2025 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Louisiana

Nursing is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #5 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

College Factual reviewed 4 schools in Louisiana to determine which ones were the best for doctor's degree seekers in the field of nursing. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 148 doctor's degrees in nursing during the 2022-2023 academic year.

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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

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 host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of doctorate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their doctor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

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

More Ways to Rank Nursing Schools

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

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Nursing in Louisiana

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

Top Louisiana Schools for a Doctorate in Nursing

1

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - New Orleans
New Orleans, LA

70 Annual Graduates

$191,694 Median Starting Salary

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - New Orleans is a great option for individuals interested in a doctor's degree in nursing. Located in the city of New Orleans, LSU Health - New Orleans is a public university with a small student population.

Doctorate recipients from the nursing degree program at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - New Orleans make $15,283 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - New Orleans

2

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University
Baton Rouge, LA

29 Annual Graduates

$208,016 Median Starting Salary

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a doctor's degree in nursing. Located in the city of Baton Rouge, FranU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Those nursing students who get their doctor's degree from Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University receive $31,605 more than the typical nursing student.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University

3

Northwestern State University of Louisiana
Natchitoches, LA

13 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in nursing has to look into Northwestern State University of Louisiana. Located in the town of Natchitoches, NSU is a public university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing from Northwestern State University of Louisiana

4

Southern University and A & M College
Baton Rouge, LA

12 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat Southern University and A & M College if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in nursing. Located in the midsize city of Baton Rouge, Southern University and A & M College is a public university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing from Southern University and A & M College

Best Nursing Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Nursing Schools in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	138	636
Virginia	127	237
Georgia	126	236
North Carolina	115	372
Mississippi	113	50
Tennessee	102	344
Alabama	98	490
South Carolina	91	79
Kentucky	87	404
Arkansas	58	66
West Virginia	49	36

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	109
Nurse Anesthetist	29
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	5
Nursing Science	5

Majors Similar to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Medicine	515
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	214
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	105
Dentistry	77
Communication Sciences	22
Public Health	14
Mental & Social Health Services	6
Medical Science	5

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.