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The 17 best US colleges and universities for students who want to become nurses

Madison Hoff   

The 17 best US colleges and universities for students who want to become nurses
f11photo/Getty Images
  • QS Quacquarelli Symonds released its annual global ranking by academic subject.
  • The University of Pennsylvania ranked at the top of the ranking for nursing programs.
  • The following are the top 17 US schools for nursing and where they placed on the overall list.

The University of Pennsylvania placed at the top of global higher education research company QS Quacquarelli Symonds' new list of the best universities for students who want to become nurses.

This is the 11th set of QS World University Rankings by Subject, which looks at universities across the world to compile a list of the best schools for various subjects, including law and medicine.

This year's rankings cover 51 academic subjects that fall into five categories: arts and humanities; engineering and technology; life sciences and medicine; natural sciences; and social sciences and management.

US schools were No. 1 in 30 of the 2021 global rankings, including for nursing. To create these rankings, QS looked at academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper, and h-index. QS describes the h-index as an index that is "based on the set of the academic's most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other publications."

QS used these metrics to calculate an overall score for a school in each of the subject rankings, but weights for the four metrics varied by subject. The full methodology can be found on QS' website.

The following are the top 17 US schools from the nursing program ranking, including where they placed on the overall list. All the various subject rankings and the full nursing table can be found on QS' website.

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University
Harrison McClary/Reuters

2021 ranking: 47 (tie)

Overall score: 81.7

Location: Nashville, Tennessee

Read more about Vanderbilt University on QS Top Universities.

University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC)

University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC)
stevegeer/Getty Images

2021 ranking: 43 (tie)

Overall score: 82.1

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Read more about UIC on QS Top Universities.

Pennsylvania State University

Pennsylvania State University
aimintang/Getty Images

2021 ranking: 43 (tie)

Overall score: 82.1

Location: Centre County, Pennsylvania

Read more about Pennsylvania State University on QS Top Universities.

Ohio State University

Ohio State University
abalcazar/Getty Images

2021 ranking: 34

Overall score: 83.7

Location: Columbus, Ohio

Read more about Ohio State University on QS Top Universities.

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
dszc/Getty Images

2021 ranking: 27 (tie)

Overall score: 85.8

Location: Los Angeles, California

Read more about UCLA on QS Top Universities.

New York University (NYU)

New York University (NYU)
CribbVisuals/Getty Images

2021 ranking: 24

Overall score: 86.2

Location: New York City, New York

Read more about NYU on QS Top Universities.

University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh
tupungato/Getty Images

2021 ranking: 21

Overall score: 87.3

Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Read more about University of Pittsburgh on QS Top Universities.

Emory University

Emory University
Just Amber/Getty Images

2021 ranking: 18 (tie)

Overall score: 87.9

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Read more about Emory University on QS Top Universities.

Columbia University

Columbia University
Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

2021 ranking: 18 (tie)

Overall score: 87.9

Location: New York City, New York

Read more about Columbia University on QS Top Universities.

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Michigan.      Dieon Roger/Shutterstock

2021 ranking: 17

Overall score: 88.3

Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

Read more about the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor on QS Top Universities.

Duke University

Duke University
Gerry Broome/AP

2021 ranking: 10

Overall score: 90.7

Location: Durham, North Carolina

Read more about Duke University on QS Top Universities.

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Jonathan Drake/Reuters

2021 ranking: 8

Overall score: 91.1

Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Read more about the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on QS Top Universities.

Yale University

Yale University
Michelle McLoughlin/Reuters

2021 ranking: 7

Overall score: 91.2

Location: New Haven, Connecticut

Read more about Yale University on QS Top Universities.

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)

University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay, California.      hapabapa/Getty Images

2021 ranking: 6

Overall score: 91.4

Location: San Francisco, California

Read more about UCSF on QS Top Universities.

University of Washington

University of Washington
University of Washington.      f11photo/Shutterstock

2021 ranking: 4

Overall score: 93.2

Location: Seattle, Washington

Read more about University of Washington on QS Top Universities.

Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.      Richard Thornton/Shutterstock

2021 ranking: 3

Overall score: 93.5

Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Read more about Johns Hopkins University on QS Top Universities.

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania
f11photo/Getty Images

2021 ranking: 1

Overall score: 95.5

Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Read more about the University of Pennsylvania on QS Top Universities.

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