Master of Science in Nursing Clinical Nurse Leader option remains No. 2.
In the newly released 2021 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate Schools,” the University of Maryland School of Nursing (UMSON) remains ranked among the best schools in the nation for its overall Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) programs, out of 603 accredited nursing schools surveyed.
The MSN Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) option, the only such program in Maryland, remains ranked No. 2 in the nation for the second year in a row. The program has been ranked among the top five in the nation for more than five years. Launched in 2005, UMSON’s innovative CNL program has prepared more than 1,000 students with degrees in other fields to enter the nursing workforce.
The school’s Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) DNP specialty rose in the nationwide rankings to No. 4 among all schools of nursing and No. 1 among public schools of nursing. The specialty is offered both in Baltimore and at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Maryland, an effort to expand FNP education to better meet the needs of nurses and to prepare them to practice in underserved areas in the western, more rural portion of the state. The program boasts a 100% pass rate on the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board exam for its 2019 graduates.