<p>I am a rising senior at Wake Forest University and am considering applying to LSU's graduate school for History--the department is very strong in my interests (early American/Southern History). What is the city of Baton Rouge like? I doubt I will get a chance to visit unless it is one of my top choices I am admitted to. I am a liberal leaning, white kid from New Jersey. I am aware that the undergraduate experience will be different than the graduate experience. I am coming from a small town in NJ and a small undergraduate school. If anyone who goes there could give me a rundown on the pros and cons of the culture/atmosphere of LSU/Baton Rouge, it would be much appreciated.
Thank you.</p>
<p>anyone? thank you.</p>
<p>Pros:
*The food is great.
*LSU is a beautiful campus with lots of Live Oak Trees and flowers.
*Baton Rouge is an hour a way of N.O.
*The climate is relatively hot. You have a mild winter.</p>
<p>Cons:
*Traffic is horrible on weekdays.
*The heat is horrible in the summer.
*Baton Rouge has been claimed as one of the unhealthiest cities in the U.S.</p>
<p>Direct correlation between “<em>The food is great.” and "</em>Baton Rouge has been claimed as one of the unhealthiest cities in the U.S. " :-).</p>
<p>I grew up in Baton Rouge and have a degree from LSU. I would say if you go in and are friendly and open you will be fine. If you go in with a superior attitude (as some Northerners tend to do) you won’t be very “welcomed”. Baton Rouge is very conservative (predominently Catholic), but the people are friendly and the Southern hospitality is abundant!</p>
<p>I am not elitist at all. I love North Carolina, but I realize the culture is probably more southern. I am Catholic too 
I have been very impressed with the faculty at LSU.</p>
<p>Sounds like you’ll enjoy LSU! A couple of other tips - a car is very helpful, and BR has some high-crime areas near campus.</p>
<p>baton rouge, strangely enough, is probably about as southern as north carolina, and way less southern than south carolina. it’s because of BR’s french heritage and proximity to the coast, so it tends towards costal rather than southern. it’s also a moderately sized metropolis where southernness doesn’t quite thrive</p>
<p>Honestly, it’s like any other midsize city or smaller state capital. One only has to drive twenty minutes in any direction to reach the true South, though. Nearby Denham Springs, a suburb if you could call it that, is the birthplace of David Duke and a stronghold of the KKK in Louisiana. My family moved from Upstate New York to Louisiana seven years ago and we were told by friends in the area not to move to Denham. </p>
<p>There are quite a few plantations in the area, most notably Myrtle Plantation, one of the most haunted places in the States.</p>
<p>Many visitors wonder about hurricane risk, but Baton Rouge is safe. During Katrina, power was lost for a little while and there was some small-scale damage, but overall the city faired very well. It is far enough inland to be the place where 300,000 people from the rest of the state clamor whenever there’s a big storm, making it crowded several times a year during hurricane season.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, it’s also hot and flat. As others have mentioned, there is pollution. It’s the 10th most polluted city in the country in terms of ozone:
[Top</a> 10 Most Polluted U.S. Cities - weather.com](<a href=“National and Local Weather Radar, Daily Forecast, Hurricane and information from The Weather Channel and weather.com”>National and Local Weather Radar, Daily Forecast, Hurricane and information from The Weather Channel and weather.com)</p>
<p>But my outlook is a tad pessimistic. Overall I’d say Baton Rouge is a nice city. If LSU has a great program for your course of study, by all means come!</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses!
