Student Profile
Holly
- Class: Junior
- Major: Psychology
- Gender:
- High School: Des Moines East High School
- Transfer Student: Y
Big Picture
Everyone is proud to say they are a Hawkeye! Iowa is the perfect size for a school. It is large enough that you have to take care of yourself and seek out help if you need it, but it is small enough that it is easy to find a good group of friends. There are always new people to meet, and new things to get involved in. Iowa was by far the friendliest campus out of those I toured. Most of the classes you'll have in the first year or two are on the east side of the rive, on or near the pentacrest, making it easy to get to and from class. In Iowa City, many of the restaurants downtown turn into bars at night. Because of their day time activity, these places can let anyone in until 10:00 pm. After that time, some bars have a permit to allow 19 and 20 year-olds in to "dance". Others don't. Many say only 21 and older should be allowed in the bars after 10pm. Every couple years a vote comes up in the local legislature to attempt to ban 19 and 20 year-olds in these venues late at night. Everyone on campus and in Iowa City has an opinion on the matter, but it has yet to pass as an ordinance. Iowa City definitely has a large portion of town that is college-oriented. The downtown right across from the University and has many cute little shops, coffee houses, and restuarants. There is also a more residential area of Iowa City that most student never see. At one point I needed a copy of a do***ent to be considered for a scholarship. I had thought I lost my copy of the do***ent, and I knew it was something the University had to have on file for my financial aid. They take a scan of all paperwork they get, and then they shred the do***ents. They couldn't find the file of the do***ent anywhere in there system and could not find the hard copy. Then they had the brilliance to ask me to send them a copy if I found it because they needed to have it on file to keep giving me my financial aid! Luckiliy I found my copy later, or they would have totally messed up my financial aid package by losing that paper!
Academic Life
I hated the large lecture classes I had in most of my intro science classes. Principles of Chemistry I especially. There were about 400 students in the class, and the lecture hall was always warm, so it was very hard not to doze off during lecture. Even in these large lecture halls the professors have an uncanny way of knowing your name. Whether or not you have intellectual conversations outside of class depends on who you surround yourself with. Although curves set up classes to be competitive, the classes that have them are the ones people are most likely to buddy up with others to get through. One of my Teaching Assistants was from U.K., and he said he felt we spent too much time outside of our major as undergraduates. We have General Education Requirements that require us to be well-rounded students. I loved taking Spanish at Iowa. The classes were very small and personal, and I had several instructors that were native speakers.
Student Body
Iowa boasts a lot of diversity, and we do have some, but I feel like most of the diversity is in the graduate-school population. We are a relatively homogeneous undergraduate student body. We are mostly middle and lower class and Caucasian. Not many people step too far outside of the social norms here. That said, Iowa is pretty rich in political and religious diversity although many of us are Christian and Democrat. Although not the norm, those who are not Caucasian or heterosexual are not ostracized here.
The Best Things
The people and the great grad schools.
The Worst Things
The party school image that isn't true.
