re: To what extent would LSU be more prestigious if it were in a safer location?

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I’m all for shitting on BR for its crime problems, but I don’t think this has had a long term effect on LSU’s (lack of) prestige.

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It doesn't. The same posters make the same threads about crime daily. It's concern trolling.

Johns Hopkins, U of Chicago, USC, and Berkeley are all next to far worse neighborhoods than LSU if not actually within shitty neighborhoods. Those are all fantastic institutions that have no issues drawing the best and brightest (or the most connected/wealthy in USC's case).

UPenn used to be in a shite area but it's been very gentrified. There's a huge public housing project right near Yale in New Haven too. U of Maryland isn't an amazing university, but it is pretty competitive and massive in size. And it's very near a sketchy area as well that's on par with LSU's north gates.

What's drawing local kids away from LSU is the university's focus on offering scholarships to out of state kids and letting TOPS handle that for the "in state" kids. LSU's location helps it. It's pretty close to centrally located for the state, and it's near a big enough city so there's a wide variety of affordable(ish) housing.