Is a research university right for me?–

Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. Research universities offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students. Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines. Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you? If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel. Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well. Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Is an online college right for me?–

Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available. Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online. Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whether you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college. Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands. Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain. Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving. If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc. The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors. Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions. If you’re interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.

Best Research Universities for Nursing Degrees

Q: Is a liberal arts college right for me?–

Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree. Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students. Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom). Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers. Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Badge for BEST FOR NURSING RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES

By Dr. James Barham

Updated: Oct 2, 2024

The best nursing research universities are those with rich histories of influence, proven through the work produced by the program’s faculty and alumni. Beyond demonstrating scholarly impact in the field, the best nursing degree programs maximize your opportunities to interact with outstanding nursing faculty.

Key Takeaways

The best nursing degree programs at a top-ranked research university is essential for a successful career in nursing.
Choosing a school of nursing program that will fit your nursing goals in both the short and long term is crucial.
As a nursing degree student, it’s paramount to understand how your nursing school, nursing diploma, certificates, and degree program fit into your career goals.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Research Universities Nursing Programs in 2025

Columbia University
+1
University of Michigan
+3
New York University
+5
University of Pennsylvania
–3
University of California, Los Angeles
+1
Johns Hopkins University
–3
Duke University
–3
University of Texas at Austin
+5
University of Washington
+6
University of Wisconsin–Madison
+11

2025 Ranking Update

Our Influence Ranking Engine™ leverages machine learning to track the real-world influence of colleges and universities over time. Below you’ll see which schools gained or lost ground for the 2025 school year.

In 2025, the top ten schools in our ranking of the best research universities for nursing degrees saw a large amount of shift. The University of Wisconsin–Madison gained the most ranking positions as a result of the university expanded its nursing simulation labs, providing state-of-the-art facilities for hands-on clinical training in areas such as patient care, emergency response, and telehealth. New interdisciplinary courses have been added, integrating nursing with technology and public health, allowing students to explore cutting-edge topics like healthcare informatics and community health initiatives. Additionally, UW–Madison has strengthened its clinical partnerships with local hospitals and healthcare organizations, offering nursing students more internship and practical experience opportunities. These updates ensure nursing students have access to the latest tools and resources for their professional development.

Featured Programs

Best Research Universities for Nursing Degrees

Career Outlook for Students with Nursing Degree

Go to Degree Finder tool

Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse

Degree Level: Bachelor's

Location: The U.S. (Private Schools)
Avg. Cost of Degree*: $10,226
Avg. Expenses*: $17,185
Avg. Starting Salary*: $76,808
Avg. Cost Recoup Time**: 8 years
Job Growth: 6.29%
Number of Jobs: 3,390,000
* denotes ‘annually’
** denotes ‘at 15% of annual salary’

Career Salaries

Career	Job Growth	Avg. Salary
Nurse Anesthetists	10.42%	$212,650
Nurse Midwives	6.94%	$129,650
Nurse Practitioners	46.29%	$126,260
Medical and Health Services Managers	28.54%	$110,680
Registered Nurses	5.98%	$86,070
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary	17.80%	$80,780

Top Industries

Industry	Avg. Salary
Nurse Anesthetists	$212,650
Nurse Midwives	$129,650
Nurse Practitioners	$126,260
Medical and Health Services Managers	$110,680
Registered Nurses	$86,070
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary	$80,780

Data from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Department of Education College Scorecard, The Department of Education NCES, and The Council for Community and Economic Research.

Nursing is typically thought of as a profession that directly cares for patients, but as medicine, nursing and health studies have advanced, the discipline has expanded in many directions.

As the aging population in the United States continues to grow and global health becoming more of a priority, the healthcare industry is in desperate need of more nurses. In fact, the country is expected to require an additional 195,400 registered nurses (RNs) by 2031!

Whether you’re just starting path towards a nursing career or planning to advance your credentials, choosing and enrolling in the best research nursing schools is important. A nursing education degree can help you qualify for jobs as nursing professionals, research scientists, nurse anesthetists, nurse specialists, or nurse midwives.

Depending on your career goals, it’s important to be able to select the right program and university to enroll in. Studying in the best nursing schools is a great way to combine your passion for helping others with your desire for an evolving career. You can choose the type of patients you want to care for, your work environment, and how far you want to advance in the profession.

A bachelor’s degree in nursing is an excellent starting point for a career providing care in an emergency room, mental health facility, or home healthcare setting. In fact, an undergraduate degree in nursing could qualify you to work in an extremely wide range of healthcare contexts.

As a nursing major, you’ll study the basic principles of care as well as medical ethics, anatomy, pathology, and more. You can also choose from a wide range of specializations in areas like rehabilitation, radiology, and anesthetics.

The best schools for nursing are those which are regionally accredited, which offer a full array of nursing concentrations, and which give you the chance to work with the best and most influential professors and classmates.

