<p>@ Forever LSU. As someone who moved to Louisiana from one of the best school districts in the Northeast, I can definitely say Louisiana is behind the rest of country in education.</p>
<p>Comparing admitted student stats from neighboring states is not a good way to compare their education systems. Keep in mind that the bar is set higher for out of state admissions and many good OOS students are given generous scholarships. LSU, meanwhile, accepts a number of in-state students ranging from superb to subpar. It has more or less an obligation to take some in-state academically unprepared students. Go to a university in any other state and you will see the same thing. A state’s “mother university” can pick and choose all its wants from someone else’s flock, but also has to take what’s already in its nest.</p>
<p>One way to compare states is to look at standardized test scores. Louisiana’s average ACT is a 20.0. Texas is 20.5. The national average is 20.8. The Lone Star state only ranks 7 places about LA:
[ACT</a> National and State Scores for 2008: Average ACT Scores by State](<a href=“http://www.act.org/news/data/08/states.html]ACT”>http://www.act.org/news/data/08/states.html)</p>
<p>So while Texas schools may be better, they’re not that much better.</p>
<p>Louisiana suffers from severe brain drain. No one who can avoid it wants to stay in-state. To put the issue into perspective, around 40% of students from Louisiana’s flagship public high school- the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts- go out of state for college.</p>
<p>Finally, there are a number of good schools in Louisiana, such as the aforementioned LSMSA, magnet schools, Ben Franklin, Jesuit, and a few other parochial schools. As far as I know, most do offer some sort of AP curriculum and many students also take classes at local colleges.</p>