<p>The question, though, is whether the UCs you could room at are better than ISU for engineering. Certainly UCs like UCB, UCLA, and UCSD would have stronger academic programs than ISU.</p>
<p>Furthermore, those unemployment rates are misleading because you don’t know whether that applies to engineering jobs. Maybe there are not as many engineering jobs in Iowa as there are in CA. Maybe there are.</p>
<p>Furthermore, if you were so concerned about the unemployment rate in a state, you could always move to Iowa if you wanted to. Keep in mind that many UCs are nationally recognized (not all, though).</p>