<p>We toured the campus this weekend and it was very nice. It was homecoming, so there was a ton of spirit on campus. We also noticed a ton of crazy partying. I am not niave to college campuses and what goes on, but I wonder if it is always this "party-like" or did Homecoming push it a level higher? My kid is not a drinker, so I wonder if she will be ok there.</p>
<p>D1 attended & graduated from Iowa in 2009, wife and I graduated from there in the dark ages. As you can tell by reading the threads, once a Hawkeye, always a Hawkeye.</p>
<p>That being said, there always has been a fair amount of partying downtown on weekends, and sure, Homecoming may have ratcheted it up a bit. But for the non-drinkers, remember that this is a Big Ten campus with 22,000 undergraduate students, not some cliquey private where teetotalers are made to feel like social pariahs. </p>
<p>The folks in Iowa City, from the faculty to the shopkeepers to the students, are some of the nicest people around–I hear that all the time from friends of ours with HS seniors that visit Iowa City like you did. And while the overall strength academically may not quite rank with the Northwesterns & Michigans, it’s still a Top 100 public with many great departments, esp. the health sciences. The aforementioned D1 is in med school now, and fondly remembers her time in Iowa City, as we do.</p>
<p>I am assuming your D is a HS senior, and will be applying. If she has any like-minded (i.e. non-drinking) friends who already are out there, have her visit for an overnight to see if she likes it.</p>
<p>My son is a senior at Iowa and I am confident in saying that while it’s considered a “party school” the opportunities for an underclassman to do so are not super-accessible. The drinking age is 21, remember, so in order for one who’s underage to party they need to SEEK OUT the house parties and partake. My son lived in the dorms as a frosh and sophomore and had minimal experience with partying. Now, at 21, I see that he goes to the bars. So be it.</p>
<p>I think you can “stack the deck” against a partying culture by choosing dorms and LLCs that are most apt to attract motivated students with different values. </p>
<p>And as jnm123 says, it’s a big school and there’s something for everyone. For every drunk student you saw this weekend there were 5 who were having fun with friends, sober.</p>