2023 Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools
Finding the Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree School for You
In 2020-2021, 322,592 degrees and certificates were awarded to nursing students, making the major the most popular in the country.
There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which healthcare program is right for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools 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, Healthcare Degree Search has developed this Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 173 schools in the United States to see which online doctor's degree programs were the most popular for healthcare students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from schools with online programs.
2023 Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the United States
Check out the online nursing doctor's degree programs at these schools if you want to attend one of the most popular in the United States.
Top 25 Most Popular Online 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 an online doctor’s degree in the United States. Located in the large suburb of Addison, Chamberlain - Illinois is a private for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
About 93% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 7% are male.
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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 Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Phoenix, Grand Canyon University is a private for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
About 90% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 10% are male.
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The in-demand online doctor’s degree programs at Frontier Nursing University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best nursing schools in the United States. Frontier Nursing University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the rural area of Hyden.
About 92% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 8% are male.
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Out of the 173 online programs at schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Capella University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the large city of Minneapolis, Capella University is a private for-profit school with a very large student population.
Women make up 94% of the nursing majors at the school.
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University of South Alabama did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular online places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the city of Mobile, USA is a public college with a large student population.
About 92% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 8% are male.
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Brandman University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Brandman is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Irvine.
Of the 113 students majoring in nursing at Brandman, 16% are male and 84% are female.
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Samford University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular online places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Samford is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Birmingham.
Women make up 89% of the nursing majors at the school.
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University of Alabama at Birmingham landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the city of Birmingham, UAB is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Women make up 73% of the nursing majors at the school.
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University of North Carolina at Greensboro ranked #10 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. UNC Greensboro is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Greensboro.
About 80% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 20% are male.
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Northern Kentucky University ranked #11 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large suburb of Highland Heights, NKU is a public college with a fairly large student population.
About 87% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 13% are male.
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Maryville University of Saint Louis landed the #12 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online doctor’s degree nursing programs. Maryville U is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.
Women make up 91% of the nursing majors at the school.
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Chatham University ranked #13 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Chatham is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Pittsburgh.
Of the 74 students majoring in nursing at Chatham, 11% are male and 89% are female.
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University of North Florida ranked #14 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. UNF is a large public school located in the city of Jacksonville.
Of the 102 students majoring in nursing at UNF, 14% are male and 86% are female.
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University of Florida did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular online places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #15 on the list. UF is a very large public school located in the city of Gainesville.
Women make up 92% of the nursing majors at the school.
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Purdue University Global did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular online places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #16 on the list. Located in the small city of Indianapolis, Purdue University Global is a public college with a very large student population.
About 97% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 3% are male.
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Virginia Commonwealth University came in at #17 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the midsize city of Richmond, VCU is a public school with a fairly large student population.
About 67% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 33% are male.
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University of Massachusetts Amherst came in at #18 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. UMass Amherst is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Amherst.
Women make up 85% of the nursing majors at the school.
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With a ranking of #19, East Carolina University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online doctor’s degree. Located in the small city of Greenville, ECU is a public school with a very large student population.
Of the 51 students majoring in nursing at ECU, 8% are male and 92% are female.
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University of Kansas ranked #20 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Lawrence, KU is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Of the 80 students majoring in nursing at KU, 19% are male and 81% are female.
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University of Central Florida ranked #21 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large suburb of Orlando, UCF is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Of the 47 students majoring in nursing at UCF, 9% are male and 91% are female.
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University of Iowa ranked #21 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Women make up 82% of the nursing majors at the school.
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With a ranking of #21, University of Missouri - Kansas City did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online doctor’s degree. Located in the large city of Kansas City, UMKC is a public college with a fairly large student population.
About 81% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 19% are male.
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The University of Texas at Arlington came in at #24 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. UT Arlington is a very large public school located in the large city of Arlington.
Women make up 94% of the nursing majors at the school.
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With a ranking of #25, South University’s online programs did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online doctor’s degree. Located in the midsize city of Savannah, South University's online programs is a private for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.
Full Nursing at South University’s online programs Report
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These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 27 | Bradley University | Peoria, IL |
| 27 | Old Dominion University | Norfolk, VA |
| 29 | Wilmington University | New Castle, DE |
| 29 | University of Alabama in Huntsville | Huntsville, AL |
| 31 | American Sentinel University | Aurora, CO |
| 32 | Touro University Nevada | Henderson, NV |
| 33 | Wilkes University | Wilkes-Barre, PA |
| 34 | University of Michigan - Flint | Flint, MI |
Most Popular Online Nursing by Region
View the Most Popular Online 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 |
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Nursing Related Majors
One of 30 majors within the healthcare area of study, nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.
Nursing Concentrations
Most Popular Related Majors
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Health & Medical Administrative Services | 89,359 |
| Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services | 84,492 |
| Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants | 84,274 |
| Allied Health Professions | 82,308 |
| Public Health | 40,596 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 26 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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