2025 Best Nursing Science Doctor's Degree Schools

If you pursue a doctor's degree in nursing science, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #29 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

College Factual looked at 77 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Nursing Science Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 927 doctor's degrees in nursing science to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

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

The nursing science doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. 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 many resources a school devotes to nursing science students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of nursing science students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
• 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 science related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Nursing Science Doctor's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Nursing Science in the United States

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in nursing science. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

15 Top Schools for a Doctorate in Nursing Science

1

New York University
New York, NY

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

4 Annual Graduates

New York University is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a doctor's degree in nursing science. Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from New York University

2

Duke University
Durham, NC

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

9 Annual Graduates

Duke University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in nursing science. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Duke University

3

Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, TX

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

2 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in nursing science has to look into Texas Christian University. Located in the city of Fort Worth, TCU is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Texas Christian University

4

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Houston, TX

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

8 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a doctor's degree in nursing science has to take a look at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. UTHealth is a moderately-sized public university located in the large city of Houston.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

5

University of Maryland - Baltimore
Baltimore, MD

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

6 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Baltimore, UMB is a public university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from University of Maryland - Baltimore

6

Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

4 Annual Graduates

Case Western is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cleveland.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Case Western Reserve University

7

The University of Texas Medical Branch
Galveston, TX

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

7 Annual Graduates

UTMB Galveston is a small public university located in the city of Galveston.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from The University of Texas Medical Branch

8

Emory University
Atlanta, GA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

6 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Emory University

9

University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

8 Annual Graduates

Located in the fringe town of Storrs, UCONN is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from University of Connecticut

10

University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

6 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Buffalo, University at Buffalo is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from University at Buffalo

11

Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

4 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Richmond, VCU is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Virginia Commonwealth University

12

Rutgers University - New Brunswick
New Brunswick, NJ

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

153 Annual Graduates

Rutgers New Brunswick is a very large public university located in the small city of New Brunswick.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Rutgers University - New Brunswick

13

The University of Tennessee - Health Science Center
Memphis, TN

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

4 Annual Graduates

UTHSC is a small public university located in the large city of Memphis.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from The University of Tennessee - Health Science Center

14

Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

6 Annual Graduates

Boston College is a large private not-for-profit college located in the small city of Chestnut Hill.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Boston College

15

Binghamton University
Vestal, NY

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

11 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Vestal, Binghamton University is a public university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Binghamton University

Rest of the Top Best Nursing Science Doctor's Degree Schools

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 Science Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank	College	Location
16	University of California - Irvine	Irvine, CA
17	University of Florida	Gainesville, FL
18	Loyola University Chicago	Chicago, IL
19	Marquette University	Milwaukee, WI
20	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill, NC
21	Rush University	Chicago, IL
22	Michigan State University	East Lansing, MI
23	Sacred Heart University	Fairfield, CT
24	Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - New Orleans	New Orleans, LA
25	University of Oklahoma - Health Sciences Center	Oklahoma City, OK

Nursing Science by Region

View the Best Nursing Science Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Nursing Science

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

Majors Similar to Nursing Science

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Nursing Practice	7,474
Nurse Anesthetist	1,403
Registered Nursing	976
Nursing Administration	725
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	683
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing	339
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	193
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing	88
Critical Care Nursing	55
School Nursing	43

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.