2023 Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools
Finding the Best 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 Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. This report analyzed 424 schools in the United States to see which ones were the most popular doctor's degree programs for healthcare students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Nursing program at each school on the list.
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2023 Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the United States
The following schools top our list of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Colleges.
Top 25 Most Popular 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 a doctor’s degree in the United States. Located in the 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.
Read full report on Nursing at Chamberlain University - Illinois
Out of the 424 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Grand Canyon University landed the # 2 spot on the 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.
A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Rush University is a great place for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Chicago, Rush University is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Women make up 88% of the nursing majors at the school.
The in-demand doctor’s degree programs at Frontier Nursing University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular 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.
Capella University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the 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.
Rutgers University - New Brunswick landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the small city of New Brunswick, Rutgers New Brunswick is a public school with a very large student population.
Women make up 87% of the nursing majors at the school.
Columbia University in the City of New York came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
Of the 146 students majoring in nursing at Columbia, 9% are male and 91% are female.
Full Nursing at Columbia University in the City of New York 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 doctor’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the large city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Of the 142 students majoring in nursing at UMN Twin Cities, 11% are male and 89% are female.
University of Maryland - Baltimore did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Located in the city of Baltimore, UMB is a public school with a medium-sized student population.
Women make up 81% of the nursing majors at the school.
Read full report on Nursing at University of Maryland - Baltimore
With a ranking of #11, University of South Alabama did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the midsize city of Mobile, USA is a public school with a large student population.
About 92% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 8% are male.
University of Illinois at Chicago ranked #11 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public school with a very large student population.
Women make up 90% of the nursing majors at the school.
Read full report on Nursing at University of Illinois at Chicago
Samford University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #13 on the list. Samford is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Birmingham.
Women make up 89% of the nursing majors at the school.
Brandman University landed the #14 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. Brandman is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Irvine.
Of the 113 students majoring in nursing at Brandman, 16% are male and 84% are female.
University of Arizona came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Tucson, University of Arizona is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Women make up 93% of the nursing majors at the school.
Duke University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #16 on the list. Duke is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Durham.
Women make up 86% of the nursing majors at the school.
University of Washington - Seattle Campus landed the #16 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Of the 107 students majoring in nursing at UW Seattle, 15% are male and 85% are female.
University of Utah came in at #18 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the midsize city of Salt Lake City, U of U is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Women make up 80% of the nursing majors at the school.
Johns Hopkins University came in at #19 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
Women make up 95% of the nursing majors at the school.
University of North Florida came in at #19 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. UNF is a fairly 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.
University of Alabama at Birmingham did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #21 on the list. Located in the medium-sized city of Birmingham, UAB is a public school with a very large student population.
Women make up 73% of the nursing majors at the school.
Creighton University ranked #22 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Creighton is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Omaha.
Of the 97 students majoring in nursing at Creighton, 5% are male and 95% are female.
Augusta University came in at #23 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Augusta University is a medium-sized public school located in the midsize city of Augusta.
Of the 96 students majoring in nursing at Augusta University, 20% are male and 80% are female.
With a ranking of #23, Missouri State University - Springfield did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Missouri State is a very large public school located in the medium-sized city of Springfield.
Of the 96 students majoring in nursing at Missouri State, 35% are male and 65% are female.
Full Nursing at Missouri State University - Springfield Report
Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia Inc ranked #25 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Madison, MTSA is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population.
Of the 94 students majoring in nursing at MTSA, 41% are male and 59% are female.
Read full report on Nursing at Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia Inc
Rest of the Top Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools
Additional Award Winners
This section shows the rest of the colleges awarded a Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 15% of the 424 different United States nursing schools we analyzed.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 51 | University of Missouri - Kansas City | Kansas City, MO |
| 51 | Florida Atlantic University | Boca Raton, FL |
| 53 | University of Iowa | Iowa City, IA |
| 53 | East Carolina University | Greenville, NC |
| 53 | University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester | Worcester, MA |
| 56 | The University of Texas at Arlington | Arlington, TX |
| 57 | The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston | Houston, TX |
| 57 | Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN |
| 57 | Baylor University | Waco, TX |
| 57 | Medical University of South Carolina | Charleston, SC |
| 57 | University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA |
| 57 | Washington State University | Pullman, WA |
| 63 | University of Central Florida | Orlando, FL |
Honorable Mentions
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also popular but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools award.
Nursing by Region
View the Most Popular 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 |
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 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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