Loyola University New Orleans

Admission to Loyola University New Orleans is relatively accessible, though the institution faces difficulties in converting admitted applicants into matriculating students. In 2025, the university accepted 93.1% of applicants, an admit rate higher than 88% of peer schools in the all private comprehensive universities category. At the same time, the yield rate was just 12.1%, showing that the university does not strongly draw admitted candidates, with a vast majority choosing other educational paths. In the US News rankings, the university has experienced an overall downward trend since 2020, though it has rebounded somewhat to place at 222nd in 2026. For families and prospective applicants, these patterns indicate that securing an offer of admission is broadly attainable, but the school often contends with competing options when students make their final enrollment decisions.

Loyola University New Orleans maintains an admission test policy where standardized test scores are not considered, meaning the university is test-blind and scores are not used even if submitted. In 2021, 41% of entering students submitted SAT scores and 65% submitted ACT scores. Without standardized testing evaluated in the review process, an applicant's secondary school transcript serves as the primary measure of academic preparation. For the 2021-2022 entering class, 18.0% of enrolled first-year students achieved a perfect 4.0 high school grade point average, while the remainder of the cohort demonstrated steady classroom success across solid B to A grade ranges. For prospective families evaluating admission credentials, this policy means admissions decisions depend heavily on cumulative grades, curriculum rigor, and sustained day-to-day academic engagement throughout high school rather than examination performance.

Academic programs at Loyola University New Orleans are moderately distributed rather than heavily concentrated, with the top three undergraduate majors accounting for 24.2% of all bachelor's degrees awarded in 2025. The most popular bachelor's degree was general psychology, conferring 76 degrees, followed by criminology and registered nursing. Notably, the institution's largest undergraduate fields do not overlap with its highest-ranked academic areas. While health and social sciences produce the largest undergraduate student cohorts, the university's strongest national recognition lies within its business school. In the 2027 U.S. News specialty rankings, undergraduate programs achieved 17th in International Business, 28th in Marketing, and 30th in Business Analytics. At the doctoral level, professional training centers almost entirely on law. Post-graduation compensation reflects practical career pathways; according to 2023 earnings data, bachelor's graduates in multi- or interdisciplinary studies achieved the highest early career median earnings at $53,073, with marketing following closely behind.

The student body at Loyola University New Orleans is predominantly female and primarily domestic, with diverse racial representation. In the 2025 freshman cohort, international students numbered 24, comprising 4.1% of first-year undergraduates. Asian students in the same entering group totaled 17, representing 2.9% of the cohort. Beyond first-year students, continuing undergraduates and graduate cohorts exhibit similar demographic compositions, where White, Hispanic, and Black students represent the largest groups across campus programs. Graduate students also show modest international and Asian representation. For prospective applicants, these figures outline a midsized campus community where domestic regional diversity is prominent, while international and Asian student communities maintain a smaller, close-knit footprint across both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

The student body at Loyola University New Orleans reflects a standard collegiate age distribution among undergraduates alongside a relatively young graduate population. In 2025, undergraduates were heavily concentrated in traditional age brackets, with individuals aged twenty to twenty-one making up the largest share at 40.1%, followed by those aged eighteen to nineteen at 36.7%. Meanwhile, the graduate school primarily draws young adults, led by students aged twenty-two to twenty-four, who account for 37.2% of advanced-degree seekers. For prospective applicants, this structure means campus life revolves around traditional-age peers progressing directly through their degrees or entering postgraduate studies soon after college, with few older adult learners enrolled.

International enrollment at Loyola University New Orleans has trended upward across both academic divisions. At the undergraduate level, the international share rose to 4.8% in 2025. Graduate international enrollment followed a similar rising path, reaching 3.4% in the same year. Among degree earners, international representation is most visible at the master's level, where international students accounted for 7.3% of all conferred master's degrees in 2025, compared to smaller shares among bachelor's and doctoral recipients. By discipline, international scholars are heavily concentrated in business studies. At the graduate level, the general business and commerce master's program showed the highest concentration, with international students comprising 23.9% of that major's graduates. In contrast, large undergraduate programs such as psychology, criminology, and registered nursing had negligible international degree completions, showing that international presence on campus remains specialized within commerce and management.

Applicants considering Loyola University New Orleans have several other regional universities within driving distance. Immediately adjacent to the campus, just 0.3 kilometers away, is Tulane University of Louisiana, a private national university ranked 59th in the 2027 U.S. News rankings. Roughly 71 kilometers away in Baton Rouge sits Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College, the state's flagship public institution ranked 202nd. Across the state line in Tuscaloosa, 272 kilometers away, is The University of Alabama, ranked 156th among national universities. Further west in Texas, approximately 317 kilometers from campus, lies Rice University, a highly selective private research institution ranked 16th nationwide.

Campus safety at Loyola University New Orleans has shown steady improvement over the past decade. The university's crime rate per 1,000 students declined significantly from earlier highs, reaching 2.4 in 2025. Across the three-year period from 2023 to 2025, the vast majority of recorded safety events involved substance-related disciplinary violations rather than violent crime. Specifically, the institution recorded 40 drug disciplinary referrals during those years, representing the single largest category of campus incidents. Serious offenses occurred in far smaller numbers over the same timeframe, including 9 reported cases of rape, alongside single-digit totals for dating violence, burglary, stalking, and drug arrests. These figures indicate that day-to-day security concerns on campus primarily revolve around student conduct enforcement and substance policy violations. For incoming students and their families, the downward trend in the overall crime rate and the low volume of property and violent offenses suggest an environment where routine caution remains appropriate without unusual safety risks.