Where did your son decide to go? We still have not heard back re merit…I look everyday, it’s annoying lol
It came down to LSU, SMU and Tennessee. He was waitlisted at Tennessee but committed the guaranteed Spring 2025 pathway where he will spend the Fall semester abroad 
and start at Tennessee in January.
Frankly, LSU had everything Tennessee did (plus LSU offered merit). We were prepared to pay for SMU, which was way more $$$, but thankfully everyone saw it wasn’t worth so much more investment for what he wanted.
I hope you hear about your merit offer soon. FWIW, We heard about merit Approximately 3 weeks after his acceptance.
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RitaRivas - our kids seem to be in sync with their applications and admissions. We just visited Tennessee and Alabama over the past few days. He is waitlisted at Tennessee too. After the visits I still think LSU is his top choice but he still needs to finalize that. LSU and Alabama gave him about the same merit $ but LSU will still cost slightly less than Alabama. Tennessee would be the most expensive for us by far. They are all nice schools so any will be a good choice I think. It’s what they do when they are there (I hope my son takes that to heart 
). Of course LSU is the furthest away from us in distance 
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Did your son call or email admissions office before getting his acceptance?
Congrats! My dtr would love a first semester abroad! I hope he loves Tennessee. Best of luck!
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I agree they are all good choices for our boys. Hopefully (for your sake), he finalizes his decision. I invested so much time learning the idiosyncrasies of the curriculums, housing, surrounding areas, etc. for his top choices that I was approaching burnout!
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4 months and 10 days without a decision. Im wondering if anyone had any luck with admissions counselors truly helping, mine gives very generic responses that seem automated. If anyone has a responsive counselor please connect me!
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They’re all giving the generic response. My son’s school counselor even reached out “counselor to counselor” to check in and she got the same answer. Pretty frustrating when deferral decisions are coming out before “rolling admissions” decisions.
Ours did too, it is really getting to my daughter. I have called once a week. One told me we would know by the beginning of April so hopefully we will hear soon. My daughter emailed and they gave a very generic response. I’m sorry you are going through this, I know it’s been tough on my daughter.
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My daughter has committed to LSU. She received generous merit and was invited into the Honors College which sealed it. It was between SMU, TCU, and IU. I’m personally a little worried about LSU being lower ranked academically per US News, but also know that most of these SEC schools are largely about the same, with the exception of Vandy, UF, and UGA. Would love to hear perspective on LSU’s academic reputation.
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Congratulations! Do you mind sharing your daughter’s merit offer?
Please keep me updated if she gets her decision! This has also been very hard on me so let her know she is not thinly one!
And now my daughter had a mini meltdown worrying about safety on campus. I can’t keep up with this kid. Can anyone comment on:
- Safety at LSU
- Academic reputation at LSU. Is it under ranked?
Thanks
I am local to LSU and would have no hesitation sending my kids there from a safety standpoint. I don’t have a kid there but know many current students and have not heard anything about them not feeling safe. There are some campus adjacent areas that are not great but most students wouldn’t need to go there. Baton Rouge is definitely a high crime city but most of that crime is in areas not close to campus.
There have been two recent much publicized deaths in Tigerland, an area close to campus with bars that students frequent. Both were very unfortunate events that could have happened anywhere though.
As for academic reputation, that might depend on where you are located. You will find many alumni with good jobs in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta. The further away you go geographically the less well known LSU might be.
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I did some research into LSU’s ranking and the methodology used in determining ranking. The current ranking is artificially low IMO. The Louisiana budget cuts over the last few budget cycle - particularly as it relates to infrastructure projects - have had the effect of decreasing LSU’s score on the capital investment part of the rankings.
Secondly, the budget issues that resulted in the loss of some of the faculty reputable in the research world contributed to the current ranking. I think these are not the type of factors that directly affect our kids’ experience at a school so I was very comfortable with LSU’s reputation. In fact, I told my son that I thought the LSU name may help him more with what he wanted to do versus a higher rank school that did not have the same name recognition.
He sent an email around Valentine’s day and admissions replied within an hour saying it would be a week or so…
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My son got accepted today, he submitted September 28th. Took 6 months to the day.
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Same here, son applied in September and he just received his today. Took 6 months.
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Thanks, very helpful both trops and RitaRivas
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Congrats! I know this has been a long process for you guys!!
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