The UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing placed 17th in the 2016 U.S. News and World Report Best Graduate School Master’s Program rankings, which for the first time are based on statistical data rather than the peer assessment ratings used in the past.
The master’s programs for 246 nursing schools were ranked based on detailed statistical data collected about students, faculty, and research funding. For the peer assessment category, less than half a point separated UNC from the highest scoring school. Carolina’s low student-to-faculty ratio of 4:1 and affordability stand out among other top-20 schools, more than half of which charge more than UNC.
The School of Nursing tied for fifth for the health-care systems administration specialty, which was ranked by peer assessment.
“Our graduate programs are growing tremendously, and we continue to hire faculty and launch new programs to produce highly-educated nurses that can meet the health care needs of North Carolina and the world,” said Donna S. Havens, PhD, RN, FAAN, interim dean of the School of Nursing. “We recently celebrated the graduation of the first class of Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) students, and the third cohort of Hillman Scholars have begun their journey to obtaining both a BSN and PhD in nursing.”
U.S. News and World Report will include the rankings in the Best Graduate Schools 2016 Guidebook and will rank graduate nursing programs using the new statistical approach annually from this point forward. Starting next year, they plan to rank master’s and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs separately.
UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing graduate programs include the Master of Science, DNP, Post-Master’s Certificate, and PhD as well as the Hillman Scholars Program in Nursing Innovation, which concurrently enrolls students in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing and PhD programs. Learn more at nursing.unc.edu/academics/.
More information on the rankings:
Graduate nursing program rankings
UNC School of Nursing profile
Ranking methodology
All UNC Chapel Hill rankings