Nursing is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #2 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 123 schools in the Southeast Region to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of nursing. Combined, these schools handed out 11,674 master's degrees in nursing to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Master's Degree
The nursing master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality nursing program can vary widely even among the top schools. 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 make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on nursing students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of nursing students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for nursing to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
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.
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 Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Nursing in the Southeast Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in nursing. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
24 Top Southeast Region Schools for a Master's in Nursing
It is difficult to beat Duke University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in nursing. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Nursing master's degree recipients from Duke University earn a boost of approximately $3,719 above the average earnings of nursing graduates.
Emory University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in nursing. Located in the city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
After graduation, nursing master's recipients generally earn around $107,880 in the first five years of their career.
University of South Carolina - Columbia is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in nursing. UofSC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Columbia.
Master's students who receive their degree from the nursing program earn around $105,149 for their early career.
It is hard to beat Medical University of South Carolina if you want to pursue a master's degree in nursing. Located in the city of Charleston, MUSC is a public university with a small student population.
Master's recipients from the nursing major at Medical University of South Carolina earn $7,303 above the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the large suburb of Birmingham, Samford is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Nursing master's degree recipients from Samford University get an earnings boost of approximately $50,789 above the average income of nursing graduates.
FIU is a very large public university located in the large suburb of Miami.
Nursing master's degree recipients from Florida International University earn a boost of approximately $8,396 above the typical earnings of nursing majors.
ECU is a very large public university located in the city of Greenville.
Nursing master's degree recipients from East Carolina University receive an earnings boost of about $6,215 over the typical earnings of nursing majors.
Barry University is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Miami.
Nursing master's degree recipients from Barry University get an earnings boost of approximately $43,767 above the average earnings of nursing graduates.
A-State is a large public university located in the small city of Jonesboro.
Master's recipients from the nursing major at Arkansas State University - Main Campus get $11,946 above the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
AHU is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Orlando.
Master's recipients from the nursing major at AdventHealth University get $106,557 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Rest of the Top Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region
Additional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region award.
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).