2023 Best Nursing Master'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.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Nursing Degree Search has created the Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 515 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best master'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 Master's Degree Schools in the United States
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Our 2023 rankings named Saint Vincent College the best school in the United States for nursing students working on their master’s degree.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Saint Vincent. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 9% took at least some of their classes online.
A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Wake Forest University is a great place for nursing students working on their master’s degree.
Online graduate courses are available at Wake Forest University, 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 67% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Southern California. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at USC. In fact, around 82% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
The excellent master’s degree programs at Mount Marty University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best nursing schools in the United States.
Mount Marty does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 91% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Out of the 515 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Vanderbilt University landed the # 5 spot on the list.
Vanderbilt does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 67% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Texas Wesleyan University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list.
Texas Wesleyan 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 59% took at least some of their classes online.
Duke University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list.
Duke does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. In fact, around 2% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
University of Pennsylvania landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs.
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. During the 2019-2020 year, about 74% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
With a ranking of #9, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at SMU MN. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 86% took at least some of their classes online.
Newman University ranked #10 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list.
Newman University 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 42% took at least some of their classes online.
Gonzaga University came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking.
Online graduate courses are available at Gonzaga, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 92% took at least some of their classes online.
York College of Pennsylvania ranked #12 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list.
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at YCP. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 25% took at least some of their classes online.
With a ranking of #13, Thomas Jefferson University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Thomas Jefferson University. In 2019-2020 about 65% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
University of California - Davis ranked #14 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list.
Online graduate courses are available at UC Davis, 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, 52% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
University of Providence landed the #15 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs.
Since the graduate programs at University of Providence are primarily online school, so it is a great choice for returning adults and students who work full time.
Villanova University ranked #16 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list.
Villanova does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. In fact, around 89% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Gannon University landed the #17 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs.
Gannon 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, 55% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
With a ranking of #18, Georgetown University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree.
Since the graduate programs at Georgetown are primarily online school, so it is a great choice for returning adults and students who work full time.
Webster University ranked #19 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Webster. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 61% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
With a ranking of #20, Case Western Reserve University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Case Western. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 17% took at least some of their classes online.
Yale University came in at #21 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Yale. In 2019-2020 about 98% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
California State University - Stanislaus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #22 on the list.
One thing to take note of is that Stan State does offer online graduate classes in some areas. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 99% took at least some of their classes online.
Read full report on California State University - Stanislaus
The College of New Jersey came in at #23 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking.
One thing to take note of is that TCNJ does offer online graduate classes in some areas. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 99% took at least some of their classes online.
Emory University landed the #24 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs.
One thing to take note of is that Emory does offer online graduate classes in some areas. 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.
University of Virginia - Main Campus ranked #25 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list.
University of Virginia does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 75% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Rest of the Top 50 Best Nursing Master'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
Rest of the Top 15% Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in the United States
To learn more about the schools below, just click on their names:
Honorable Mentions
These schools also performed well in our best nursing schools ranking:
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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