2023 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools
Finding the Best Nursing Master'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.
With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best 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.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 586 schools in the United States to see which master's degree programs offered the best educational experiences for students. Factors related to overall quality of the school, post-graduation earnings, average student debt, and more accumulated were considered when coming up with this list.
View our full ranking methodology.
2023 Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in the United States
Check out the nursing master's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best education that money can buy.
Top 25 Top Schools for a Master's in Nursing
Our 2023 rankings named Albany Medical College the best school in the United States for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the small city of Albany, AMC Albany is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Midwestern University - Glendale. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large suburb of Glendale, Midwestern University - Glendale is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Full Nursing at Midwestern University - Glendale Report
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Saint Vincent College. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Saint Vincent is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Latrobe.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Wake Forest University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the medium-sized city of Winston-Salem, Wake Forest University is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.
Full Nursing at Wake Forest University Report
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Samuel Merritt University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Samuel Merritt University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Oakland.
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University of Southern California did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. USC is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.
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Mount Marty University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the town of Yankton, Mount Marty is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
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Vanderbilt University landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs. Located in the city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
Full Nursing at Vanderbilt University Report
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Touro University California ranked #9 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the medium-sized city of Vallejo, TUC is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
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Texas Wesleyan University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Texas Wesleyan is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Fort Worth.
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With a ranking of #11, Duke University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.
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University of California - San Francisco ranked #12 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. UCSF is a small public school located in the city of San Francisco.
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University of Pennsylvania did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #13 on the list. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
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Medical University of South Carolina came in at #14 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. MUSC is a small public school located in the city of Charleston.
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With a ranking of #15, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Brooklyn, SUNY Downstate is a public school with a small student population.
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With a ranking of #16, AdventHealth University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Orlando, AHU is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
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With a ranking of #17, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. SMU MN is a small private not-for-profit school located in the town of Winona.
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Frontier Nursing University came in at #18 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. 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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With a ranking of #19, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Houston, UTHealth is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
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With a ranking of #20, Newman University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Newman University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Wichita.
Full Nursing at Newman University Report
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Gonzaga University landed the #21 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs. Gonzaga is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Spokane.
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York College of Pennsylvania came in at #22 in this year’s edition of the Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the medium-sized suburb of York, YCP is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Full Nursing at York College of Pennsylvania Report
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With a ranking of #23, Loma Linda University did quite well on this year’s best schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in the suburb of Loma Linda, Loma Linda University is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Full Nursing at Loma Linda University Report
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Thomas Jefferson University landed the #24 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best master’s degree nursing programs. Thomas Jefferson University is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Philadelphia.
Full Nursing at Thomas Jefferson University Report
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University of California - Davis ranked #25 on this year’s Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public school with a very large student population.
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Remaining Award Winners
This section shows the rest of the colleges awarded a Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the college was ranked in the top 15% of the 586 different United States nursing schools we analyzed.
Additional Noteworthy Schools
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 Master's Degree Schools award.
Nursing by Region
View the Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
More Nursing Rankings
Nursing Related Rankings by Major
Nursing is one of 30 different types of programs to choose from.
Most Popular Related Majors
| 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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