I was also wondering, how do folks from the northeast get to Baton Rouge?</p>
<p>There is an airport in Baton Rouge. If you fly to New Orleans, the airport is in Kenner, which is a more western suburb of New Orleans. You’ll have about an hour and a half drive to Baton Rouge, LSU, at most. BR rush hour traffic is brutal, though. Never been to the BR airport, so can’t comment on it and its proximity to campus. Hopefully someone else will chime in to help you there. BTW, Moisant, New Orleans airport, services many airlines, including Southwest, United, AirTran, Northwest, to name a few.</p>
<p>Baton Rouge airport is about 20-25 minute drive to campus (about 25 bucks with tip by cab). It’s the most convenient airport I’ve ever encountered. Security is a breeze, baggage claim is a short walk, licensed cabs right outside baggage claim and I have never had a bad cab experience. </p>
<p>You’ll most likely have to fly 1 stop. American stops in Dallas airport, where there’s plenty of food and free internet connection spots for your laptop, but usually you have to change terminals and its big. Northwest stops in Memphis, which is a nice little airport with some good food (love Backyard Burgers). Continental stops in Houston, but I haven’t been there.</p>
<p>So in short, flying into BR is very convenient, unless you want to save money and have a car or someone to drive you from New Orleans.</p>
<p>Anymore questions about the airport, feel free to ask. And if you have more specific questions about BR we might be able to help you more. I wouldn’t know where to start in a general overview as an outsider myself.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize how close the airport was, that is really convenient. I need to visit some point before christmas. </p>
<p>As an outsider, how do you view BR/LSU? Because that is what I will be, i’ve just been so impressed with the history department at LSU and it fits what I want to study to a T.
Thanks!</p>
<p>In general, the campus is friendly–random people will smile or say what’s up as you pass them on the sidewalks.
realistically, there’s not much we can tell you (unless you’ve got pretty specific questions) that will really help you. plan a visit and come with questions in mind.</p>
<p>Good food, mild winters, flat terrain. A few swamps around if you’re interested in exploring those. People who grew up here get sick of it and complain, but it’s a nice city. As for it being one of the unhealthiest cities, it’s really easy to stay healthy in Baton Rouge. The lakes bordering LSU’s campus are a really popular place to run, and no one will hold you down and force fried seafood down your throat (there’s a Whole Foods not far from LSU if you’re an organic health nut). It’s true that Baton Rouge is mainly conservative, but because of its unique French/Spanish heritage, it’s mostly Catholic, like some poster whose name I can’t remember already mentioned. Speaking as a nonreligious person, Catholics tend to be way more tolerant than certain Protestant denominations that dominate the surrounding Southern states, so your being a liberal won’t be an issue. Unless you’re a loudspoken extremist, but that would cause problems anywhere (except in Boulder or Berkeley, I guess).</p>
<p>LSU’s campus is beauuutiful. Aside from a few ugly buildings (like Lockett, but I love it for its crazy basement anyway), the campus’ architecture mostly Italian Renaissance, with red Spanish-tiled roofs, lots of arches, and light gold-ish stucco. The landscaping is so revered that the “stately oaks and broad magnolias” made it into the first line of LSU’s alma mater. If you’re interested Southern history, you should check out the cannons in front of the Military Science building. They were used at Fort Sumter and given to LSU by General Sherman.</p>
<p>I’ve found people on campus to be really friendly and, in my case, willing to give directions (even offering when you’re too stubborn to ask and just look lost). </p>
<p>As for the airport, I’ve used it before, but I’m not sure how close it is to LSU. I just googled “Baton Rouge Airport to LSU” and found this: [Baton</a> Rouge Airport to LSU](<a href=“http://macro.lsu.edu/msg/BTRtoLSU.htm]Baton”>Baton Rouge Airport to LSU). Not bad at all. The worst that can happen is you’ll wind up on the west side of the river if you’re in the wrong lane.</p>
<p>I don’t know a thing about the graduate history program, but if it’s what you’re looking for, I think you’d enjoy LSU. Good luck on your hunt!</p>
