LOCATION

Baton Rouge is the state capital of Louisiana. It is centered on the oil and petrochemical industries and is a deepwater port on the Mississippi River. The semitropical climate makes activities such as golf and tennis popular the year round, and the area is known for its fishing, boating, and hunting. New Orleans is just 80 miles to the southeast.


THE UNIVERSITY

Louisiana State University, a land- and sea-grant institution, was founded in 1860. It records its first graduate degree as a "Civil Engineer" degree awarded in 1869. The principal buildings, grouped on a beautifully landscaped 300-acre tract, exhibit a pleasing blend of contemporary design and the older Italian style, with its tile roofs and colonnaded passageways. The campus has been referred to as a "botanical joy" due to it being beautifully decorated by live oak trees and landscaping.

The LSU student body consists of just over 28,000 students from all 50 states and over 110 foreign countries (Fall 2008). With an undergraduate enrollment of 23,400 and graduate students numbering nearly 4,800, the student body is approximately 52% female and 48% male.  Although the average age of LSU undergraduates is 21, many older students also pursue degrees. LSU continues to be a regional institution with roughly 83% of its undergraduates being residents of Louisiana and only 1.6% international.  More than 46% of the graduate students are from out of state with 44% being international.  The University attracts about 14 percent of the state's total enrollment in higher education, and LSU students come from many ethnic and religious backgrounds. The underrepresented minority population represents roughly 14-15% of the student body.