<p>I will be entering LSU as an out-of-state, non-honors, undeclared Freshman in the Fall 2010 and am trying to fill out my housing application. I am undecided on a major, thus many of the residential colleges are not a good option as they require a definitive major. I have the following questions:</p>
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<li><p>I have heard a few express the opinion that a substandard dorm on the East side of campus is still better than a more luxurious dorm on the West side of campus because of better location and safety? Is this an accurate statement? </p></li>
<li><p>Of the following dorms, what would be the best option:</p></li>
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<p>Acadian
Beauregard
McVoy
Herget</p>
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<li><p>Are there any real advantages to living in Herget in terms of assimilation and meeting people, especially for an out-of-stater that does not know anyone?</p></li>
<li><p>I keep hearing how the Herget dorm rooms are so small. However, when I compare the room dimensions of Herget to Beauregard, McVoy, and Acadian, Herget rooms are actually bigger. Am I missing something? Herget rooms appear even larger than Blake, yet everyone seems to rave about the Blake rooms. Some people rave about Herget, yet others call it Herget Hell. What is the real deal? Did the renovations help? </p></li>
<li><p>Is there a way to get into Blake as a non-Ag major? I hear people say there is a non-Ag side, but that option isn't available on my housing application.</p></li>
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<p>Any assistance and feedback you can provide would be greatly appreciated as I am 1500 miles away and it is not easy to go on the dorm tours.</p>
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<li><p>Not in my opinion. While the West Campus housing lies closer to the bad areas on the outskirt of campus, I don’t think that crime is prevalent within campus itself nor does the location have a significant effect on the safety in general. As far as location to classes, West side is good for Quad classes (Gen Ed and many A&S majors). East side is good for science majors other than Physics and is also good for Honors classes. Patrick F. Taylor (Business and Engineering) is almost a break even distance to both, but most likely closer to the West. West gets busy during football games (pro or con depending on what you are into).</p></li>
<li><p>I’d pick Acadian, but McVoy would be my second choice.</p></li>
<li><p>Not that I know of. It’s located in the same area as McVoy. Herget is an all freshman dorm (at least it still should be). So if it’s new people you want to meet, well everyone will be new in Herget.</p></li>
<li><p>Haven’t seen the new renovations. Herget mainly gets its reputation due to it being an All-Freshman dorm (or at least the reputation I hear). So, people expect some immaturity and some craziness. Excessive pulling of alarms (though I think that has been cut back on, and happens in many dorms), and other gags. Some people loved living there and other people hated it. Blake Hall is very newly renovated. I haven’t seen Herget or Blake to compare. But maybe they rave about Blake because it’s so new?</p></li>
<li><p>Possibly. Best to e-mail reslife about it. IF it’s a residential college they tend to fill up the rooms with majors first and then fill in the rest with whoever put it as their top choice. My guess is that there aren’t enough Ag-majors who live on-campus and wanted to live in Blake to fill it up. So the rest would be non-Ag majors. There’s most likely not an area designated as “Non-Ag”, but most likely Res Life grouped all the non-Ag majors together as close as possible. All speculation on my part.</p></li>
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<li><p>I live in Blake, and from what I’ve seen (visiting friends’ dorms in Herget), Blake’s dorms are definitely bigger. There’s no question that Blake is nicer, and it’s closer to the center of campus than Herget.</p></li>
<li><p>Yeah, I got into Blake as a non-ag major. There first floor of Blake is the LASAL wing, for Honors College students participating in the LASAL program. It just so happens that I’m not in LASAL either, but if there are any Honors College students who apply for housing when there is no more room in East Laville or Acadian, they’re put in the LASAL wing of Blake so they can live with other Honors students (an Honors College rep explained this to me on move-in day). There’s also room in the ag res college part of Blake for a few non-ag roommates.</p></li>
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<p>I’ve visited friends in their dorms in Miller, Herget, East Laville, and Acadian, so let me know if you have questions about any of those. And Blake too, of course, since I won the dorm lottery and am living there. :]</p>
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<li><p>East side of campus is always the best. There are far more dorms ( = more people) on east campus than west campus. West campus is way too far out from everything.</p></li>
<li><p>McVoy is the most decent out of those four. If you can’t get into that, just don’t live in the pentagon. If you do end up there, just hope the dining hall is open. It must suck so bad to live on the west side of campus where there is no dining hall and pretty far from the union.</p></li>
<li><p>I really can’t answer that for you. As a freshman, you’ll get a lot of perks. RHA always has something fun for freshman to do (or just free food!) and since Herget has the most freshman living in one place, I’m sure it can be fun sometimes.</p></li>
<li><p>I’ve been in most of the dorms you mentioned. Herget is by far the smallest. You really can’t do more than study and sleep in there. Oh then again, I don’t know what kind of renovations happened there. They do have high rise beds now, but it only helps with storage, not actual space to do anything. Personally, I couldn’t live in a tiny room.</p></li>
<li><p>I lived in Blake last year when it first opened up again. At that time, it was half Ag, half BIOS participants (or biological sciences majors). My best friend was declared pre-vet at the time AND I went to BIOS so we were going to end up in Blake no matter what. There was also a small concentration of fashion majors there. If you can find someone that has priority to Blake to request you as a roommate, you’ll most likely end up there. RHA almost always rooms people by request. Blake is a rather big dorm, it should work.</p></li>
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