Best DNP Programs

Rankings

DNP Program Rankings

11 ranked lists. All but one are built from one dataset of 307 institutions with a CCNE-accredited Doctor of Nursing Practice; the nurse anesthesia list ranks COA's programs on their own published outcomes. They disagree with each other on purpose: each is scored under a different rubric, and the bar on every card below is the rubric that list was ordered by. Start with whichever question you actually have.
By the Best DNP programs editorial team

Reviewed

On this page

Key Takeaways

  1. 1

    11 lists, two sources. All but one are drawn from the same 307 institutions holding CCNE accreditation for the DNP. The nurse anesthesia list is the exception: it ranks COA's programs on the outcomes COA requires them to publish.

  2. 2

    They disagree because the weights differ. Two of these rank the same population and put it in a different order. The bar on each card is the rubric that list was scored under, which is the only thing separating them.

  3. 3

    Narrowing beats reordering. The online and leadership lists filter the population first, to 144 and 16 institutions. If your constraint is real, start with the list that applies it rather than the one that reorders everything.

  4. 4

    48 jurisdictions have a page. In-state tuition is a local question, so every state with an accredited program has its own list scored on local weights. Those are below the rankings.

Every Ranking On This Site

The list above is one of 11 built from this dataset. Two of them rank the same programs and disagree about the order; the rest narrow the population first. The bar on each card is the rubric that list was scored under, which is what separates two lists covering the same schools. How the weights are chosen.

Not every program publishes every figure. Where one is missing, that program is scored on the factors it does publish and the remaining weights are renormalized to fill the gap, rather than a value being assumed or an average dropped in. It is why the SCORED ON bars differ from card to card, and why a program scoring well on two factors is not directly comparable to one scoring well on three. A program publishing too little to compare at all is listed without a score rather than penalized with a low one.

  • Balanced rubric

    Best DNP Programs

    Every accredited program in one order, with conferral volume leading and tuition second. The list to read first if nothing has been narrowed down yet.

    307 Institutions ranked

    Established program 50%/Published in-state graduate tuition 30%/Institution-wide undergraduate completion 20%

    Top of the list

    1. 1 The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
    2. 2 Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
    3. 3 The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

    Data

  • Weighted for an established program

    Online DNP Programs

    The programs the federal survey flags as delivered at a distance. Weighted hardest toward whether a program is a going concern, because a thin distance cohort has no campus to absorb the gaps.

    144 Institutions ranked

    Established program 60%/Published in-state graduate tuition 30%/Institution-wide undergraduate completion 10%

    Top of the list

    1. 1 The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
    2. 2 University of North Carolina at Charlotte
    3. 3 University of North Carolina Wilmington

    Data

  • Weighted for cost

    Most Affordable DNP Programs

    The same population as the national list, re-weighted so published in-state tuition carries most of the score. It reorders that list rather than filtering it.

    307 Institutions ranked

    Published in-state graduate tuition 70%/Established program 20%/Institution-wide undergraduate completion 10%

    Top of the list

    1. 1 The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
    2. 2 Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
    3. 3 University of North Carolina at Charlotte

    Data

  • One track, its own pool

    DNP In Nursing Leadership

    The nursing-administration track, scored against the other programs in that track rather than against the clinical majority. A short list, and the page says so.

    16 Institutions ranked

    Established program 50%/Published in-state graduate tuition 30%/Institution-wide undergraduate completion 20%

    Top of the list

    1. 1 Samford University
    2. 2 Baylor University
    3. 3 Spring Arbor University

    Data

  • Ranked on published outcomes

    Best CRNA Programs

    Nurse anesthesia, DNP and DNAP together, ranked on the three figures every accredited program must publish: first-time pass rate, attrition and employment.

    89 Programs ranked

    First-time NCE pass rate 50%, attrition 35%, employment 15%.

    Top of the list

    1. 1 Northeastern University
    2. 2 Providence Sacred Heart / Gonzaga University
    3. 3 St. Elizabeth Health Center School for Nurse Anesthetists

    Data

  • Weighted for a four-year stay

    BSN To DNP Programs

    Schools that confirm the direct route from a bachelor’s. Tuition carries more of the score here than anywhere except the cost list, because a gap in the published rate compounds across four years.

    125 Institutions ranked

    Published in-state graduate tuition 45%/Established program 35%/Institution-wide undergraduate completion 20%

    Top of the list

    1. 1 University of Nebraska Medical Center
    2. 2 University of California-Irvine
    3. 3 University of Oklahoma-Health Sciences Center

    Data

  • Weighted for an established program

    MSN To DNP Programs

    The short route, for nurses who already hold the master’s. Cost is demoted here on purpose: how much of your master’s a school accepts decides more than tuition does, and no school publishes it.

    77 Institutions ranked

    Established program 55%/Published in-state graduate tuition 25%/Institution-wide undergraduate completion 20%

    Top of the list

    1. 1 University of Nebraska Medical Center
    2. 2 The University of Alabama
    3. 3 University of Utah

    Data

  • The widest of the three routes

    Post-Master’s DNP Programs

    More schools confirm this door than either of the others. It is also where the 1,000-hour rule is most often misread, and the page leads with that rather than with the ranking.

    166 Institutions ranked

    Established program 55%/Published in-state graduate tuition 25%/Institution-wide undergraduate completion 20%

    Top of the list

    1. 1 University of Nebraska Medical Center
    2. 2 University of California-San Francisco
    3. 3 University of California-Irvine

    Data

  • A definition, not a badge

    Military-Friendly DNP Programs

    The 148 institutions answering yes to all five military provisions the federal survey records, from Yellow Ribbon to the Tuition Assistance agreement. The five are the entry test; the rubric is the national one.

    148 Institutions ranked

    Established program 50%/Published in-state graduate tuition 30%/Institution-wide undergraduate completion 20%

    Top of the list

    1. 1 Walden University
    2. 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    3. 3 University of Florida

    Data

  • Scored locally

    DNP Programs By State

    One list per jurisdiction, each scored against its own state rather than the country. In-state tuition leads here, because that is the figure that changes when you stay put.

    52 State and territory lists

    Published in-state graduate tuition 50%/Established program 35%/Institution-wide undergraduate completion 15%

    Most accredited institutions

    1. 1 Pennsylvania, 20 institutions
    2. 2 Texas, 20 institutions
    3. 3 California, 16 institutions

    Data

  • Not a ranking

    Every Accredited Program, A To Z

    The full directory, including the accredited institutions the federal survey publishes no figures for. If a school is missing from a list above, this is where to check whether it is accredited at all.

    390 Institutions listed

    Alphabetical. No rubric and no score, coverage rather than order.

    Data

DNP Programs By State

52 jurisdiction pages, of which 48 have at least one institution with a CCNE-accredited DNP. Counts below are institutions, not federal program records, so they match the programs listed on the page each one links to. The state hub.

Before You Pick A Program

A ranking answers which program, and it is the wrong question to start with if the degree itself is still undecided.

Sources

  1. 1 CCNE accredited program directory The accreditation roster every list on this page is filtered against.
  2. 2 IPEDS Published tuition, conferrals and completion, which are the three factors every rubric here weights.

Every federal figure on this site is read from the administering agency’s own page, never from a secondary aggregator, and the reading date is recorded beside it.

Sponsored

DNP Degree Programs

Schools pay to appear in these listings. They are separate from our rankings, which no school can pay to change.