2025 Best Nursing Practice Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

Nursing Practice is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #7 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 12 schools in the Far Western US Region to determine which ones were the best for nursing practice students pursuing a doctor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 446 doctor's degrees in nursing practice during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing Practice School for Your Doctor's Degree

Your choice of nursing practice for getting your doctor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on nursing practice students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other nursing practice students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing practice related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for nursing practice students working on their doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Nursing Practice Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Nursing Practice in the Far Western US Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in nursing practice.

10 Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Doctorate in Nursing Practice

1

Samuel Merritt University
Oakland, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

33 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat Samuel Merritt University if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in nursing practice. Located in the city of Oakland, Samuel Merritt University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from Samuel Merritt University

2

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

18 Annual Graduates

University of California - Irvine is a great decision for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in nursing practice. UC Irvine is a fairly large public university located in the city of Irvine.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from University of California - Irvine

3

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

14 Annual Graduates

University of California - Los Angeles is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in nursing practice. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from University of California - Los Angeles

4

Gonzaga University
Spokane, WA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

21 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat Gonzaga University if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in nursing practice. Located in the city of Spokane, Gonzaga is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from Gonzaga University

5

California State University - Fullerton
Fullerton, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

54 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Fullerton, Cal State Fullerton is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from California State University - Fullerton

6

University of Nevada - Reno
Reno, NV

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

42 Annual Graduates

UNR is a fairly large public university located in the city of Reno.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from University of Nevada - Reno

7

Touro University Nevada
Henderson, NV

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

30 Annual Graduates

Touro University Nevada is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Henderson.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from Touro University Nevada

8

Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, OR

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

4 Annual Graduates

OHSU is a small public university located in the large city of Portland.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from Oregon Health & Science University

9

West Coast University - Orange County
Anaheim, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

13 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Anaheim, West Coast University - Orange County is a private for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from West Coast University - Orange County

10

Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

17 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Tacoma, PLU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from Pacific Lutheran University

Best Nursing Practice Colleges by State

Explore the best nursing practice colleges for a specific state in the Far Western US Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	381	205
Washington	216	75
Oregon	145	40
Nevada	111	59
Hawaii	65	15
Alaska	21	3

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Nursing Practice

Nursing Practice is one of 23 different types of Nursing programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to Nursing Practice

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing	210
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	105
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	88
Nurse Anesthetist	44
Nursing Science	37
Nurse Midwife/Nursing Midwifery	20
Geriatric Nurse/Nursing	16
School Nursing	11
Critical Care Nursing	10
Nursing Administration	9

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• 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.