2025 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the New England Region

Ranked #5 in popularity, nursing 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.

College Factual looked at 18 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the New England Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 665 doctor's degrees in nursing to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Doctor's Degree

The nursing 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. 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 college's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

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 students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other nursing 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.
• Student Debt - How much debt nursing students go into to obtain their doctor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing related body.

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

More Ways to Rank Nursing 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 Doctor's Degree Schools in the New England Region list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Nursing in the New England Region

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

10 Top New England Region Schools for a Doctorate in Nursing

1

Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT

44 Annual Graduates

$150,046 Median Starting Salary

Fairfield University is a wonderful option for students interested in a doctor's degree in nursing. Located in the large suburb of Fairfield, Fairfield U is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.

Nursing doctor's degree recipients from Fairfield University earn a boost of around $6,199 above the average earnings of nursing majors.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Fairfield University

2

Northeastern University
Boston, MA

34 Annual Graduates

Northeastern University is a wonderful decision for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in nursing. Located in the large city of Boston, Northeastern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing from Northeastern University

3

University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT

23 Annual Graduates

$137,216 Median Starting Salary

University of Connecticut is a great decision for students pursuing a doctor's degree in nursing. UCONN is a fairly large public university located in the town of Storrs.

Doctorate students who receive their degree from the nursing program earn around $137,216 for their early career.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from University of Connecticut

4

Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA

34 Annual Graduates

Boston College is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in nursing. Located in the small 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 from Boston College

5

MGH Institute of Health Professions
Boston, MA

23 Annual Graduates

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 from MGH Institute of Health Professions

6

Quinnipiac University
Hamden, CT

40 Annual Graduates

$147,644 Median Starting Salary

Quinnipiac is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Hamden.

Those nursing students who get their doctor's degree from Quinnipiac University earn $3,797 more than the average nursing graduate.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Quinnipiac University

7

Simmons University
Boston, MA

47 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Boston, Simmons is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing from Simmons University

8

Sacred Heart University
Fairfield, CT

19 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Fairfield, Sacred Heart is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing from Sacred Heart University

9

Regis College
Weston, MA

106 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Weston, Regis College is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing from Regis College

10

University of New Hampshire - Main Campus
Durham, NH

15 Annual Graduates

Located in the town of Durham, UNH is a public university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing from University of New Hampshire - Main Campus

Best Nursing Colleges by State

Explore the best nursing schools for a specific state in the New England Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Massachusetts	153	285
Connecticut	93	221
Rhode Island	78	14
New Hampshire	47	15
Maine	46	0
Vermont	30	25

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Nursing

One of 34 majors within the Health Professions area of study, Nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.

Nursing Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Nursing Practice	279
Registered Nursing	143
Nursing Science	82
Nurse Anesthetist	62
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	50
Nursing Administration	29
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	15
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing	3
Nurse Midwife/Nursing Midwifery	2

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Medicine	1,471
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	1,229
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	857
Dentistry	577
Optometry	192
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	65
Public Health	43
Health Sciences & Services	39
Chiropractic	33
Mental & Social Health Services	22

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.