<p>I pretty much stay just on the campus, so I don’t know BR too much. In all honesty, sometimes it seems a bit backwards. I mean getting a meal at a fast food joint can take 20 minutes when up north it will take about 5. I guess some people will say the people here are just “laid back.” Not in a rush. And no one starts complaining when their food takes forever either…</p>
<p>I’m guessing you’re old enough to go to the casinos which might be attractive if you’re into that sort of thing.</p>
<p>There is a part of the city that is very nice with upscale shops/restaurants. I didn’t go there until a couple months into my first semester and I was very surprised. It reminded me of something I’d see in the upscale Chicago suburbs.</p>
<p>It might actually be a better experience as an outsider as a graduate student because the older students seem more interested in meeting new people, etc. There were definitely a lot of younger ones interested as well, but a lot of the students there seem content with their high school friends or Greek Life.</p>
<p>It’s really just an average town Baton rouge. Nothing flashy. True downtown by the capitol is decrepit and not very appealing. </p>
<p>In conclusion, if LSU’s programs fit you well, nothing about the university or Baton Rouge should be big enough of a turnoff to influence a decision.</p>
<p>Hey, Wilmington Wave. Happy to see a Deac on the LSU forum. I grew up in LA, attended LSU briefly (long before you were born) and have been in Winston-Salem for the past 23 years. Baton Rouge is a very nice town and yes, conservative. But it’s not the same kind of conservative as you will find here in W-S. Politically conservative, yes, but us Louisianians have a much more laid-back attitude about life than here in NC. There is a huge difference between Southern Baptist and Catholic. Not saying one is better than the other, just saying they are different. As I’m sure you realize, school pride is HUGE at LSU, but as a graduate student I’m sure life would be very different…no tailgating and hanging out at the frat houses drinking beer. But speaking of tailgating, the campus is pretty insane on game day. Would take you forever to get off of campus, but I imagine as a grad student you would be living off campus. And, the campus truly is beautiful, particularly in spring when all of the azaleas are blooming. Live oaks everywhere.</p>
<p>As far as the history portion, you will be surrounded by history! New Orleans is about 90 miles east of Baton Rouge. Traffic truly can be brutal during rush hour. Like sombody else mentioned, the NO airport is in Kenner, LA, which is right on the way to Baton Rouge from NO. Never flown in or out of the B.R. airport, but it sounds like it is alot like the Greensboro, NC airport. But, the NO airport is nothing like Charlotte either. It really isn’t too bad.</p>
<p>The best thing would probably be to go down and spend some time on campus. That’s the only way to get a true feel for what it would be like. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>PS How about that WFU-UNC game the other night? Pretty sweet :)</p>
<p>Hey, guys, just popping over here to see if there’s any Saints talk.</p>
<p>But can I recommend to the OP and others who are at LSU, whether local or not, to go to a place called New Roads, where there is something called the False River. It is one of my favorite places in Louisiana. I don’t think it’s too far from Baton Rouge. There is also a plantation there, called Parlange, that is actually right off the main road, so easy to get to. South Louisiana is a great place to get in a car and explore, something I wish many more locals and tours would do. Although the gambling and the drinking and Mardi Gras, have there appeal, please take the time to see the beauty our state has to offer.</p>
<p>Good luck to all attending next fall!</p>
<p>If you want to talk saints, head over to tigerdroppings.com.</p>
<p>I attend LSU and I’m also from a small New Jersey town. I absolutely love it down here. It’s a lifestyle that the north should embrace. I would strongly recommend coming here. That is, as long as you don’t look like you came from the Jersey Shore. Baton Rouge has become my home away from home, and I don’t feel lost, or feel like “a number” despite there being 30,000+ students.
Geaux Tigers!</p>
<p>Been working in Baton Rouge a lot lately, and I’m amazed at how the city has grown. There’s a very nice area with a new hospital off of Bluebonnet, with an upscale shopping center called Perkins Rowe. There’s also the Mall of Louisiana, though I’ve never been. Lots of new neighborhoods with lakes in the subdivision. Very scenic, lots of ducks. And far enough away from the university that you don’t have to get stuck in gameday traffic.</p>