2025 Best Nursing Science Doctor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

Ranked #29 in popularity, nursing science is one of the most sought-after doctor's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 8 schools in the Plains States Region to determine which ones were the best for nursing science students pursuing a doctor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 119 doctor's degrees in nursing science during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

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

Your choice of nursing science for getting your doctor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality nursing science program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

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 college's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of various 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 much a school focuses on nursing science students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other nursing science students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor's degree.
• 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 science related body.

Our full 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.

More Ways to Rank Nursing Science Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Nursing Science Doctor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list to help you make the college decision.

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

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for nursing science students seeking a a doctor's degree.

Top Plains States Region Schools for a Doctorate in Nursing Science

1

University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

3 Annual Graduates

University of Kansas is a wonderful option for students pursuing a doctor's degree in nursing science. Located in the city of Lawrence, KU is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from University of Kansas

2

University of Missouri - Kansas City
Kansas City, MO

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

5 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in nursing science has to look into University of Missouri - Kansas City. Located in the city of Kansas City, UMKC is a public university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from University of Missouri - Kansas City

3

University of Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

5 Annual Graduates

University of Nebraska Medical Center is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in nursing science. Located in the large city of Omaha, UNMC is a public university with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from University of Nebraska Medical Center

4

Minnesota State University - Mankato
Mankato, MN

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

19 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in nursing science has to take a look at Minnesota State University - Mankato. Minnesota State Mankato is a fairly large public university located in the city of Mankato.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Minnesota State University - Mankato

5

Metropolitan State University
Saint Paul, MN

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

15 Annual Graduates

Metro State is a medium-sized public university located in the city of Saint Paul.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Metropolitan State University

6

University of Missouri - St Louis
Saint Louis, MO

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

2 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Saint Louis, UMSL is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from University of Missouri - St Louis

7

Wichita State University
Wichita, KS

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

19 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Wichita, WSU is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Wichita State University

8

Fort Hays State University
Hays, KS

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

10 Annual Graduates

Located in the remote town of Hays, FHSU is a public university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing science from Fort Hays State University

Best Nursing Science Colleges by State

Explore the best nursing science schools for a specific state in the Plains States Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Minnesota	199	108
Iowa	177	4
Missouri	175	11
Kansas	134	29
Nebraska	99	4
South Dakota	57	0

View All Rankings >

Nursing Science Related Rankings by Major

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

Most Popular Majors Related to Nursing Science

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Nursing Practice	927
Nurse Anesthetist	250
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	146
Nursing Administration	135
Registered Nursing	34
Critical Care Nursing	25
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	22
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing	14
School Nursing	13
Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/Nursing	10

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.