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Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Kentucky

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2023 Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Kentucky

10 Colleges
$115,233 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Doctor's Degree School for You

Nursing is the most popular major in Kentucky with 6,395 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021.

Today's healthcare students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. 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 Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Kentucky ranking. This report analyzed 10 schools in Kentucky 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.

The colleges and universities below are the most popular for nursing majors pursuing a doctor's degree.

Our analysis found Frontier Nursing University to be the most popular school for nursing students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in Kentucky. Located in the rural area of Hyden, Frontier Nursing University is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

About 92% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 8% are male.

Read full report on Nursing at Frontier Nursing University

#2

Northern Kentucky University

Highland Heights, KY

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northern Kentucky University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky list. NKU is a large public school located in the suburb of Highland Heights.

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

Read More…

#3

University of Louisville

Louisville, KY

The in-demand doctor’s degree programs at University of Louisville helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in Kentucky. UofL is a very large public school located in the city of Louisville.

About 80% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 20% are male.

Full Nursing at University of Louisville Report

#4

University of Kentucky

Lexington, KY

Out of the 10 schools in Kentucky that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Kentucky landed the # 4 spot on the list. UK is a very large public school located in the city of Lexington.

Women make up 97% of the nursing majors at the school.

Read full report on Nursing at University of Kentucky

The in-demand doctor’s degree programs at Murray State University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in Kentucky. Murray State is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Murray.

Of the 29 students majoring in nursing at Murray State, 17% are male and 83% are female.

Read full report on Nursing at Murray State University

#6

Western Kentucky University

Bowling Green, KY

Western Kentucky 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 #6 on the list. WKU is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Bowling Green.

Of the 24 students majoring in nursing at WKU, 8% are male and 92% are female.

Full Nursing at Western Kentucky University Report

Eastern Kentucky University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky ranking. Located in the town of Richmond, Eastern is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Of the 11 students majoring in nursing at Eastern, 18% are male and 82% are female.

Full Nursing at Eastern Kentucky University Report

#8

Bellarmine University

Louisville, KY

With a ranking of #8, Bellarmine University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large city of Louisville, Bellarmine U is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Full Nursing at Bellarmine University Report

#9

Kentucky State University

Frankfort, KY

Kentucky State 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 #9 on the list. KY State is a small public school located in the town of Frankfort.

Full Nursing at Kentucky State University Report

#10

Spalding University

Louisville, KY

Spalding University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. Spalding is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Louisville.

Full Nursing at Spalding University Report

Best Nursing Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Most Popular Nursing Schools in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Florida 21,209
North Carolina 7,425
Tennessee 6,004
Georgia 7,112
West Virginia 1,771
Virginia 6,775
Louisiana 3,502
Mississippi 2,838
South Carolina 3,296
Alabama 7,364
Arkansas 2,882

Nursing is one of 30 different types of healthcare programs to choose from.

Nursing Focus Areas

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 10 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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