Best Registered Nurse colleges in the U.S. 2026

Registered nurses work directly with sick, disabled, and injured patients to assess, plan, and implement patient care. They also educate patients and the public about various health conditions, techniques, and procedures to promote health, and they provide advice and emotional support to patients and their family members. RNs have a lot of responsibility. Some of their duties include developing patient care plans and assessments and determining patients' needs, administering injections and medications, assisting physicians during treatments, supervising nurses' aides, and delegating tasks. Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow 26 percent from 2010 to 2020. Registered nurses work in hospitals, schools, summer camps, physicians' offices, home health care services, and nursing care facilities. They also work in correctional facilities, specialty doctors' offices, private care agencies, and in the military.Every program for nursing education includes clinical work in conjunction with classroom studies. Students who want to become registered nurses should be prepared to complete course work in nursing and a number of sciences: anatomy, physiology, microbiology, chemistry, nutrition, and psychology. Whether students earn an associate degree, bachelor's degree, or diploma in nursing, the RN designation isn?t available until the NCLEX-RN national licensing exam is taken and passed.

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Best Registered Nurse colleges in the U.S. for 2026

New York University
New York, NY

New York University offers 4 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse degree programs. It's a very large, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large city. In 2024, 460 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse students graduated with students earning 426 Bachelor's degrees, 27 Master's degrees, 5 Doctoral degrees, and 2 Certificates.

Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA

Boston College offers 2 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse degree programs. It's a large, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a small city. In 2024, 151 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse students graduated with students earning 95 Bachelor's degrees, and 56 Master's degrees.

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Emory University
Atlanta, GA

Emory University offers 3 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse degree programs. It's a large, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large city. In 2024, 537 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse students graduated with students earning 350 Master's degrees, 152 Bachelor's degrees, and 35 Certificates.

University of Rochester
Rochester, NY

University of Rochester offers 1 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse degree programs. It's a large, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a midsize city. In 2024, 152 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse students graduated with students earning 152 Bachelor's degrees.

University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL
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University of Miami offers 1 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse degree programs. It's a large, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large suburb. In 2024, 233 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse students graduated with students earning 233 Bachelor's degrees.

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
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University of Pennsylvania offers 4 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse degree programs. It's a very large, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large city. In 2024, 243 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse students graduated with students earning 194 Bachelor's degrees, and 49 Doctoral degrees.

Binghamton University offers 4 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse degree programs. It's a large, public, four-year university in a midsize suburb. In 2024, 190 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse students graduated with students earning 169 Bachelor's degrees, 11 Master's degrees, and 10 Certificates.

CUNY Hunter College
New York, NY

CUNY Hunter College offers 2 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse degree programs. It's a very large, public, four-year university in a large city. In 2024, 157 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse students graduated with students earning 157 Bachelor's degrees.

Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA

Drexel University offers 9 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse degree programs. It's a very large, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large city. In 2024, 696 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse students graduated with students earning 381 Bachelor's degrees, 285 Master's degrees, and 30 Certificates.

University of Virginia-Main Campus offers 2 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse degree programs. It's a very large, public, four-year university in a midsize suburb. In 2024, 251 Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse students graduated with students earning 153 Bachelor's degrees, and 98 Master's degrees.

List of all Registered Nurse colleges in the U.S.

School Average Tuition Student Teacher Ratio Enrolled Students
New York University Logo New York University New York, NY
5/5
18 : 1 56,832
Boston College Logo Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA
5/5
17 : 1 15,432
Emory University Logo Emory University Atlanta, GA
5/5
14 : 1 15,175
University of Rochester Logo University of Rochester Rochester, NY
5/5
14 : 1 11,946
University of Miami Logo University of Miami Coral Gables, FL
5/5
17 : 1 19,852