For the third year in a row, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center’s College of Nursing has the highest-ranked Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program in Tennessee, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s list of undergraduate nursing programs in its Best Colleges list.
Nationally, the college ranked No. 31 out of 656 BSN programs listed by U.S. News & World Report, placing it in the top 5% in the country. The next most highly ranked undergraduate nursing program in Tennessee was the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, which ranked 67. The University of Memphis ranked No. 154 on the list. Other University of Tennessee nursing programs on the list were UT Chattanooga at 154 and UT Martin at 228. This is the third year that the magazine has ranked BSN programs. The UTHSC College of Nursing’s BSN program moved up on the list this from its position at 39 last year.
“I am incredibly proud to see the college’s BSN program continue to move up on this national ranking,” said College of Nursing Dean Wendy Likes, PhD, DNSc, APRN-BC, FAANP. “This demonstrates the dedication of our faculty, staff, and students. I am grateful that our program continues to produce excellent and compassionate nurses to serve our community.”
The college currently has a 12-month, accelerated BSN option for students who have already earned a non-nursing bachelor’s degree as well as a traditional, two-year option for the BSN for students who have completed prerequisites. Applications are being accepted for both BSN options for fall of 2023. More information is available at uthsc.edu/nursing.
For U.S. News & World Report, the Best Colleges rankings were determined by factors including student excellence, financial resources, outcomes such as graduation and retention, faculty resources such as faculty salaries and class size, and ratings by peer institutions. Only academic data from surveys and reliable third-party sources were used to calculate each ranking factor.
The college’s Doctor of Nursing Practice program also received a high ranking earlier this year on the U.S. News & World Report’s list of Best Graduate Schools. The DNP program was ranked 23 among the 158 doctoral nursing programs in the United States on the 2023-2024 edition of the list.