuing a graduate certificate.

Our 2023 rankings named California State University - Long Beach the most popular school in California for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Of the 108 students majoring in nursing at CSULB, 17% are male and 83% are female.

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#2

National University

La Jolla, CA

The in-demand graduate certificate programs at National University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in California. National University is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of La Jolla.

About 85% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 15% are male.

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The in-demand graduate certificate programs at Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in California. CDU is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Los Angeles.

Of the 31 students majoring in nursing at CDU, 29% are male and 71% are female.

Full Nursing at Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science Report

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Western University of Health Sciences. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Western University of Health Sciences is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Pomona.

About 79% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 21% are male.

Full Nursing at Western University of Health Sciences Report

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#5

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

Out of the 24 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Brandman University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the city of Irvine, Brandman is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

Women make up 96% of the nursing majors at the school.

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University of California - San Francisco ranked #6 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. UCSF is a small public school located in the city of San Francisco.

About 73% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 27% are male.

Full Nursing at University of California - San Francisco Report

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West Coast University - Orange County came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Located in the large city of Anaheim, West Coast University - Orange County is a private for-profit college with a small student population.

About 79% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 21% are male.

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California State University - Los Angeles landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular graduate certificate nursing programs. Cal State LA is a very large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Of the 14 students majoring in nursing at Cal State LA, 14% are male and 86% are female.

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Samuel Merritt University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Samuel Merritt University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Oakland.

Women make up 88% of the nursing majors at the school.

Full Nursing at Samuel Merritt University Report

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#10

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco State University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #10 on the list. SFSU is a very large public school located in the city of San Francisco.

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Best Nursing Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Most Popular Nursing Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 3,851
Nevada 2,015
Alaska 177
Hawaii 535
Oregon 1,502

Nursing Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing 266,651
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing 16,104
Nursing Administration 9,838
Nursing Practice 7,992
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 5,092
Nursing Science 4,600
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing 2,287
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing 2,021
Nurse Anesthetist 1,936
Public Health/Community Nurse/Nursing 1,883
Critical Care Nursing 773
Geriatric Nurse/Nursing 563
School Nursing 553
Nurse Midwife/Nursing Midwifery 509
Clinical Nurse Leader 444
Clinical Nurse Specialist 419
Perioperative/Operating Room and Surgical Nurse/Nursing 331
Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/Nursing 181
Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing 57
Emergency Room/Trauma Nursing 53
Palliative Care Nursing 14
Forensic Nursing 14

Related Major Annual Graduates
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants 84,274

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 24 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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