Program Matcher
PhD in Nursing
Find Your Nursing PhD Program in About a Minute
Our nursing PhD program finder asks six quick questions about where you're starting, how you'll pay and what you want the doctorate for, then compares 140 programs and shows you the five that fit best.
Takes about two minutes. No sign-up.
Question 1 of 6
Which Nursing Degree Do You Hold Now?
Question 2 of 6
How Do You Want to Study?
Question 3 of 6
Where Do You Live?
So we can find campus programs you could get to.
Question 4 of 6
What Do You Picture Doing After Your PhD?
Pick any that sound like you.
Question 5 of 6
How Will You Pay for Your PhD?
Funded seats are almost all full time. Paying your own way usually means you can keep your job.
Question 6 of 6
What Else Matters to You?
Choose up to three, and add anything we should know.
Please leave out your name and contact details.
Finding Your Matches
- Narrowing 140 programs to your degree and format
- Reading what each program offers
- Ranking your best fits
Your Results
Your Top Nursing PhD Matches
How the Nursing PhD Program Finder Works
You don't need a shortlist yet. Tell the nursing PhD program finder where you're starting and what you want the doctorate for, and it does the first round of comparing for you.
You Answer Six Questions
The degree you hold, online or campus, where you live, the work you picture, how you'll pay and what else matters.
We Read 140 Programs
The program finder keeps the programs that admit you in your format, then reads each one's write-up against your answers.
You Get Five Matches
Each match shows a match percentage, its funding or per-credit rate, and a link to its card in our state rankings.
What Our Nursing PhD Program Finder Looks At
The Degree You Hold
103 programs take BSN nurses straight into the PhD. Nearly all of the 140 take nurses with a master's or a DNP.
Online or On Campus
48 programs run online. The other 92 are on campus, 40 of them hybrid, and the finder keeps those close to home.
How You Plan to Pay
20 programs publish full funding. If you'd rather keep working, part-time study and the per-credit rate count for more.
Your Career Goal
46 programs prepare nursing faculty, 105 train nurse scientists on funded studies, 29 lean toward policy and leadership, and 73 toward population health.
What Else Matters
No GRE (76 programs skip it), part-time study, a faster finish or a research-heavy faculty all change which programs rise to the top.
Funded Campus PhD or Paid Online PhD in Nursing?
This is the decision that moves your matches most. 20 of the 140 programs publish full funding, and 19 of those are campus or hybrid programs. Funding pays your tuition and, at most of them, a stipend. But it's written for full-time students, and you earn it by teaching or working on a faculty grant.
Online programs work the other way round. 37 of the 48 online programs let you study part time, so you can keep your nursing job, and the median published rate is $695 per credit against $866 at unfunded campus programs. Vanderbilt University is the only online program that publishes full funding. Our affordable online nursing PhD rankings sort them by cost.
Neither path is the better one. A funded seat costs you a salary for three to five years. A paid online PhD costs you tuition and your evenings. If you're not sure which you can live with, pick "Not Sure Yet" and the finder shows you both. The guide to paying for a nursing PhD walks through the numbers.
Which Nursing PhD Fits Your Career Goal?
Nursing Professor
Tenure-track nursing faculty jobs at research universities ask for a research doctorate, and the PhD is that degree. 46 programs in our data build in a teaching role or a nursing education focus. Start with our nursing education PhD rankings and the nursing professor career guide.
Nurse Scientist
You learn research by doing it, so the faculty's funded studies matter more than the course list. 105 programs put students on funded research, and the National Institute of Nursing Research is the main federal funder. Read the nurse scientist career guide next.
Health Policy and Leadership
If you see yourself shaping how hospitals or health systems run, look for a policy or leadership focus in the research areas. 29 programs in our data have one. The PhD is the route if you want to study how the system works, not only run it, so name the question that pulls you in the text box.
Clinical, Public and Global Health Research
73 programs in our data focus on health equity, community or global health. For research inside a clinical specialty, pick "Clinical research nurse" and name your specialty in the text box. The clinical research nurse guide covers that path, and our nursing PhD research topics guide shows what students study.
Nursing PhD Program Finder FAQ
How does the nursing PhD program finder work?
How is my match percentage worked out?
Can the program finder show me only fully funded nursing PhD programs?
Can I go straight from a BSN to a PhD in nursing?
Do schools pay to appear in my program finder results?
Do I need an account or to share my contact details?
Prefer to browse? See every on-campus nursing PhD program, ranked, every online nursing PhD program, ranked, or nursing PhD programs by state across all 46 states and territories in our data.