What are the Top Nursing Colleges?

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Depending on whom you ask and what you seek in a nursing college, this question receives a wide range of answers. One thing is for sure: When you’re looking to apply to nursing school, knowing what the best of the best has to offer helps set standards for the sake of comparison. Let’s take a look at schools in the U.S. that experts consistently designate as “top nursing colleges.”

On-campus Nursing Colleges

The first place to look is the U.S. News & World Report list for “Best Grad Schools.” These lists reveal which schools consistently win the top spots. Three that make the top 10 year after year are listed below, along with the results of their stellar rankings.

Johns Hopkins University

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, this top-notch nursing college produces graduates with a 99.5% NCLEX (national licensure exam) passing rate, and 75% of dissertation-stage PhD students receive external research funding. They’re known for a low student-to-faculty ratio in labs and clinical courses despite the national shortage of nursing faculty. According to the school’s Rankings and Distinctions page, some of their noteworthy designations include:

•Ranked by U.S. News & World Report in first place among nursing graduate programs, and ranked first place among nursing grad programs in Community/Public Health Nursing
•Recognized as a “Center of Excellence in Nursing Education” in 2013 by the National League for Nursing
•Ranked among top nursing PhD programs by the National Research Council

University of Pennsylvania

Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this graduate nursing program shows up in the Top 5 of most lists for their wide variety of degree programs, easy application process, good value and financial aid programs. ScrubsMag.com says “UPenn” is one of the top nursing colleges on the east coast for some of the following reasons:

•Four-year BSN as well as Accelerated BSN, MSN and Doctoral programs
•Wide variety of master’s level specialties, including 11 Nurse Practitioner programs
•Challenging school that prepares students well for the nursing field

University of Washington

Located in Seattle, Washington, UW is definitely endorsed as a Top Nursing College by U.S. News & World Report—they have held the number one spot for 27 years without interruption! University of Washington says that some reasons they deserve this ranking is because the school:

•Prepares nurses for leadership roles in public health programs and focuses on promoting health as well as preventing disease in vulnerable populations
•Conducts funded research that reflects a commitment to improve health care and nursing services
•Provides excellent quality faculty and staff while serving committed students

Online Nursing Colleges

When it comes to the best of the best, we can’t forget to include the increasingly popular online programs that offer the convenience and flexibility many nurses need to continue their education. According to U.S. News & World Report, these are some of the best online graduate nursing colleges based on academic support, graduation rates and more: St. Xavier University in Chicago, Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, University of Massachusetts – Amherst, George Washington University in Washington D.C. and East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.