<p>Hello!</p>
<p>I've been accepted to the University of Iowa (as well as Beloit College and UW-Milwaukee, waiting til the end of March to hear from the other 5 schools I applied to) and I'm looking at it as a back up (my first choices are Grinnell, Macalester and Smith).</p>
<p>I know that Iowa is a party school (Isn't every school? Haha) but I'm not interested in partying.</p>
<p>Is it possible to avoid the party scene at the University of Iowa?</p>
<p>aniburger - You’re correct in regards to your statement that “every school is a party school.”</p>
<p>UI certainly has its share of partiers, but it also has its share of serious students. </p>
<p>My daughter is not a big partier. She likes to have fun and will have a drink now and then, but, she takes her studies seriously and has found a great group of friends who are like minded. </p>
<p>I think that you need to decide whether or not you will be comfortable at a small LAC like Grinnell or a Big 10 like IU. It’s been said that its easier to make a big school seem small than a small school seem big. </p>
<p>Also, please consider that even though UI has a high acceptance rate it’s not an “easy” school. You will get a first rate education.</p>
<p>aniburger,
My son is a first year student at Iowa and lives in a dorm (of course). From what I can tell, most of his weekend evenings are spent in the dorm watching movies with his friends or going to out to eat. He has indeed attended a couple frat parties and was unfortunately busted for possession of alcohol in the dorm (a costly mistake) but I believe that partying is a very small part of his social scene and one that he is totally comfortable leaving behind. My point in all this is that partying or not is totally a choice and there is no stigma associated with abstaining.</p>
<p>Remember that the choice to party is a more deliberate one than to not party. You have to willfully go out to party - to seek a house party, to have someone buy you beer, to get a fake ID and go to the bar. To NOT party is, well, much easier. It’s getting together with your friends to go to a movie or to the rec center. While Iowa is a party school it’s really quite easy to NOT party.</p>
<p>He’s in an honors dorm and half of his floor never emerges from their rooms to socialize, let alone party. So you can abstain from EVERYTHING if you so choose.</p>
<p>And if Mac is one of your choices I can tell you first-hand that alcohol and dope have their place there also. Intellectualism and getting high are not mutually exclusive by a long shot.</p>