How to get a transcript from Louisiana Tech - written by Johnny Burris

How to get a transcript

When you apply for graduate school or transfer to another university,
you are asked for an official transcript from Louisiana Tech. It may
explain this, but the only way to get this transcript is to go through
the Registrar's Office. They can either (a) mail it to the
institution directly or (b) give you a sealed envelope with the
official transcript inside.

There are three ways to get a transcript mailed:

1) THE EASIEST WAY.
Go by and get it. This can be really hard. All you need to know
is when you last attended Tech and the address you are sending it to.
They do not know the addresses of other institutions.
It's in Keeny Hall (the big administration building by Lady of the
Mist), as you go in the front doors, it's up the middle stairs, on the left.

Once you go into the office, the counter on the left has a tray with
request forms. Fill it out and have your Photo ID ready to show.
That's it.

2) By fax.
Print out this: http://www.latech.edu/documents/transdl.pdf
Fax to:
Registrar's Office
Louisiana Tech University
ATTN: Transcripts
(318) 257-4041

3) By Mail.
Print out this: http://www.latech.edu/documents/transdl.pdf
Mail to:
Registrar's Office
P.O. Box 3155
Ruston, LA 71272

Louisiana Tech parking decal process

If you're looking for info on how you'll get a parking decal at Louisiana Tech, look no further.

You'll need to fill out a Vehicle Registration Form (pdf) that is made available in the tech police station across from the IFM. The following information will be needed to fill out that form: Social Security number, phone number, name, address, driver’s license number and state, plate type and number, VIN, make, model, year and color, and name to which the vehicle is registered. Don't worry about tracking all that info down though, you'll find most of it on your vehicle's registration (Pink Slip).

You can pay with just about everything except American Express in person, and the cost will be $24. If you wanna get one before the start of the year, without having to make a trip here, mail the form in with payment. Here's the info from tech's site:

Applicants can also mail requests for decals by sending in their form and payment to: Louisiana Tech Traffic Office, P.O. Box 3003, Ruston LA 71272. Only personal checks, cashier’s checks or money orders will be accepted by mail. The Traffic Office encourages mailing requests by Aug. 30.

If you're a student, you'll get a red parking sticker with a zone number printed on it. The zone will be assigned according to whether you commute, or if you live in a dorm... and if you do live on campus, what dorm you live in. You'll only be able to park in that zone until 3 PM, after which you'll be able to park anywhere, including the reserved blue spot (teacher & staff spots). Refer to the little rule book they give you when you pay for the sticker for a complete list of rules, or call the traffic office at 318-257-2921.

10 tips for Incoming Freshmen at Louisiana Tech University - Dorm Life

So, you've made the big step and chosen a college to attend for your education. Well, congrats, you've chosen a great school. You've got a few things to learn before you pack up your stuff and head out of your parents' house. These tips are intended to help you make a smooth transition to Tech, and to let you know what to expect in certain areas of college life.

Dorm Life:
There were only a few things that I was unprepared for when I got to Tech, and most of them had to do with making adjustments to living in a dorm. So, if you're going to be living in one of the older dorms (not the new, snazzy apartment/dorms), then here are a few tips you should use to help in being prepared for dorm life.

1) You'll need some kind of sandals to wear in the shower. Hundreds of other people will be showering in the same shower stalls you use. If you don't want the funk from everyone else's feet on the bottom of yours, use the sandals.

2) You'll have a twin size bunk bed in your room. These beds were designed to avoid the two C's of horror: comfort and copulation. The beds are just big enough fit one person, and hard enough that if you turn over with your mouth open at night, you may chip a tooth. They are made out of a special, space age material that is as hard as titanium, but as light as a regular mattress. You should enjoy the fact that your mattresses will be bulletproof in case of a gunfight. However, unless you enjoy back pain and a lack of comfort, you should invest in an "egg crate" foam pad or memory foam topper for your bed. You might want to stack 3 of them come to think of it.

3) Don't expect to do much studying in your dorm room. It's gonna be loud, especially during the day, and if it's your neighbor with the 1060 Watt subwoofer in his room, then most likely he won't hear you knocking at his door to tell him to turn his music down. What little studying I did in college was done in my dorm room. My GPA will support the argument that there are too many distractions in there.

4) I would advise against using the washers and dryers that are available on campus. Drive over to a local washeteria and use their machines. I always used the washeteria by the dawg house, and on a weekday I could get in and out with all of my clothes washed in about an hour. Tech's dryers will overdry your clothes, and possibly shrink them. If you're lucky enough to have a functional set of washers and dryers, you'll have to wash clothes at weird hours to be able to wash and dry in a reasonable amount of time. Your whole dorm will be sharing a few washers and dryers... it will be crowded. If you plan on being in your room while your clothes are drying, people can do what they like with your clothes. This includes stealing your favorite shirt, or if you're lucky, taking your wet clothes out of the washer, and setting them on something else so they can start a load.

It will be just as expensive to use the washers and dryers off campus. You can't use your tech express cards (your ID cards for use with meal plans, in the book store, at vending machines on campus, and for washers and dryers) off campus, so you'll do well to collect quarters for washing day. You'll spend the same amount of money, but you'll save time washing clothes in a low stress evironment where you can probably even study.

