On the five-point scale, Johns Hopkins University, the historic Baltimore, Maryland research school, scored a 4.6. The school of nursing at the college, which was founded in 1876, specializes in training community and public health clinical nurse specialists, nursing service administrators and nurse practitioners.
The University of Pennsylvania's nursing program in Philadelphia also scored 4.6 on the "U.S. News and World Report" scale. The university, the roots of which can be traced back to founder Ben Franklin and numerous signers of the Declaration of Independence, was home to the nation's first medical school. Today, the nursing school specializes in training nursing service administrators, as well as numerous types of nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists.
In a three-way tie at the top of the "U.S. News and World Report" list, Seattle's University of Washington also scored a 4.6. The nursing school at the university, which was founded in 1861, specializes in training nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists.
The University of California -- San Francisco is a top health school across the board. In addition to the fourth-place ranking in the nursing category, the school ranked fourth in nursing-midwifery, 13th in physical therapy and first in pharmacy. The nursing program, which scored a 4.5 overall, also specializes in training clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners. The UCSF medical school has more than 2,000 staff members and 5,000 employees and ranks in the top 10 of all specialty programs assessed by "U.S. News and World Report."
The School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina (UNC) -- Chapel Hill rounds out the list of the country's top five nursing schools. The UNC campus is prominent in the world of medicine, and the university's School of Public Health ranks 14th on the same list. The School of Public Health scored a 4.2, while the School of Nursing notched a 4.5. Though the school has fewer than 700 students, the rate of passage for the National Council Licensure Examination, administered to prospective nurses around the country, is 98 percent.
The University of Michigan -- Ann Arbor (4.4), Duke University (4.3), the Oregon Health and Science University (4.3), the University of Pittsburgh (4.3) and Yale University (4.3) are also considered top 10 nursing schools.