2023 Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools
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.
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 Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 424 schools in the United States to see which doctor's degree programs were the most popular for students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Nursing program at each school on the list.
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2023 Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in the United States
The following schools top our list of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Colleges.
Top 25 Most Popular Schools for a Doctorate in Nursing
Our analysis found Chamberlain University - Illinois to be the most popular school for nursing students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in the United States. Chamberlain - Illinois is a very large private for-profit school located in the large suburb of Addison.
About 93% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 7% are male.
The in-demand doctor’s degree programs at Grand Canyon University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in the United States. Grand Canyon University is a fairly large private for-profit school located in the large city of Phoenix.
About 90% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 10% are male.
The in-demand doctor’s degree programs at Rush University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in the United States. Rush University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.
Women make up 88% of the nursing majors at the school.
A rank of #5 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 college with a small student population.
About 92% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 8% are male.
With a ranking of #6, Capella University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Capella University is a very large private for-profit school located in the city of Minneapolis.
Women make up 94% of the nursing majors at the school.
Rutgers University - New Brunswick came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Rutgers New Brunswick is a fairly large public school located in the city of New Brunswick.
Women make up 87% of the nursing majors at the school.
With a ranking of #8, Columbia University in the City of New York did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.
Of the 146 students majoring in nursing at Columbia, 9% are male and 91% are female.
Full Nursing at Columbia University in the City of New York Report
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. UMN Twin Cities is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Minneapolis.
Of the 142 students majoring in nursing at UMN Twin Cities, 11% are male and 89% are female.
University of Maryland - Baltimore did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. UMB is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Baltimore.
Women make up 81% of the nursing majors at the school.
Read full report on Nursing at University of Maryland - Baltimore
University of Illinois at Chicago came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. UIC is a fairly large public school located in the city of Chicago.
Women make up 90% of the nursing majors at the school.
University of South Alabama ranked #11 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. USA is a large public school located in the city of Mobile.
About 92% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 8% are male.
Samford University came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the suburb of Birmingham, Samford is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.
Women make up 89% of the nursing majors at the school.
Brandman University ranked #14 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Irvine, Brandman is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
Of the 113 students majoring in nursing at Brandman, 16% are male and 84% are female.
University of Arizona did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #15 on the list. University of Arizona is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Tucson.
Women make up 93% of the nursing majors at the school.
With a ranking of #16, Duke University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.
Women make up 86% of the nursing majors at the school.
University of Washington - Seattle Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #16 on the list. UW Seattle is a very large public school located in the city of Seattle.
Of the 107 students majoring in nursing at UW Seattle, 15% are male and 85% are female.
Full Nursing at University of Washington - Seattle Campus Report
University of Utah ranked #18 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. U of U is a fairly large public school located in the city of Salt Lake City.
Women make up 80% of the nursing majors at the school.
University of North Florida ranked #19 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Jacksonville, UNF is a public college with a large student population.
Of the 102 students majoring in nursing at UNF, 14% are male and 86% are female.
With a ranking of #19, Johns Hopkins University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Johns Hopkins is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Baltimore.
Women make up 95% of the nursing majors at the school.
University of Alabama at Birmingham came in at #21 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. UAB is a very large public school located in the medium-sized city of Birmingham.
Women make up 73% of the nursing majors at the school.
Read full report on Nursing at University of Alabama at Birmingham
Creighton University ranked #22 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Omaha, Creighton is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
Of the 97 students majoring in nursing at Creighton, 5% are male and 95% are female.
Augusta University landed the #23 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the city of Augusta, Augusta University is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.
Of the 96 students majoring in nursing at Augusta University, 20% are male and 80% are female.
Missouri State University - Springfield landed the #23 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the medium-sized city of Springfield, Missouri State is a public school with a very large student population.
Of the 96 students majoring in nursing at Missouri State, 35% are male and 65% are female.
Read full report on Nursing at Missouri State University - Springfield
Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia Inc came in at #25 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. MTSA is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Madison.
Of the 94 students majoring in nursing at MTSA, 41% are male and 59% are female.
Rest of the Top Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools
Remaining Award Winners
This list shows the rest of the colleges awarded a Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 15% of the 424 different United States nursing schools we analyzed.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 51 | Florida Atlantic University | Boca Raton, FL |
| 51 | University of Missouri - Kansas City | Kansas City, MO |
| 53 | University of Iowa | Iowa City, IA |
| 53 | University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester | Worcester, MA |
| 53 | East Carolina University | Greenville, NC |
| 56 | The University of Texas at Arlington | Arlington, TX |
| 57 | Washington State University | Pullman, WA |
| 57 | Medical University of South Carolina | Charleston, SC |
| 57 | Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN |
| 57 | The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston | Houston, TX |
| 57 | Baylor University | Waco, TX |
| 57 | University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA |
| 63 | University of Central Florida | Orlando, FL |
Additional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional popular schools for Nursing students that almost earned our Most Popular Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools award.
Nursing by Region
View the Most Popular Nursing Doctor'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 |
Majors Related to Nursing
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.
- 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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