Should I go to LSU??

<p>I really don't know if I should go to LSU or not. I live in Florida, and always have, but we're (my mom, dad, and sister) are literally the only ones in our ENTIRE family who don't live in Louisiana. I've been raised to be a tiger fan; I can't remember ever not being one. </p>

<p>I've always just kind of assumed I was going to LSU, and that was that, but now I'm doubting it. I'm really serious about being a dentist, and I'm concerned I won't get a great education at LSU. I want to go to University of Pacific (the second best dental school in the US), and I really don't want to be behind or lost there from not getting a great education. </p>

<p>Unless I can get tuition for less than $20K per year, I want to go to a state university for sure, since I'll be in college for possibly over 8 years, which will already put me in enough debt as it is. Should I just go to FSU or UF? Financially it makes more sense, but I've just always really wanted to live in Louisiana, at least for just a couple years. Florida really doesn't feel like home to me, plus my parents are planning on moving to New Orleans in the next four years or so once my sister leaves high school. </p>

<p>I don't want to go to a school just for the great football team or partying, I'd rather sacrifice that for a good education. </p>

<p>Any advice?? If you go to LSU, could you tell me if it was worth it? </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>I’ve been accepted to LSU for next fall, and I was questioning a good bit about whether or not I actually wanted to go there. I talked to my friend, who is a current student there, and she said that in order to go to LSU and not be completely miserable, you need to really, really love everything LSU-related. That sealed the deal for me, as I was questioning if I wanted to go there in the first place. </p>

<p>Also, I have a 31 ACT, 2090 SAT, and a 3.7 unweighted GPA, and I’ve only been offered a $1500/year scholarship and a $1500/year work study job. That helped solidify my decision not to go there, because I don’t want to go into debt for a school I’m unsure about attending.</p>

<p>Thanks, that really helps. I planned out a college tour for spring break that visits LSU, FSU, UF, Auburn, and Tulane (probably not gonna happen because of how expensive it is, but I thought I’d just check it out and apply there in case I get a huge scholarship or something…which is unlikely, but we’ll see). But yeah, I’m with you, I’ll be in college for a while (maybe 10 years…) so it’s really important that I don’t rack up this huge debt from going to a private school. </p>

<p>But another question-- are you in-state? Do you think it would be worth it for me to go to LSU out-of-state, which adds about $10K to my tuition?)</p>

<p>lsu wou;d not be worth the extra 10k if you were accepted to UF or even FSU.</p>

<p>I’m in-state, and I’m considering going to a smaller in-state university because I don’t even feel like it’s worth the cost. I wouldn’t advise paying 10k more unless you have really high stats and can get one of those out-of-state waivers.</p>

<p>Also, you should apply to Tulane for sure! I’ve been accepted, and they actually offer a large amount of scholarship and financial aid money.</p>

<p>Really? Maybe I’ll look into that… I just saw Tulane’s tuiton at $50K and kind of automatically ruled it out. My friend was accepted to Harvard last year, and he won a ball-dancing scholarship. He said only 12 people tried out, and even though he’d never taken ball-dancing, he won, so now his whole tuition is free and all he has to do is go to a dance class once a month.</p>

<p>Yeah, the more I look into it, the worse of an idea going to LSU sounds. I really love being a fan, I just don’t want to waste time and money. Even my parents, who graduated from there, are starting to push me towards other schools after they saw LSU ranked as 161 for academics in the country in a magazine. </p>

<p>Thanks for all your help! Have you been to Tulane yet? What’d you think about the campus?</p>

<p>I received a $17k scholarship at the same time as my acceptance, and I’ve applied for a full-tuition scholarship. I won’t know about that one until April though. Regardless, they also give out a lot of financial aid, especially if you’re from a lower-income family. :)</p>

<p>[Need-Based</a> Scholarship](<a href=“http://financialaid.tulane.edu/idxneed_NOLA_scholarship.htm]Need-Based”>http://financialaid.tulane.edu/idxneed_NOLA_scholarship.htm)</p>

<p>Another thing that pushed me away from LSU is their huge class sizes, especially in the intro classes. I have a friend who’s a freshman there this year, and his biology class has 877 students! Apparently there are classes that are even bigger than that. That’s scary to me.</p>

<p>I visited Tulane back in November and absolutely loved it. The school has the most friendly students I’ve ever met. The campus is beautiful, and they were doing some construction work when I was there, so I bet it’s getting even better. They have an interactive tour on their website if you’d like to see that.</p>

<p>I hate to sound like I’m pushing Tulane here, because LSU’s a good school. They have a great medical program and such. I just hate how prominent their athletics are. I’m not even decided on going to Tulane, because I’ve been accepted to a few other schools as well. I’m in your boat, too- I’ve got to wait and see which college will cost the least.</p>

<p>I’d suggest visiting both if you can, along with anywhere else you’re interested in. Before I visited Tulane, I was feeling iffy about whether or not that’s where I actually wanted to go, but after my visit, I got my heart set on it. I’ve read of a lot of people who’ve done the same. You should always make sure that you’re going to the college that feels right. :)</p>