Louisiana College

Date: Sep 12 2004
Major: Unknown (This Major's Salary over time)
Academically, I would put LC's education quality up against any others in the state or region, especially regarding Pre-Med and Pre-Law. People here are reasonably friendly and nice, although if you are a private person (like I am) it often feels like a suburban high school in the sense of most people knowing your business.

Socially speaking, LC is a rather unusual place in that for people who were considered geeky, uncool, or otherwise unpopular it is INDEED an oasis where such people can live their lives in peace in a supportive (or at least non-hostile) learning environment—at least as long as you avoid the small, but(for a Baptist school) surprisingly large party crowd (probably around 20% of the student body). A girl from my high school graduating class even complained "It's like Revenge of the Nerds. All the people who were unpopular in high school come here and gang up on us". I definitely find a lot of truth to this assessment, having been one of those "nerdy" types who was harassed mercilessly in HS.

However, for me, being a "nerd" means being ones true self; which in my case means having a lot of intelligent, detailed, and stimulating conversations about a wide variety of topics beyond religion. This includes politics, science, independent films, current events, philosophy, and so-called "brainy" subjects - hearing both conservative and liberal perspectives. If you are looking for THIS kind of "nerdiness", then LC is not the place.

Growing up in a small isloated town, I'd confused "uncool appearance" with intellecutal inclinations. Accordingly, I attempted several times to have such conversations as I described as above; but obviously nobody was interested in what I had to say. They simply don't care about such topics. Because of this, I didn't feel I got the full college experience here.

So if it is enough for you to merely find a place that won't snub, or even persecute you, because of your failure to meet the in-crowd's definition of "cool" (as freshman at most of the universities in this part of the country will do), then LC could be the place for you. But if your brand of "nerdiness" is of more intellectual variety, don't confuse the lack of bullying and harassment for acceptance of your intellectualism - it's just apathy about it.

If you the kind of geek who is intellectually enthusiastic about a wide range of topics and you still want to attend college in The South, check out the Universities of Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, or NC State. You will have an all but infinitely better chance of finding kindred souls there than at most other universities in the region. If you cannot get admitted to any of those, then attend the college or university you can get admitted to that is closest to these cities. You will get MUCH more bang for your tuition bucks for doing so.