LSU remains the top-ranked university in Louisiana but placed No.188 overall in the Wall Street Journal’s latest best colleges rankings.
The Journal released its 2025 edition of the best colleges in the United States, and seven universities in Louisiana made the cut. The newspaper partners with College Pulse and Statista to produce a ranking list of the top 500 universities in the country. To see the entire methodology of the survey click here.
The 2025 list focused on four key factors: student experience, best salaries, social mobility and best value. Best value is a new key factor added to the 2025 list. The 2024 rankings, released in September 2023, were only based on student experience, salary impact and social mobility. LSU has climbed a few places since then.
College Rankings
LSU was placed at No.199 in last year’s list; it moved 11 spots forward in the 2025 ranking. Ranked at No. 188, LSU is the top-ranked university in the state; Loyola University New Orleans is second at No. 371. This wide gap places 183 schools, with better overall scores, between Louisiana’s first and second top-ranked schools.
The Journal gave LSU an overall score of 68.6 out of 100. This overall score is based on three components: student outcome (70%), learning environment (20%) and diversity (10%).
Student outcomes is further broken into the categories of salary impact (33%), years to pay off net price (17%) and graduation rate impact (20%). This year, LSU received a salary impact score of 70 out of 100 and a graduation rate score of 68 out of 100.
The learning environment component of the score is based on learning opportunities, preparation for career, learning facilities, recommendation score and character score, all studied at an equal 4%. Learning opportunities received a 62 and preparation for career received a 65. Learning facilities at LSU received a 67, while the recommendation score received a 70. LSU’s character development received a score of 75.
Princeton University, the highest ranked university on the survey, scored a 73 on career preparedness, an 82 on learning facilities, an 82 on character development and an 86 on the recommendation score.
Diversity is another element that contributes to the overall score. LSU’s diversity was given a score of 60. The diversity components are made up of ethnic diversity, inclusion of students with lower income and inclusion of students with disabilities, all studied at an equal 1.7%.
Lagergren moved to Louisiana from Florida to study landscape architecture at LSU. He believes the overall rating is appropriate for the university.
“It’s accurate,” Lagergren said. “While I was able to get scholarships, it was still difficult, and I know many out-of-state students who were not given the same opportunity.”
Student Experience
The student experience category is defined by the Journal as the colleges students have the best experience at while attending. This section of the rankings is made up of three components: campus facilities (33%), community and social life (33%) and diversity (33%). LSU received a score of 58.2 and is ranked at No. 285 for student experiences.
This year, LSU passed 56 schools in the student experiences category. The increase in score could be from great experiences at smaller, on-campus events to Saturday nights in Tiger Stadium.
LSU’s campus facilities scored a 55 out of 100. The average score is based on food, housing and extracurricular activities on campus, based on the Journal’s student survey.
Community and social life scored a 59 for LSU’s sense of community and diversity scored a 60 for its inclusion of students. Community and social life is based on whether students feel that the university offers a sense of community that also accomodates mental and emotional health.
Best Salaries and Best Value
The 2024 salary ranking category of the Journal’s list, titled “salary impact” has been suspended and replaced with “best salaries.” According to the Journal’s website, the rankings in this category are in order of their impact on graduates’ salaries and how this relates to the cost of attending the college. This way, students are able to look at the estimated graduates’ salaries, while considering the cost of living in the state.
LSU was ranked No. 131 in last year’s salary impact category and is placed No. 183 this year. This is the only category that the university didn’t move up in. Not all students agree with this score.
“Since I received so much financial aid, the seventy to eighty thousand dollars I am expected to make post graduation feels worth it,” Lagergren said.
LSU received a 70 for its best salary score since the average net price of attending is $18, 761, while the value added to a graduate’s salary is $33, 297. The Journal concluded that, on average, it would take around two years and three months to pay off the net price.
The best value ranking is based on how quickly the difference between the university’s graduates’ salaries and those of comparable high school graduates’ pays back the average net price of four years of study, according to The Journal. This is what it calls “years to pay off net price.” LSU received a 72.4 in this category.
Social Mobility
LSU scored a 27.4 for social mobility and ranked at No. 189, which is based on LSU’s ability to enhance its students’ social mobility.
“It rewards universities that take in the highest proportion of students coming from lower-income families, while maintaining high graduation rates and having a positive impact on graduate salaries and minimizing the costs of attending the college,” The Journal said.
The research multiplies the “Years to pay off net price” and the “Salary impact” by a metric that reflects the proportion of students at LSU who receive Pell Grants. Also, “Years to pay off net price” and “Salary impact” are measured at an equal weight within the social mobility salary-impact score.
To calculate the social mobility graduation rate score, The Journal multiplied “Graduation rate impact” by a metric that reflects the students of LSU who receive Pell Grants. LSU received a 27 for graduation rate and a 28 for salary impact.
