On paper Iowa state has everything my son is looking for. We have not visited yet (its very far for us). My question is…it is such a large school for an undergrad that I just can’t quite imagine actually going there. Can someone speak to this in terms of academics, student life, housing etc. Thank you.
We visited Iowa State during our look at colleges. It was the first college we visited and the only one that S18 chose not to apply to. He didn’t like the location, the tour, the city around it. He did like the dorms, the program (animal science) and the people but he couldn’t see himself going there. Housing seemed to be plentiful and nice. It didn’t feel too large. Academics are not Ivy but that isn’t what my son wanted. I think it would depend on the program that your son wants. He wanted a school that had a more comfortable feel. Iowa State did have that. There was so much construction going on that it was hard to get a feel for the town around the college. I think that affected his decision. There did seem to be a lot of student involvement, fraternities (a bit spread out but nice if I remember correctly), and a nice recreation center. We chose a slightly smaller State University that he felt fit him well.
@Empireapple - My son is OOS from Arizona. He will be a sophomore, majoring in Materials Engineering. He’s the youngest of three and all three are currently studying engineering. The other two are at Texas A&M and Miami (Ohio).
Starting with his brothers’ college visits, my son visited 21 colleges from California to the upper Midwest to the deep South, small to huge, private and public. Ultimately, like Goldilocks, Iowa State felt just right to him. After one year, he loves it there.
I don’t know what your son intends to major in, but engineering is very well organized, with impressive facilities. My son lives in Martin Hall (part of the Union Drive complex). It’s very nice and in a great location, close to Campustown, the engineering complex, the west recreation center, and the dining hall The freshman honors program is great. My son got to do research in his major with a senior and a professor. He already has an internship this summer back home in Phoenix.
Iowa State’s campus is one of the nicest that I’ve visited, and I like Ames. It’s not a big city, but it’s large enough for Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target, and a nice little mall. The Cyride bus system is one of the largest and busiest in the country on a per-capita basis. It goes just about everywhere and students ride free (small semester charge).
Des Moines, the Iowa capital city, is about 35-miles south. My wife and I really like Des Moines, it’s quite an attractive mid-sized city. The airport has non-stop flights to most major cities. http://www.dsmairport.com/flight-and-travel/non-stop-destinations-map/
Every student is different and their moods vary from day to day, so college fit is very personal. A campus may impress on a beautiful fall day, but not so much on a scorching summer day, or during a gray, drizzly winter day. Parent’s just cannot predict.
Has your son applied yet? It takes no time at all and decisions are formula-based, so he will have an answer in a few days. It really took the pressure off my son’s college application process knowing in July that he had a college acceptance in his pocket.
I’ve read about “cyride”. Is the campus so huge that you can’t walk to class and must take a bus?
My son walks to all his classes. I’m sure that Cyride could be useful in some instances for getting to a class across campus, but my son uses it for shopping, movies, etc. Even when my son broke his ankle, he was still getting around on his knee cart pretty well in the winter.
My impression is that Iowa State, although undeniably a big public university, is built much more like a smaller college. It just seems relatively small to me. My middle son goes to Miami University in Ohio, which has about 1/2 Iowa State’s enrollment. The two campuses are both lovely and to me about the same as far as walkability goes.
By contrast, I went to Michigan State. To me the campuses are similar in that they are park-type (non-urban, contiguous) campuses. But MSU has more students and campus is easily twice as large. It can be a two-mile walk to a class, and in January, that seems twice as long. Bus passes are both more expensive and more necessary there. Other campuses that seem much larger to me would include Arizona State, Illinois, Ohio State, and Texas A&M (where my oldest son goes to school). Other good comparisons to Iowa State for me would be Purdue and Arizona. Both campuses are pretty walkable (and the engineering colleges are centrally located).
Michigan is obviously a great school (I got my MBA there), but it’s much more of an urban campus like Texas and Cal Berkeley. Engineering is located on North Campus, a significant bus ride from central campus, the restaurants, and clubs. The football stadium is then well south of central campus. Even an old guy like me was able to walk from Iowa State stadium parking to my son’s dorm.