2023 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools
It's not easy to decide which nursing program to enroll in when you have so many options available. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Also there are many trade schools and bpptcamp that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Nursing Degree Search has developed this Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. This report analyzed 333 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best doctor's degree programs for nursing students. The factors used to develop this ranking include those related to how in-demand the school us, the overall quality of the school, and post-graduation wages, and more.
View our full ranking methodology.
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Top Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the United States
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Our 2023 rankings named Wake Forest University the best school in the United States for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Wake Forest University. During the 2019-2020 year, about 67% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
The excellent doctor’s degree programs at Texas Christian University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best nursing schools in the United States.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at TCU. In 2019-2020 about 82% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Pennsylvania. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list.
UPenn does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 74% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Out of the 333 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Mount Marty University landed the # 4 spot on the list.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Mount Marty. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 91% took at least some of their classes online.
The excellent doctor’s degree programs at Villanova University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best nursing schools in the United States.
Online graduate courses are available at Villanova, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. During the 2019-2020 year, about 89% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Thomas Jefferson University 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 #6 on the list.
One thing to take note of is that Thomas Jefferson University does offer online graduate classes in some areas. During the 2019-2020 year, about 65% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Virginia Commonwealth University 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 #7 on the list.
VCU does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 62% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
With a ranking of #8, Vanderbilt University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Vanderbilt. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 67% took at least some of their classes online.
With a ranking of #9, Point Loma Nazarene University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree.
PLNU does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 56% took at least some of their classes online.
Texas Wesleyan University 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 #10 on the list.
Texas Wesleyan does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. In 2019-2020 about 59% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
With a ranking of #11, University of California - Los Angeles did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree.
Online graduate courses are available at UCLA, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 79% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
University of Nevada - Las Vegas ranked #12 on this year’s Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list.
UNLV does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. In 2019-2020 about 64% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
Duke University came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Duke. During the 2019-2020 year, about 2% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
With a ranking of #14, Saint Mary’s College did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree.
Since the graduate programs at St. Mary’s College are online, the school is an excellent choice for graduate students who need more flexibility than what is offered at some other schools.
Gonzaga University 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 #15 on the list.
Gonzaga does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 92% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
With a ranking of #16, Wilkes University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree.
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at Wilkes. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 97% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Chatham University came in at #17 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Chatham. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 79% took at least some of their classes online.
University of Virginia - Main Campus landed the #18 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree nursing programs.
Online graduate courses are available at University of Virginia, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. During the 2019-2020 year, about 75% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
University of Portland 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 #19 on the list.
University of Portland is one of the schools on our list that is primarily online. Each graduate student at the school took at least one class online.
With a ranking of #20, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at UNC Chapel Hill. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 77% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus landed the #21 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree nursing programs.
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at Pitt. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 16% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
University of California - Davis came in at #22 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking.
One thing to take note of is that UC Davis does offer online graduate classes in some areas. In 2019-2020 about 52% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
Samford University ranked #23 on this year’s Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list.
Samford does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. During the 2019-2020 year, about 53% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Webster University landed the #24 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree nursing programs.
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at Webster. In 2019-2020 about 61% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
California State University - Fresno came in at #25 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Fresno State. In fact, around 98% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Rest of the Top 50 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the United States
Not only did these schools make the top 50 list, but they also landed in the top 15% of this year’s ranking:
Narrow Schools by Region
Honorable Mentions
These schools also performed well in our best nursing schools ranking:
| Rank | School | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 51 | Seattle University | Seattle, WA |
| 52 | Azusa Pacific University | Azusa, CA |
| 53 | San Jose State University | San Jose, CA |
| 54 | Wilmington University | New Castle, DE |
| 55 | Marquette University | Milwaukee, WI |
| 56 | York College of Pennsylvania | York, PA |
| 57 | Edgewood College | Madison, WI |
| 58 | University of Wisconsin - Madison | Madison, WI |
| 59 | University of Scranton | Scranton, PA |
| 60 | Lewis University | Romeoville, IL |
| 61 | Andrews University | Berrien Springs, MI |
| 62 | University of Iowa | Iowa City, IA |
| 63 | University of Florida | Gainesville, FL |
| 64 | Case Western Reserve University | Cleveland, OH |
| 65 | University of Delaware | Newark, DE |
| 66 | University of North Georgia | Dahlonega, GA |
| 67 | Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania | Bloomsburg, PA |
Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
References
- 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 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).
- Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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