Ranked #2 in popularity, nursing is one of the most sought-after master'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 3 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in South Dakota ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 44 master's degrees in nursing during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of nursing for getting your master's degree school matters. 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
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different 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 master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master'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
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 master'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 master'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 master's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in South Dakota list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Nursing in South Dakota
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for nursing students seeking a a master's degree.
Top South Dakota Schools for a Master's in Nursing
Mount Marty University is a good decision for individuals interested in a master's degree in nursing. Located in the town of Yankton, Mount Marty is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
Master's recipients from the nursing program at Mount Marty University get $47,958 more than the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
South Dakota State University is a good decision for individuals pursuing a master's degree in nursing. Located in the remote town of Brookings, South Dakota State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career earnings of $79,691.
Presentation College is a wonderful option for individuals pursuing a master's degree in nursing. Located in the remote town of Aberdeen, Presentation College is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population.More information about a master’s in nursing from Presentation College
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).