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Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

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2023 Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

67 Colleges
$98,140 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Master's Degree School for You

Nursing is the most popular major in the United States with 31,555 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.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Nursing Degree Search has created the Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 67 schools in the Plains States Region to see which ones were the most popular master'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.

The following schools top our list of the Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Colleges.

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Maryville University of Saint Louis. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the suburb of Saint Louis, Maryville U is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

About 87% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 13% are male.

Read More…

#3

Capella University

Minneapolis, MN

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Capella University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Capella University is a very large private for-profit school located in the large city of Minneapolis.

About 93% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 7% are male.

Read full report on Nursing at Capella University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Graceland University - Lamoni. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the rural area of Lamoni, Graceland Lamoni is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Women make up 83% of the nursing majors at the school.

Full Nursing at Graceland University - Lamoni Report

Out of the 67 schools in the Plains States Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Missouri - Kansas City landed the # 5 spot on the list. UMKC is a large public school located in the city of Kansas City.

About 93% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 7% are male.

Read full report on Nursing at University of Missouri - Kansas City

#6

Saint Louis University

Saint Louis, MO

Saint Louis University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. SLU is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Saint Louis.

Of the 101 students majoring in nursing at SLU, 15% are male and 85% are female.

Full Nursing at Saint Louis University Report

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. UMN Twin Cities is a very large public school located in the large city of Minneapolis.

Women make up 84% of the nursing majors at the school.

Full Nursing at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Report

#8

Clarkson College

Omaha, NE

Clarkson College ranked #8 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the city of Omaha, Clarkson College is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Of the 91 students majoring in nursing at Clarkson College, 21% are male and 79% are female.

Full Nursing at Clarkson College Report

#9

Webster University

Saint Louis, MO

Webster University ranked #9 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list. Located in the large suburb of Saint Louis, Webster is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

Of the 83 students majoring in nursing at Webster, 8% are male and 92% are female.

Read full report on Nursing at Webster University

#10

St Catherine University

Saint Paul, MN

St Catherine University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular master’s degree nursing programs. Located in the large city of Saint Paul, St. Kate's is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

About 94% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 6% are male.

Full Nursing at St Catherine University Report

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional popular schools for Nursing students in the Plains States Region that almost earned our Most Popular Nursing Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region award.

Rank College Location
11 Allen College Waterloo, IA
12 Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Winona, MN
13 University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha, NE

Best Nursing Colleges by State

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

State Degrees Awarded
Nebraska 1,908
Minnesota 14,890
South Dakota 1,022
North Dakota 976
Iowa 2,966
Missouri 6,840
Kansas 2,633

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 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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