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2024 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Kentucky

8 Colleges in Kentucky
404 Doctor's Degrees
$112,945 Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a doctor's degree in nursing, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #5 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 8 schools in Kentucky to determine which ones were the best for nursing students pursuing a doctor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 404 doctor's degrees in nursing during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Doctor's Degree

Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Kentucky Your choice of nursing for getting your doctor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality nursing 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

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

Our complete 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.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Nursing Rankings Other Ranking Categories

The nursing school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Kentucky.


 

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Nursing in Kentucky

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in nursing.

Top Kentucky Schools for a Doctorate in Nursing

1

It's hard to beat Frontier Nursing University if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in nursing. Located in the rural area of Versailles, Frontier Nursing University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Doctorate graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program make around $108,067 in their early career salary.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Frontier Nursing University

2
33 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in nursing has to take a look at University of Kentucky. UK is a very large public university located in the large city of Lexington.More information about a doctorate in nursing from University of Kentucky

3
41 Annual Graduates

University of Louisville is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in nursing. Located in the city of Louisville, UofL is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in nursing from University of Louisville

4
NKU crest
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights, KY
82 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat Northern Kentucky University if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in nursing. NKU is a large public university located in the large suburb of Highland Heights.More information about a doctorate in nursing from Northern Kentucky University

5
Bellarmine U crest
Bellarmine University
Louisville, KY
2 Annual Graduates

Bellarmine U is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Louisville.More information about a doctorate in nursing from Bellarmine University

6
WKU crest
Western Kentucky University
Bowling Green, KY

Located in the small city of Bowling Green, WKU is a public university with a large student population.

Doctorate graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program earn around $89,539 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Western Kentucky University

7
11 Annual Graduates

Eastern is a large public university located in the town of Richmond.More information about a doctorate in nursing from Eastern Kentucky University

8

Located in the remote town of Murray, Murray State is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.

Those nursing students who get their doctor's degree from Murray State University receive $41,898 more than the typical nursing student.

More information about a doctorate in nursing from Murray State University


 

Best Nursing Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Nursing Colleges 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
Louisiana 103 147
Tennessee 102 344
Alabama 98 490
South Carolina 91 79
Arkansas 58 66
West Virginia 49 36

View All Rankings >

Nursing is one of 34 different types of Health Professions programs to choose from.

Nursing Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Nursing Practice 214
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 181
Nursing Science 8
Nursing Administration 1

Related Major Annual Graduates
Medicine 430
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences 212
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions 201
Dentistry 186
Optometry 55
Communication Sciences 7
Public Health 7
Medical Science 3

Notes and References

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