January 2016 Iowa State visit

We recently returned from a full-day visit at ISU. Overall, we were left with a very good impression of the school.

Besides the usual general information, our day included a session on the university honors program, a tour of two residence halls, complimentary lunch in the main dining hall, an engineering campus tour (led by a group of students with different engineering majors), a session on music ensembles, and an electrical and computer engineering info session and building tour. Other than the engineering campus tour, all of the sessions we attended included both current students and faculty or administrative representatives.

One thing we really appreciated was that everyone we met was just very accessible, helpful, personable, etc. Student guides always made an effort to make conversation with prospective students and to make them feel welcome. I think my son could really see himself fitting in with them.

The campus is very attractive and has the usual mix of old and new buildings one would expect. The freshman dorm we visited was far from fancy, but was similar to others we’ve seen.

I was very impressed that we were able to meet with so many people and get so much information on just a regular, general visit day. For three of the sessions we attended, we were the only family present, so we were able to get all of our questions answered and lots of personal attention. ISU really does a great job with their visits, especially when compared to what is available daily at other large, state schools we’ve visited.

Even as an OOS student, ISU will provide the best “bang for the buck” of all the schools on my son’s list. While that’s not the only consideration, it is an important factor.

For anyone out there considering a visit, we thought this one was definitely worth our time.

We had a similar very positive experience visiting ISU. It jumped to the top of my son’s list. We know others who have chosen to attend there also, over other large ‘higher ranked’ universities, and had great experiences. My daughter was recently there visiting a friend and did find that it was a very friendly place. The campus was beautiful and safe.

I have worked with many awesome ISU educated engineers. They are sought after by the companies for which I have worked.

Our visit from Arizona also went very well last October. After all our visits, my son has MSU and ISU tied for first, followed by Alabama, Arizona State, and Arizona. He likes ISU engineering best of the group. He likes MSU’s campus slightly better than ISU’s. Alabama would be cheapest after his scholarships. The other four schools are very close, cost-wise. I graduated from Michigan State, but I would be very happy with any of them.