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Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

2023 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

64 Colleges
$115,233 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Doctor's Degree School for You

With 322,592 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, nursing is the #3 most popular major in the United States.

Today's 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 help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This report analyzed 64 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones offered the best doctor's degree programs for students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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

Top 10 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Chamberlain University - Illinois the best school in the Great Lakes Region for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large suburb of Addison, Chamberlain - Illinois is a private for-profit college with a very large student population.

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#2

Rush University

Chicago, IL

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Rush University is a great place for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large city of Chicago, Rush University is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

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#3

Saint Mary's College

Notre Dame, IN

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Saint Mary’s College. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. St. Mary's College is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Notre Dame.

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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science is a great place for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. RFUMS is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of North Chicago.

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#5

Bradley University

Peoria, IL

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Bradley University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Bradley is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Peoria.

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#6

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

Purdue University - Main Campus ranked #6 on this year’s Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Purdue is a fairly large public school located in the small city of West Lafayette.

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University of St Francis landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the suburb of Joliet, University of Saint Francis is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

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#8

Otterbein University

Westerville, OH

Otterbein University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Otterbein is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Westerville.

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#9

Marquette University

Milwaukee, WI

Marquette University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the city of Milwaukee, Marquette is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

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#10

Edgewood College

Madison, WI

With a ranking of #10, Edgewood College did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Edgewood is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Madison.

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Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.

Rank College Location
11 University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI
12 Lewis University Romeoville, IL

Best Nursing Colleges by State

Explore the best nursing colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 7,345
Ohio 13,973
Illinois 21,938
Indiana 7,922
Wisconsin 5,410

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

Majors Similar to Nursing

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.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • 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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