5) Plan to have an extra fan or heater on hand. When the weather changes, it takes a long time for tech to adjust to the changing weather. Take this month for example, some days it's 75 degrees, some days it's 55. They don't really set the temperature to account for this, it's a central heating/cooling system that blows air into your room from whatever air is pumping through the dorm's air ducts. So, when it's getting warmer in the spring and they're still running the heater, or if the A/C unit breaks, a window fan to bring in cooler air is a god send. It's hard to sleep when you're sweating like a pregnant nun.

6) Buy a small refrigerator to put in your room. This one should be a rule. If you want cokes for pizza, hot pockets to warm up in your microwave, or milk for a quick breakfast before class (or going back to sleep after deciding calculus could wait), then a small fridge is your only option.

7) Choosing a residence hall, and room is important. If you get to choose your room/residence hall, DO NOT choose a high floor. The elevators ALWAYS break. You can bank on at least one of the elevators in the high rise dorms being broken at any given time. This means that when you move in, out, or when you're just going about daily business, you'll be climbing up and down multiple flights. Also, consider that having a room right by the noisy stairs with noisy people coming in and out all night, slamming the doors will become old very quickly. There are three sets of stairs on each hall in Caruthers, Nielsen, and Hut, but only two sets of stairs in Cottingham (as best I recall).

Also, in choosing a residence hall I'd rank the guys residence halls as follows (I won't rate girls dorms because they're all about the same... all closer to campus and better than guys dorms):

1st Choice) Hut private room
2nd) University Park (The nicest, but most expensive & long waiting list)
3) Cottingham (Honors dorm - well worth it... big rooms)
4) Caruthers
5) Nielsen

8) You might want to shower and use the restroom at odd hours (late at night or early in the morning). Most people shower in the morning and at night, before bed. I'm not sure if it's a normal experience, but on our floor, the football players enjoyed showering with the curtain open, partially out of the stall. I, however, did not share in their enjoyment. So, I waited, along with most of the other people I knew on the hall, until late to shower.

Using the restroom goes the same way, but for a different reason. I chose to use the restroom earlier in morning. You see, by the afternoon, many people have made the trip to use the restroom, and the toilets and urinals are pretty nasty by that time. So, I would go right after I woke up, which is right after the janitors would get in there with circus strength cleaners and fresh rolls of toilet paper.

9) If you're a net junkie, like I am, consider getting cable modem service from Cox Cable here in Ruston. It's about $40/mo. if you buy the cable modem for $100 (It's 1.5 Mbits down, 128Kbits up). The network at Tech is always down and is very slow most of the time. With a cable modem, you'll have more freedom to download anything you want, without fear of repurcussions from the university admins, or slow downs because of other people on the network.

10) Don't throw out your old phone cards or used gift cards. It may sound like a strange tip, but let me explain. When I would leave to use the restroom, or go down to a friend's room, I would lock the door, sometimes forgetting to grab my keys. It also happened that my roommate would leave while I was in the shower or gone downstirs, and he would lock the door out of habit. When this happens, you can use a credit card (or old gift card, or phone card) that should be in your wallet to unlock the door. Just slide it between the crack of the door, and jiggle the handle as you bring the card between the locking mechanism and the hole in the side of the door frame where it fits. As long as the door isn't deadbolted, you can get in... with practice. It should also be noted that since you, or anyone else can do this, you should always deadbolt your door when you leave for extended periods of time.

The case for choosing a dorm for your first couple years of college:
The school has a requirement that you must have a certain number of hours before you can move off campus (when I moved off it was 80 hours). Many local students consider filling out a commuter form, telling the school that they live back home, while actually living in Ruston somewhere. That's what I did, but I'd been in dorms for two years already, and had just under the hours that were required. Get that idea out of your head though. You'll be excluding yourself from one of the best parts of college life.

You'll be able to meet people much more quickly in a dorm setting than in an isolated apartment complex, or rented house. You'll no doubt be able to make friends sooner or later, but dorms allow you to get to know people much more quickly through the activities they sponsor (i.e. intramural sports, video game tournaments, etc.). In addition to being able to meet people more easily, you'll be on campus, where you can walk to any class within 10 minutes. If you live off campus, you'll have to wake up earlier, and drive to class, look for a parking space, and end up still walk almost as far as the students who live in dorms. If you've got a meal plan, you can also count on having to spend extra time to drive to campus and find a parking spot close to the cafeteria or tolliver hall. This gets really old when you're hungry at your house but don't feel like going anywhere.

Apart from these two points, the main reason you should live on campus is money. Expect to pay, at the very least, $350/mo. for rent (for a two bedroom apt ... $250 for one person), $100 for electricity, $40 for extended cable, $30 for gas, $30 for phone. Most likely, you'll end up with $400/mo. in bills, and another $100-150/mo. in food costs. This does not include deposits for the first month. You'll end up paying a month's rent for a deposit before you move in, a $100 deposit for electricity, and smaller deposit for gas. On paper, it may look like your living expenses will be cheaper than paying room and board, but in reality it probably won't be, unless you have two or more roommates.