Long Island University

Long Island University has grown increasingly accessible in admissions, even as its standing on national league tables has slipped. In the U.S. News rankings of national universities, the school dropped from 240 in 2020 to 373 in 2026. Securing an offer of admission is broadly attainable for most applicants. In 2025, the university posted an acceptance rate of 86.2%, which was higher than 78% of peer schools among all private comprehensive universities. However, LIU encounters substantial difficulty in drawing those admitted students to campus. Its yield rate stood at just 8% in 2025, a figure higher than only 5% of peer institutions. This exceptionally low yield indicates that an overwhelming majority of admitted students choose other colleges. For prospective applicants, LIU offers an accessible admissions pathway with little competitive barrier to entry, though families should evaluate the university's downward ranking trend alongside their educational alternatives when deciding whether to apply or enroll.

Standardized test scores for Long Island University reflect moderate academic benchmarks that place its incoming classes near the middle of comparable private institutions. In 2025, the university reported a median SAT score of 1220, which is higher than 41% of private comprehensive universities. Among enrolled students submitting results, the middle range of SAT scores spanned from 560 to 670 in reading, and math scores occupied a comparable band. On the ACT, composite scores similarly centered in the low-to-high twenties. Test submission represents a secondary pathway in recent years, with about a quarter of incoming students submitting SAT scores in 2025 and a small single-digit percentage submitting ACT scores. For prospective applicants gauging their chances, presenting academic preparation and test outcomes that match or surpass these mid-range scores establishes a competitive foundation for admission relative to the typical enrolled cohort.

Academic completions at Long Island University concentrate heavily in professional healthcare and service disciplines. At the undergraduate level, degrees are relatively concentrated, with the top three fields producing 41.9% of all bachelor's recipients in 2025. Registered Nursing represents the largest undergraduate program by a wide margin, awarding 352 bachelor's degrees. However, the university's largest programs do not overlap with its highest-ranked graduate departments; its only program ranked among the national top 100 by U.S. News was graduate Library and Information Studies, which achieved a rank of 48 in 2025. In terms of financial returns, health professions demonstrate strong early outcomes. Federal data from 2023 show that registered nursing graduates achieved median earnings of $104,329 one year after graduation, leading all bachelor's fields at the institution. While specialized programs outside healthcare exist across business and the arts, prospective undergraduates will find that LIU's primary volume and strongest post-graduate earnings center on clinical health credentials.

Long Island University maintains a large student body spread across undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. The undergraduate population is primarily domestic and female. Among first-year undergraduates in 2025, Asian students accounted for 150 individuals, making up 10.5% of the entering class, while international freshmen comprised a small single-digit share. The demographic landscape shifts considerably in the graduate school, where international scholars form a substantial community. In 2025, international students numbered 1,022 at the graduate level, representing 22.1% of all graduate enrollments, whereas Asian graduate students made up roughly one in ten advanced learners. Women outnumber men substantially across both undergraduate and graduate divisions. For prospective applicants, LIU offers a campus environment characterized by local regional commuters at the undergraduate level, paired with a distinct international presence within graduate departments.

Long Island University exhibits a distinct age distribution across its undergraduate and graduate populations. In 2025, students under 18 represented the majority of the undergraduate body at 56.6%, while traditional college-age students aged 18 to 19 accounted for 17.9%. Older undergraduate cohorts make up smaller shares of enrollment. At the graduate level, the student body is heavily concentrated among young adults. Students aged 22 to 24 made up the largest graduate segment at 36.6%, followed by those aged 25 to 29 at 29.2%. This structure means undergraduate campus life is dominated by an exceptionally young cohort, whereas graduate programs bring together early-career scholars and working adults in their twenties.

International student enrollment at Long Island University presents sharply contrasting patterns between undergraduate and graduate levels. Among undergraduates, the international presence has steadily contracted over the past decade, leaving international students at just 2.1% of the undergraduate student body in 2025. This share is higher than only 26% of peer institutions among all private comprehensive universities. Conversely, the graduate division has expanded its global recruitment substantially over the same period, with international representation climbing to 22.1% of all graduate students in 2025. Graduation outcomes illustrate this concentration: international students earned only a tiny fraction of bachelor's degrees, but accounted for 27.5% of all master's degrees awarded in 2025. International master's candidates were heavily clustered in specialized health sciences, making up the vast majority of degree recipients in exercise physiology, cosmetic sciences, and biomedical disciplines. For prospective international students, LIU represents an institution with a modest international footprint in undergraduate classrooms, but an established community within specialized master's programs.

Applicants considering Long Island University can compare several other private universities located within close proximity across the New York metropolitan area. Just 7.2 kilometers away, Hofstra University is a comprehensive national university holding a rank of 191 in the 2027 U.S. News rankings. Also situated in nearby Nassau County, Adelphi University is located 7.5 kilometers away and shares the same national university rank of 191. Crossing into Queens, St. John's University-New York is located 12.6 kilometers from campus and holds a national university ranking of 137. Further west in the Bronx, Fordham University sits 15.3 kilometers away and carries a national university rank of 85. These institutions provide close suburban and urban alternatives for students seeking four-year private universities in the region.

Campus safety records at Long Island University show a downward trend in reported incidents over the past decade. The crime rate per 1,000 students dropped from 4.7 in 2016 to 0.7 in 2025, reflecting an overall decrease in logged infractions. Disciplinary violations related to campus conduct codes make up the vast majority of reported issues. Across the three-year period from 2023 to 2025, authorities recorded 61 disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations and 25 referrals for drug violations. Other security events across those same years were relatively rare, consisting of single-digit reports of dating violence, stalking, domestic violence, and residence hall fires. For prospective students and their families, these records indicate a secure campus environment where the overwhelming majority of incidents involve campus disciplinary policy enforcement rather than violent crime.