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Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

2023 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

104 Colleges
$115,233 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Doctor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 322,592 nursing students received a degree or certificate, making the major the #3 most popular in the country.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

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 Southeast Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 104 schools in the Southeast Region to see which doctor's degree programs offered the best educational experiences 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 Southeast Region

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

Top 15% Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools

Our analysis found Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia Inc to be the best school for nursing students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in the Southeast Region . MTSA is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Madison.

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#2

Wake Forest University

Winston-Salem, NC

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Wake Forest University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list. Located in the midsize city of Winston-Salem, Wake Forest University is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Frontier Nursing University is a great place for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the rural area of Hyden, Frontier Nursing University is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

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The excellent doctor’s degree programs at Virginia Commonwealth University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best nursing schools in the Southeast Region . VCU is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Richmond.

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#5

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Vanderbilt University is a great place for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

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#6

Duke University

Durham, NC

Duke University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Located in the city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

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University of Virginia - Main Campus landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree nursing programs. University of Virginia is a fairly large public school located in the small suburb of Charlottesville.

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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ranked #8 on this year’s Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list. Located in the small city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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#9

Samford University

Birmingham, AL

Samford University landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the large suburb of Birmingham, Samford is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.

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Medical University of South Carolina 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 #10 on the list. MUSC is a small public school located in the city of Charleston.

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University of Southern Mississippi came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Southern Miss is a large public school located in the city of Hattiesburg.

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#12

Clemson University

Clemson, SC

Clemson University came in at #12 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Located in the suburb of Clemson, Clemson is a public school with a very large student population.

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With a ranking of #13, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - New Orleans did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. LSU Health - New Orleans is a small public school located in the city of New Orleans.

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University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences ranked #14 on this year’s Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list. UAMS is a small public school located in the medium-sized city of Little Rock.

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#15

University of Florida

Gainesville, FL

With a ranking of #15, University of Florida did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the midsize city of Gainesville, UF is a public college with a very large student population.

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Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for Nursing students in the Southeast Region that almost earned our Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region award.

Rank College Location
16 University of North Georgia Dahlonega, GA
17 The University of Tennessee - Health Science Center Memphis, TN
18 Radford University Radford, VA
19 Eastern Mennonite University Harrisonburg, VA
20 Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA

Best Nursing Colleges by State

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

State Degrees Awarded
Georgia 7,112
Virginia 6,775
North Carolina 7,425
Florida 21,209
Tennessee 6,004
Kentucky 6,395
South Carolina 3,296
Louisiana 3,502
Arkansas 2,882
Alabama 7,364
Mississippi 2,838
West Virginia 1,771

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

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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