2025 Best Nursing Practice Doctor's Degree Schools in Massachusetts

Ranked #7 in popularity, nursing practice is one of the most sought-after doctor's degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 7 schools in Massachusetts 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 191 doctor's degrees in nursing practice during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

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

The nursing practice doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality nursing practice program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to nursing practice students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of nursing practice students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• 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.

More Ways to Rank Nursing Practice Schools

The nursing practice school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Nursing Practice Doctor's Degree Schools in Massachusetts.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Nursing Practice in Massachusetts

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in nursing practice.

Top Massachusetts Schools for a Doctorate in Nursing Practice

1

Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

28 Annual Graduates

Boston College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in nursing practice. Located in the city of Chestnut Hill, Boston College is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from Boston College

2

MGH Institute of Health Professions
Boston, MA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

11 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a doctor's degree in nursing practice has to check out MGH Institute of Health Professions. MGH Institute of Health Professions is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Boston.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from MGH Institute of Health Professions

3

Simmons University
Boston, MA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

27 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in nursing practice needs to check out Simmons University. Located in the large city of Boston, Simmons is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from Simmons University

4

Elms College
Chicopee, MA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

17 Annual Graduates

Elms College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in nursing practice. Elms College is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Chicopee.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from Elms College

5

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

21 Annual Graduates

UMass Amherst is a fairly large public university located in the city of Amherst.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from University of Massachusetts Amherst

6

University of Massachusetts - Boston
Boston, MA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

11 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Boston, UMass Boston is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from University of Massachusetts - Boston

7

University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth
North Dartmouth, MA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

8 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized suburb of North Dartmouth, UMass Dartmouth is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing practice from University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth

Best Nursing Practice Colleges in the New England Region

Explore all the Best Nursing Practice Colleges in the New England Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Connecticut	138	22
Rhode Island	119	2
New Hampshire	56	15
Maine	53	0

View All Rankings >

Nursing Practice Related Rankings by Major

One of 23 majors within the Nursing area of study, Nursing Practice has other similar majors worth exploring.

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing	117
Nursing Science	33
Nurse Anesthetist	23
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	20
Nursing Administration	12
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing	3
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	2

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.