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Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools

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2023 Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools

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

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 assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Healthcare Degree Search has created its Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. This report analyzed 147 schools in the United States to see which ones were the most popular online graduate certificate programs for healthcare students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from schools with online programs.

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

Our analysis found Maryville University of Saint Louis to be the most popular school for nursing students who want to pursue an online graduate certificate in the United States. Maryville U is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.

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

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of South Alabama. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the city of Mobile, USA is a public college with a large student population.

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

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The in-demand online graduate certificate programs at Frontier Nursing University helped the school earn the #3 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.

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

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#4

Purdue University Global

Indianapolis, IN

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Purdue University Global is a great place for nursing students working on their online graduate certificate. Located in the city of Indianapolis, Purdue University Global is a public school with a very large student population.

Of the 115 students majoring in nursing at Purdue University Global, 12% are male and 88% are female.

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Out of the 147 online programs at schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, The University of Texas at Arlington landed the # 5 spot on the list. UT Arlington is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Arlington.

About 89% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 11% are male.

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#6

Liberty University

Lynchburg, VA

With a ranking of #6, Liberty University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online graduate certificate. Located in the small city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.

Of the 92 students majoring in nursing at Liberty University, 11% are male and 89% are female.

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#7

Grand Canyon University

Phoenix, AZ

With a ranking of #7, Grand Canyon University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online graduate certificate. Located in the large city of Phoenix, Grand Canyon University is a private for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Women make up 89% of the nursing majors at the school.

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Concordia University, Wisconsin ranked #8 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools list. Concordia University, Wisconsin is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Mequon.

Women make up 93% of the nursing majors at the school.

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Herzing University - Madison ranked #9 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the large city of Madison, Herzing University - Madison is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

About 90% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 10% are male.

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#10

National University

La Jolla, CA

National University ranked #10 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the city of La Jolla, National University is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

Of the 39 students majoring in nursing at National University, 15% are male and 85% are female.

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University of New Hampshire - Main Campus ranked #11 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the suburb of Durham, UNH is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Women make up 81% of the nursing majors at the school.

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#12

Drexel University

Philadelphia, PA

Drexel University landed the #12 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online graduate certificate nursing programs. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, Drexel is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

About 89% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 11% are male.

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Chamberlain University - Illinois did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular online places for nursing students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #13 on the list. Located in the large suburb of Addison, Chamberlain - Illinois is a private for-profit school with a very large student population.

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

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South University’s online programs landed the #14 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online graduate certificate nursing programs. Located in the medium-sized city of Savannah, South University's online programs is a private for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

Of the 32 students majoring in nursing at South University's online programs, 13% are male and 88% are female.

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#15

Bradley University

Peoria, IL

With a ranking of #15, Bradley University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online graduate certificate. Bradley is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Peoria.

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

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#15

George Washington University

Washington, DC

George Washington University ranked #15 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Of the 30 students majoring in nursing at GWU, 30% are male and 70% are female.

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With a ranking of #17, University of St Francis did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online graduate certificate. Located in the large suburb of Joliet, University of Saint Francis is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Of the 27 students majoring in nursing at University of Saint Francis, 19% are male and 81% are female.

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#18

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

Brandman University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular online places for nursing students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #18 on the list. Brandman is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Irvine.

About 96% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 4% are male.

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The University of Tennessee - Knoxville ranked #19 on this year’s Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools list. UT Knoxville is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Knoxville.

About 91% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 9% are male.

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#20

Western Kentucky University

Bowling Green, KY

Western Kentucky University landed the #20 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online graduate certificate nursing programs. Located in the city of Bowling Green, WKU is a public school with a large student population.

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

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Graceland University - Lamoni did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular online places for nursing students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #21 on the list. Graceland Lamoni is a small private not-for-profit school located in the remote area of Lamoni.

Women make up 86% of the nursing majors at the school.

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With a ranking of #22, West Coast University - Orange County did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their online graduate certificate. West Coast University - Orange County is a small private for-profit school located in the large city of Anaheim.

Of the 19 students majoring in nursing at West Coast University - Orange County, 21% are male and 79% are female.

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University of Southern Indiana landed the #22 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular online graduate certificate nursing programs. USI is a moderately-sized public school located in the midsize suburb of Evansville.

Women make up 74% of the nursing majors at the school.

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Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for online Nursing students that almost earned our Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools award.

Rank College Location
24 University of Mississippi University, MS
25 University of Iowa Iowa City, IA
26 University of Michigan - Flint Flint, MI
26 University of Florida Gainesville, FL
28 Lewis University Romeoville, IL
28 Capella University Minneapolis, MN
28 Rush University Chicago, IL
28 Eastern Kentucky University Richmond, KY

View the Most Popular Online Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

One of 30 majors within the healthcare area of study, nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.

Nursing Concentrations

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
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 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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