re: Just Back From Tuscaloosa--Impressions:

I've been to Tuscaloosa a 4-5 times to visit friends, games, and for a college tour and as always, I had a good time but am still glad I chose LSU

1) Their campus is very nice but the red brick/white column thing has been way overdone. Every building looks exactly the same. You can't help but notice the millions apon millions of dollars they've invested to revamp their campus by simply adding red bricks/white columns to the outdated buildings. Landscaping also looks good. If anyone wants to believe LSU has committed the same to update our campus - you are a fool (lack of funding). I walk through our campus every day and many buildings south of the quad and north of Patrick Taylor & BEC need to be torn down/overhauled (e.g. Forestry Building, Electrical Engineering Building, Food Science Building, Human Ecology Building, Dairy Science Building, Doran Hall, Lockett, Middleton, etc). No campus in the SEC can beat our quad/inner campus but we need to expand the beauty farther. Budget cuts have slowed down a lot of LSU construction but new buildings are continuing to open (e.g. Choppin Chemistry Annex, BEC, Animal & Food Science Labatories, Patrick F Taylor Expansion)

2) Alabama Guhs be fine but no finer than LSU guhs

3) Denny Bryant looks damn good. Atmosphere is eh and will prefer our stadium once all our renovations are complete.

4) LSU sorority row > Alabama sorority row

5) LSU fraternity row < Alabama fraternity row (absolutely insane)

6) The strip is awesome, I've seen better but it's nice. Once LSU finishes Nicolson Gateway we will have a similar area. They are also moving the LSU Foundation and other offices to the new development which will open up room for new sorority house by the lakes.

7) Alabama football successes have helped in their recruitment of students across the US. Students want to go to a school that wins championships.

8) Alabama like many colleges play into the US Rankings. I believe they are flawed. Here are a few articles agreeing: Business Insider The Atlantic
I prefer Forbes and their method of college rankings. They rank LSU 25-30 spots above Alabama. At the end of the day, each school is the state flagship university and the quality of education is very similar.

9) The LSU Foundation is increasing their fundraising efforts. LINK

10) LSU isn't trying to increase undergraduate enrollment size but is more focused on making the undergraduate body more diversified and increasing the amount of recruiters across the county. Alabama has 10-15 more recruiters than LSU that are located across the United States. Budget cuts once again plays a huge part in this. LSU is also more worried about increasing the enrollment of graduate students too (research).

11) Going forward I believe LSU's forefront is brighter.