BATON ROUGE – In U.S. News & World Report’s 2018 edition of Best Colleges, LSU is ranked in the top tier for “Best National Universities” for the 10th-straight year and has moved up to 63nd among public universities. LSU remains the highest ranked public university in Louisiana.
U.S. News & World Report has been releasing its college rankings since 1983, but in recent years, more outcomes-based rankings have been made available for students and parents. The goal is for students and their parents to have as much information as possible when making their selection on where to further their educations.
One recent outcomes-based ranking where LSU was recognized for performance is the PayScale’s 2017-18 College Salary Report. LSU graduates have early career earnings of $52,700 and mid-career earnings of $100,400. LSU ranks highest in Louisiana among public universities for both early career and mid-career earnings.
When looking at public SEC peers, LSU ranks third for early career earnings behind only Texas A&M University and University of Florida, and fourth in mid-career earnings behind only Texas A&M University, Auburn University and University of Florida. Among the 50 public flagship universities in the nation, LSU ranks in the top half in both early career and mid-career earnings – 21st in early career earnings and 18th in mid-career earnings.
Washington Monthly’s recently released 2017 College Guide and Rankings place as the highest ranked university in Louisiana. Among public SEC peers, LSU is ranked fifth, ahead of the University of Alabama, Auburn University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, among others.
In the 2018 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges, LSU’s ranking in the “Best National Universities” category moved up to 133 overall and is tied with six other schools: Mercer University, New School, Rutgers University – Newark, University of Arkansas, University of Cincinnati and University of Kentucky.
LSU’s high school counselor ranking saw a jump from 140 last year to 106 in the 2018 rankings overall.
Among public universities, LSU is ranked 48 among high school counselors out of 162 public universities listed. The university also appeared on U.S. News & World Report’s list of “A-Plus Schools for B Students.”
LSU’s value isn’t limited to the flagship campus. In “Payback Picture” rankings for National Liberal Arts Colleges, U.S. News & World Report lists LSU of Alexandria among the schools whose students finish college with the least amount of debt.
In the U.S. News & World Report rankings, the indicators used to capture academic quality of universities are assessment of excellence; graduation and retention rates; faculty resources; student selectivity; financial resources; graduation rate performance, which is the difference between actual and predicted graduation rates; and alumni giving.
The National Universities category consists of the 311 institutions – 190 public, 114 private and seven for-profit – that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, as well as master’s and Ph.D. programs, and some emphasize research. In this year’s rankings, there are 230 schools listed in the top tier.
The 2018 edition of the Best Colleges book is available online at usnews.com/best-colleges.