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Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California

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2023 Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California

24 Colleges
$99,011 Avg Salary
$21,624 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Nursing Graduate Certificate School for You

Out of the majors we analyze each year, nursing was ranked 5th in California. In fact, 3,819 were awarded in the state in 2020-2021.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Grad Degree Search has created the Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 24 schools in California to see which graduate certificate programs were the most popular for students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Nursing program at each school on the list.

The following schools top our list of the Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Colleges.

Our 2023 rankings named California State University - Long Beach the most popular school in California for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. CSULB is a fairly large public school located in the city of Long Beach.

Women make up 83% of the nursing majors at the school.

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#2

National University

La Jolla, CA

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means National University is a great place for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of La Jolla, National University is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Of the 39 students majoring in nursing at National University, 15% are male and 85% are female.

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Out of the 24 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the suburb of Los Angeles, CDU is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Women make up 71% of the nursing majors at the school.

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The in-demand graduate certificate programs at Western University of Health Sciences helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in California. Located in the suburb of Pomona, Western University of Health Sciences is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Of the 28 students majoring in nursing at Western University of Health Sciences, 21% are male and 79% are female.

Full Nursing at Western University of Health Sciences Report

#5

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Brandman University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Brandman is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Irvine.

About 96% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 4% are male.

Full Nursing at Brandman University Report

University of California - San Francisco ranked #6 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Located in the large city of San Francisco, UCSF is a public school with a small student population.

Of the 22 students majoring in nursing at UCSF, 27% are male and 73% are female.

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West Coast University - Orange County ranked #7 on this year’s Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. West Coast University - Orange County is a small private for-profit school located in the large city of Anaheim.

Of the 19 students majoring in nursing at West Coast University - Orange County, 21% are male and 79% are female.

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California State University - Los Angeles came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Located in the city of Los Angeles, Cal State LA is a public school with a very large student population.

Women make up 86% of the nursing majors at the school.

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Samuel Merritt University landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular graduate certificate nursing programs. Located in the large city of Oakland, Samuel Merritt University is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

About 88% of the students majoring in nursing at the school are women while 13% are male.

Full Nursing at Samuel Merritt University Report

#10

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

With a ranking of #10, San Francisco State University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Nursing at San Francisco State University

Best Nursing Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Most Popular Nursing Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 561
Oregon 69
Nevada 211
Hawaii 46
Alaska 17

One of 29 majors within the area of study, nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Medicine 28,629
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions 24,774
Public Health 19,473
Health & Medical Administrative Services 17,335
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences 16,952

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 24 schools only.

  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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