We are scheduled for this event/visit next Saturday. Besides the initial confirmation when registering, we haven’t gotten any other info from the school.
Has anyone else done Experience Iowa State? Is anyone going this spring to one of them?
Kind of wondering what to expect, and also how and when the afternoon activities are chosen.
@uwalummom - How are you! Over five years with three boys we visited 21 colleges, so forgive me if these visits are a bit blurry now. My overall impression is that it was very well organized and informative without much fluff. Our visit included an orientation, a good tour of the engineering campus focusing on major, a very nice visit with the freshman honors program supervisor, a campus tour, the usual presentations (very enthusiastic) from admissions, dorm visits, and other targeted activity in the afternoon. Overall, it was one of our better visits.
If you have any time to drive around Ames, do so. It’s a nice small college town. One plus is that the campus bus system is integrated with the town bus system as CyRide. It’s free or very low cost. if I remember correctly with very good routes for shopping to Walmart, the local mall, and other locations. A student ID will get you just about anywhere you need to go.
If you have time to visit Des Moines, the State Capitol is incredible and we really liked the State History Museum. Des Moines is a very clean, prosperous looking, mid-sized city.
We did a daily tour back in November, which looks fairly similar to Experience Iowa State. We did not have a program and services fair or a student panel, but we did have afternoon activities, including an engineering information session (discussing proposed schedules for the different engineering majors, credits for AP coursework, etc.), a tour of the engineering college, and a study abroad session (although we learned that the engineering college handles study abroad for its students separately). We chose our afternoon activities ahead of time when we registered for the visit.
I will say this was our best visit. The campus is beautiful, and Ames is a lovely town! We enjoyed dinner at Hickory Park after the tour!
If you have questions about your schedule, here’s the information I received on my confirmation page: “If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 800 262-3810 or admissions@iastate.edu.”
@Beaudreau Hi! Thanks for replying! I always value your input 
Also, thanks for posting the link for the CyRide Wiki - sounds like its a great system!
We are leaving from Wisconsin hopefully about 11am on Friday - 4 1/2 hour drive. I would like to check into the hotel and then explore Ames a bit and get dinner. We have the visit on Saturday morning.
I don’t think we’ll make it to Des Moines. Too bad…I would love to see another state capital, being that we are from the Madison area.
We are hoping this will be a little more in-depth visit, since it will be our only one before Decision Day. It sounds like a nice, well-run event. And so far, the weather for Saturday looks very nice!
I love reading how well your son is doing at Iowa State - thanks for posting!
@iamgriffinsmom Thanks for sharing about your visit! Maybe we will try Hickory Park for dinner!
I know our sons are in the same stage of their senior years. Has your son made a decision yet?
We didn’t get to choose afternoon activities yet, so maybe I will have my son send them a quick email to ask. Thank you very much for the contact info!
I am 99% sure that my son is going to ISU (we put in our deposit after our visit), but he’s holding out on making a final decision! I’m not sure what he’s waiting for, and I really hope that he doesn’t keep me guessing until May 1st! How is your son doing?
@iamgriffinsmom Well, 99% is a pretty good chance, I would say It is a huge decision, so it’s good he is waiting to be sure.
My son applied regular decision to UW-Madison, so we are waiting to hear - hopefully by next Friday. He applied direct admission to their business school and we won’t find out about that until the beg of April. That would be his first choice.
If he doesn’t get into Madison or doesn’t get into their business school, then he will have a tough decision ahead of him. He really liked Marquette and I have no doubt he will like ISU - we are looking forward to the visit!
@uwalummom I hope your son gets good news from Madison! All this waiting is so hard!
Another vote for Hickory Park. Do get there early. The Cafe and Aunt Maude’s are also good. Cafe Beaudelaire is good for sandwiches and a short walk from the Union.