By Paige Twenter

On Sept. 24, rankings of the nation's best Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs were released.

In the spring and summer, the organization asked deans and senior faculty at 686 nursing programs to rank the academic quality of peer university programs. The two highest and two lowest scores were removed to compute a trimmed mean.

The 25 leading nursing programs, according to U.S. News & World Report:

1. Emory University (Atlanta)

2 (tie). Duke University (Durham, N.C.)

2 (tie). University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)

4 (tie). The Ohio State University (Columbus)

4 (tie). University of Iowa (Iowa City)

4 (tie). University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

4 (tie). University of Pittsburgh

4 (tie). University of Washington (Seattle)

9 (tie). Boston College (Chestnut Hill, Mass.)

9 (tie). Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland)

9 (tie). University of California-Los Angeles

9 (tie). University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

13 (tie). New York University (New York City)

13 (tie). Oregon Health and Science University (Portland)

13 (tie). University of Alabama at Birmingham

13 (tie). University of Illinois-Chicago

13 (tie). University of Maryland-Baltimore

13 (tie). University of Virginia (Charlottesville)

19 (tie). University of Arizona (Tucson)

19 (tie). University of Colorado Denver

19 (tie). University of Florida (Gainesville)

19 (tie). University of Kentucky (Lexington)

19 (tie). University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (Minneapolis)

19 (tie). University of Nebraska Medical Center (Omaha)

19 (tie). University of San Francisco