Nursing at Western Kentucky University

Every nursing school has its own distinct culture and strengths. We've pulled together some statistics and other details to help you see how the nursing program at Western Kentucky University stacks up to those at other schools.

WKU is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky and approximately 17,517 students attend the school each year. Of the 3,055 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Western Kentucky University in 2021, 185 of them were nursing majors.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Nursing section at the bottom of this page.

WKU Nursing Degrees Available

• Associate’s Degree in Nursing
• Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing
• Master’s Degree in Nursing
• Doctorate Degree in Nursing

Online Classes Are Available at WKU

If you are a working student or have a busy schedule, you may want to consider taking online classes. While these classes used to be mostly populated by returning adults, more and more traditional students are turning to this option.

Are you one of the many who prefer to take online classes? WKU offers distance education options for nursing at the following degree levels:

• Associate’s Degree

WKU Nursing Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks nursing programs across the country. The following shows how WKU performed in these rankings.

Note: Rankings don't always give a complete picture of a school's strengths and weaknesses, so it's a good idea to extend your research and also look at other factors when trying to decide if the school is right for you.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The nursing major at WKU is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Nursing. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools	131
Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools	519
Most Focused Nursing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	738
Best Nursing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	787

In 2021, 11 students received their master’s degree in nursing from WKU. This makes it the #453 most popular school for nursing master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 24 students who received their doctoral degrees in nursing, making the school the #131 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Earnings of WKU Nursing Graduates

The median salary of nursing students who receive their bachelor's degree at WKU is $56,172. Unfortunately, this is lower than the national average of $62,880 for all nursing students.

Nursing Student Demographics at WKU

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the nursing majors at Western Kentucky University.

WKU Nursing Associate’s Program

For the most recent academic year available, 9% of nursing associate's degrees went to men and 91% went to women.

The majority of those who receive an associate's degree in nursing at WKU are white. Around 81% fell into this category, which is below average for this degree.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Western Kentucky University with a associate's in nursing.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	1
Black or African American	11
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	82
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	5

WKU Nursing Bachelor’s Program

Of the 185 students who earned a bachelor's degree in Nursing from WKU in 2020-2021, 16% were men and 84% were women. The typical nursing bachelor's degree program is made up of only 13% men. So male students are more repesented at WKU since its program graduates 2% more men than average.

About 90% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in nursing at WKU are white. This is above average for this degree on the nationwide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Western Kentucky University with a bachelor's in nursing.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	6
Hispanic or Latino	7
White	166
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	6

WKU Nursing Master’s Program

Of the 11 students who graduated with a master’s in nursing from WKU in 2021, 9% were men and 91% were women.

Of the students who received a nursing master's degree from WKU, 91% were white. This is above average for this degree on the natiowide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Western Kentucky University with a master's in nursing.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	1
White	10
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

WKU also has a doctoral program available in nursing. In 2021, 24 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

• Allied Health Professions
• Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science
• Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services
• Mental & Social Health Services
• Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions

Careers That Nursing Grads May Go Into

A degree in nursing can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for KY, the home state for Western Kentucky University.

Occupation	Jobs in KY	Average Salary in KY
Registered Nurses	46,130	$63,100
Medical and Health Services Managers	5,000	$91,820
Nurse Practitioners	3,160	$99,790
Nurse Anesthetists	1,160	$172,780
Nursing Instructors and Professors	690	$73,170

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By OPMaster under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.