Degree popularity: Nursing bachelor’s degrees are the 3rd most popular undergraduate degrees across all student demographics, ranking slightly higher for women at 2nd compared to 9th for men. Nursing is one of the few degrees that ranks among the top 10 most desired degrees for all demographics, and consistently in the top 3 for women, according to the number of degree earners reported by the National Center for Educational Statistics

Frequently Asked Questions About Nursing Bachelor’s Degrees

This four-year degree will qualify you to work as a Registered Nurse, once you’ve successfully completed your National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), as well as any state-specific requirements. Though you can become an RN with an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree can elevate your candidacy for nursing leadership roles. Some healthcare settings may also offer support to nurses with associate’s degrees to enroll into RN-to-BSN degree programs.

As a registered nurse, you’ll get the chance to play a critical role in shaping and improving the treatment strategies and philosophies of care in use today. This means that leaders, researchers, and innovators in the field have a direct impact on our everyday experiences in the healthcare system. Today, top influencers in nursing are breaking new ground in Nurse Practitioner Programs, Primary Nursing, Oncology Nursing, and more.

Nursing is a popular major because there is an extremely high demand for qualified and capable registered nurses. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of new positions in the nursing field is expected to grow at a rate of 7% by 2029, which is significantly faster than the average rate of growth for jobs across all fields. In addition to likely adding more than 220,000 jobs during that time, the nursing sector offers higher than average pay as well. The BLS reports that nurses earned a median salary of $73,300 in 2019.

Once you’ve declared your major in nursing, you will likely be required to complete a set of core courses in a number of healthcare-related subject areas. While your concentration will give you a chance to choose from a wide range of highly-specialized nursing electives, there are several common courses that most nursing majors will be required to take, including:

Physiology
Nursing Fundamentals
Mental Health Counseling
Pharmacology
Community and Environmental Health
Clinical Nursing
Nursing Leadership
Gerontology
Women’s Health Issues

Majoring in nursing can lead you into a wide variety of healthcare settings, and into any number of areas in clinical treatment, healthcare administration, or research. You have numerous options, and your degree program can help you hone in on the path that feels most suited to your skills and interests. As you consider career prospects, be sure that you know the degree requirements specific to your desired role. With the proper education and credentials, your nursing major can lead to a wide range of career opportunities, including these top jobs:

Frequently Asked Questions About Research Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Online Colleges

In pursuing a bachelor’s degree, you will need to choose between three kinds of schools: research universities, liberal arts colleges, and online colleges.

Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. Research universities offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students.

Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines.

Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you? If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel.

Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well.
Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Learn more about research universities by reading about the best research universities in the US.

Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree.

Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students.

Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom).

Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers.

Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Learn more about liberal arts colleges by reading about the best liberal arts colleges in the US.

Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available.

Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online.

Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whether you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college.

Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands.

Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain.

Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving.

If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc.

The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors.

Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions.

If you’re interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.

If you think a liberal arts college may be a better fit for you, see our ranking of the best liberal arts colleges for a bachelor’s in nursing.

Go to all Research Universities for Nursing programs

The Best Nursing Schools in Your State

Learn More About Nursing

If you want to know more about nursing, then check out our related content:

Learn how to major in nursing
Think about your next step and what you can do with a master’s degree in nursing

Do you have a question about this topic? Ask it here

Best Research Universities for Nursing Degrees

Key Takeaways

Top 10 Research Universities Nursing Programs in 2025

2025 Ranking Update

Featured Programs

Best Research Universities for Nursing Degrees

Last Year’s Ranking:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at Columbia University

Most Influential Alumni

Columbia University Nursing Major Concentrations:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of Michigan

Most Influential Alumni

University of Michigan Nursing Major:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at New York University

Most Influential Alumni

NYU Nursing Majors:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of Pennsylvania

Most Influential Alumni

University of Pennsylvania Nursing Major:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of California, Los Angeles

Most Influential Alumni

UCLA Nursing Major:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at Johns Hopkins University

Most Influential Alumni

JHU Nursing Major:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at Duke University

Most Influential Alumni

Duke University Nursing Major:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of Texas at Austin

Most Influential Alumni

UT Austin Nursing Major:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of Washington

Most Influential Alumni

University of Washington Nursing Major:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of Wisconsin–Madison

Most Influential Alumni

UW–Madison Nursing Majors:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at Georgetown University

Most Influential Alumni

Georgetown University Nursing Major:

Related:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of Virginia

Most Influential Alumni

University of Virginia Nursing Majors:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Most Influential Alumni

UNC Nursing Majors:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at Ohio State University

Most Influential Alumni

OSU Nursing Majors:

Related:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at George Washington University

Most Influential Alumni

GWU Nursing Majors:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of Rochester

Most Influential Alumni

University of Rochester Nursing Majors:

Related:

University of Rochester’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of Florida

Most Influential Alumni

UF Nursing Majors:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at Emory University

Most Influential Alumni

Emory University Nursing Majors:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at Case Western Reserve University

Most Influential Alumni

CWRU Nursing Major:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of Miami

Most Influential Alumni

University of Miami Nursing Majors:

Related:

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at Texas A&M University

Most Influential Alumni

TAMU Nursing Majors:

Texas A&M University’s Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Nursing degree at University of Alabama

Most Influential Alumni

UA Nursing Major:

University of Alabama’s Online Degrees