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Feature

Our days in Louisiana State University

Ishtiaq Rouf

Louisiana State University is situated in Baton Rouge, the state capital of Louisiana. It is to the east of Texas, right alongside the Gulf of Mexico. LSU campus is inland and has a safe elevation in case anyone is concerned about hurricanes, etc. The weather of Louisiana is the best aspect of this campus. It is as close a match to Bangladesh as possible. It never snows here. The minimum temperature is about negative 4 degrees Celsius. The highest temperature is around 40 degrees Celsius. It rains heavily during late summer.

Louisiana is similar in size to Bangladesh. The city has about 400,000 citizens, and the university about 31,500 students. The state is one of the poorer states in the US. If someone expects to see New York- or California-like flashy lifestyle here, he/she would be a bit disappointed. In US, people generally work in the North and settle in the South after retirement. Most of the technology companies, etc are in the North.

Therefore, those states have a lot of money and people. Lifestyle is extremely expensive there too. In the South, we have huge states with relatively low population density. Life is nice, slow, and enjoyable. The weather is not extreme, the markets are not too hot.

LSU is ranked among the top 100 universities of USA. Some departments - especially in the Business School - are ranked among the top 25. The Internal Auditing department is ranked first in the nation. LSU MBA is well recognized too. Louisiana is traditionally well known for its Law Schools. The LSU Law School is very distinguished as well.
LSU is the "Flagship School" of the state of Louisiana, i.e., it is considered the premier tertiary education system of the state of Louisiana. Much of the research and development at Louisiana is done at LSU. The school receives endowments worth $504 million in 2005. The amount is the 110th highest in USA. LSU is currently in the middle of its "Flagship Agenda". Upon completion of this agenda in 2010, LSU aims to be one of the best public schools in the US. The research endowment is to be increased by $500 million by then. Comparatively low tuition fee, inexpensive lifestyle, and friendly weather has been the main attraction of LSU to Bangladeshi students for decades now. The city of Baton Rouge houses a good volume of Bangladeshi students and professionals. Students are well taken care of by the community members.

The Bangladeshi Students' Association at LSU(BSA@LSU, bsalsu.org) is one of the most active Bangladeshi student organizations. We organize Eid programs, offer free iftar in the mosque once during Ramadan, hold cultural programs to celebrate Pohela Boishakh & Independence Day, organize Bangladesh Booth during Intern tional Expositions etc. Tuition fee in LSU has two stages. First is the basic tuition fee for all students. This is called the In-State fee and amounts to about $2800 per semester. For anyone who is not a resident of Louisiana, there is a Non-Resident fee on top of regular tuition. This currently amounts to around $4200 per semester. Both fees combined, LSU is up to par with the other standard public universities.

However, LSU offers special tuition scholarship to international students. Students with superior academic standing get their Non-Resident fee waived for 6 to 8 semesters. This makes the education affordable for everyone. This fund is limited and not offered to everyone.

Students who maintain high GPA are offered the scholarship, too. They can apply for and receive this tuition award at the end of their first semester at LSU. International students need to take (and do well in) TOEFL and SAT exams. Admission is offered without SAT exam, too, but those applicants are not considered for the tuition awards. A combined SAT score of 1250 is "safe" for admission, while a 1300 almost guarantees a tuition award. These are very much achievable standards for students from Bangladesh. LSU's Engineering departments have been directly endowed by many large corporations and government organizations. Almost all the graduates get well-paid jobs upon graduation. Employers like Microsoft, Chevron, Texas Instruments etc recruit a lot of LSU students for internships or full-time employment. This goes for international students too. LSU graduates go to many prestigious universities such as MIT, Georgia Tech, Princeton etc for graduate studies. If living with a roommate, living expenses amount to around $350 per month per person. On-campus employment is available for students and that pays about $420 per month.

Ishtiaq Rouf is President Bangladeshi Students' Association (BSA@LSU) ishti.rouf@gmail.com