The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College and The Short List: Grad School to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search.
Going to graduate school for nursing has become an increasingly popular choice.
In 2000, 8.9 percent of nurses had a graduate degree, but that percentage rose to 10.6 percent between 2008 and 2010, according to a 2013 report from several health organizations. A bachelor’s degree, which was once considered an advanced degree in nursing, has now become a standard requirement for many of today’s employers.
Prospective nurses seeking these degrees should know that admission isn’t always easy.. Some graduate nursing programs accept about 30 percent or less of applicants.
[Find out how a graduate degree can improve a nurse’s salary and career options.]
Medical University of South Carolina, for example, accepted 14.4 percent of nursing master’s degree applicants in 2014. It had the lowest acceptance rate among the 234 ranked institutions that submitted data to U.S. News.
As few as 118 prospective students applied to Medical University of South Carolina’s master’s nursing program, but at other institutions the number of applicants is much higher.
Yale University’s nursing school received 527 applicants for its master’s degree program in 2014. Only 147 were accepted, giving the program one of the lowest acceptance rates.
Among the 10 schools where the fewest applicants get in, the average acceptance rate was 24.3 percent.
[Learn about nursing programs with high enrollments.]
On the other end of the spectrum, 17 schools had a 100 percent acceptance rate.
Below is a list of the 10 nursing schools with the lowest acceptance rate for fall 2014. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report.
| School name (state) | Number of applicants | Number of applicants accepted | Acceptance rate | U.S. News rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical University of South Carolina | 118 | 17 | 14.4% | 28 (tie) |
| Oakland University (MI) | 328 | 56 | 17.1% | RNP* |
| SUNY Downstate Medical Center | 341 | 72 | 21.1% | 110 (tie) |
| University of Colorado–Colorado Springs | 145 | 35 | 24.1% | 75 (tie) |
| University of Miami (FL) | 184 | 46 | 25% | 61 (tie) |
| University of San Diego | 378 | 100 | 26.5% | 30 (tie) |
| University of Texas–Tyler | 243 | 65 | 26.7% | 143 (tie) |
| Yale University (CT) | 527 | 147 | 27.9% | 22 (tie) |
| University of Pittsburgh | 243 | 73 | 30% | 5 |
| College of St. Scholastica (MN) | 76 | 23 | 30.3% | 143 (tie) |
* RNP schools fall in the bottom one-fourth of their ranking category. U.S. News calculates numerical ranks for these schools, but does not publish them.
Don’t see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Nursing School Compass to find acceptance rate data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed 503 nursing schools for our 2014 survey of nursing programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Nursing Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The acceptance rate data above are correct as of Oct. 27, 2015.
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10 Graduate Nursing Programs With the Lowest Acceptance Rates originally appeared on usnews.com
