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Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California

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2023 Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California

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

Finding the Best Nursing Graduate Certificate School for You

Nursing is the most popular major in California with 18,329 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which healthcare program is right for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Healthcare Degree Search has created its Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 24 schools in California to see which graduate certificate programs were the most popular 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 following schools top our list of the Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Colleges.

Our 2023 rankings named California State University - Long Beach the most popular school in California for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. CSULB is a fairly large public school located in the city of Long Beach.

Women make up 83% of the nursing majors at the school.

Read More…

#2

National University

La Jolla, CA

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means National University is a great place for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of La Jolla, National University is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

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

Full Nursing at National University Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Located in the suburb of Los Angeles, CDU is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population.

Women make up 71% of the nursing majors at the school.

Read full report on Nursing at Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science

The in-demand graduate certificate programs at Western University of Health Sciences helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in California. Located in the large suburb of Pomona, Western University of Health Sciences is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Of the 28 students majoring in nursing at Western University of Health Sciences, 21% are male and 79% are female.

Full Nursing at Western University of Health Sciences Report

#5

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Brandman University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Brandman is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Irvine.

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

Read full report on Nursing at Brandman University

University of California - San Francisco came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Located in the large city of San Francisco, UCSF is a public school with a small student population.

Of the 22 students majoring in nursing at UCSF, 27% are male and 73% are female.

Read full report on Nursing at University of California - San Francisco

West Coast University - Orange County did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #7 on the list. West Coast University - Orange County is a small private for-profit school located in the 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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California State University - Los Angeles ranked #8 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, Cal State LA is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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

Full Nursing at California State University - Los Angeles Report

Samuel Merritt University ranked #9 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Located in the city of Oakland, Samuel Merritt University is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

About 88% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 13% are male.

Read full report on Nursing at Samuel Merritt University

#10

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco State University ranked #10 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Located in the large city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Nursing at San Francisco State University

Best Nursing Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Oregon 1,502
Washington 3,851
Nevada 2,015
Hawaii 535
Alaska 177

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 24 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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