<p>Hello,
My rising senior son visited Iowa and loved it, so I have been on the website looking at some admission and money questions. </p>
<p>Does anyone have familiarity with the National Scholars Award? The website and admissions folks talk about how a sufficiently high RAI qualifies a student for the out of state merit award -- is this guaranteed merit money as long as you are above the RAI, or is there some further consideration given among qualifying candidates?</p>
<p>Next, on admission to the Honors Program, I first thought the website said that National Scholars are automatically admitted. But after another review of the information, I think I was wrong about this. Does anyone have specific information on whether the National Scholars award is a sufficient basis for admission to Honors Program? As a related matter, does anyone have experience with admission by petition to the Honors Program? My son's GPA is rising strongly after some bumps in 10th grade, so he cannot get in on his straight GPA/testing (though his test scores are high enough), but he would likely have strong recommendations about being a late bloomer, with lots of talent etc. </p>
<p>I appreciate any information you might have. Thank you.</p>
<p>MMOB,
National Scholars is awarded based on the arithmetic equation you find on the website. It’s not a huge deal - basically a means of providing some incentive to decent OOS students to come to Iowa. If your son means the criteria, he’s in, period. It doesn’t close the gap for many of us, but it’s a nice gig and it increases in proportion to tuition increases.</p>
<p>I don’t know for certain that National Scholars has anything to do with admissions to the Honors Program. I really believe they’re independent of one another, but have in common that beautiful Iowa characteristic of being remarkably simple - crunch the numbers and if yours exceeds the threshold, you’re in. My son met the ACT threshold but not the GPA and thus petitioned, as you asked about. It’s a pretty simple matter of sending an email to the director of the program (your son, that is) making his case for admission. Honors at Iowa is not an exclusive or elitist thing - they’d rather accept him than refuse him. 25% of the typical incoming class are admitted, a refreshing contrast to the uber-snotty typical honors program. I think the philosophical basis for Iowa’s program is just awesome - search “honors” on this Iowa forum and you’ll see my endless endorsements. One of the best things about it from our perspective is admission to Daum, the Honors dorm. My son is a bright kid who’s quite social and kind of a herd animal. Daum was a great opportunity to get him in the right herd - his friends are bright, motivated kids. Another nice thing with Honors is the Honors Workshops, which put your kid on campus a few days early and in small groups working on something fun and academic. A great jump start making friends and getting settled.</p>
<p>Echoing Beast’s feedback, the National Scholar program, coming on top of a reasonable OOS tuition and room & board structure, is very helpful, and pretty straightforward…I’m not sure, and do not count on it, but I think UI may be just a little flexible if your student barely misses one of the two criteria (GPA/rank or test score), but is very strong on the other, and if they still have $'s to give out. Like Beast, I also believe that the National Scholar program is less restrictive than getting into the Honors program, and that they are not directly linked. </p>
<p>In addition to the Honors program not being an elitist offering as beast indicates, I feel that way about the entire university. Our happy Hawkeye will be an OOS sophomore, and we have found the administration, faculty, students and community to be very welcoming, friendly, down-to-earth, flexible and supportive. </p>
<p>Thank you both for your insight. My son is that maddening, 17 year old male creature – very much a herd animal, so we hope he finds a home where the herd is more likely to be studying generally and making some better choices. I like the inclusiveness of the Honors program at Iowa, but didn’t have a sense of how flexible it might be. In our state flagship, there are rumors of 4.0 students who missed the testing scores for Honors who were then rejected on petition because of strict admission limits. </p>
<p>Iowa was overall a delight – beautiful campus, great college town, smaller (relatively speaking) student body and strong English/humanities departments – all with the big sports weekends my son wants. </p>
<p>Yes, one of many things we like about The University of Iowa is that Iowa City it is a nice college town with all the Big Ten type advantages (sports, art scene, shopping, etc.), yet it feels and lives like a larger liberal arts school. The relatively smaller student population compared to other large state schools (i.e. Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State) and the way the campus is organized with the river dividing the campus helps with this feel. The responsive and well-managed administration and faculty also help make the campus feel smaller and more personal. And for OOS students, it is nice that there are several nearby airports (Cedar Rapids, Moline, Des Moines), easy bus service to Chicago, etc.</p>
<p>I agree with both of you in your “best of all worlds” assessment. It’s a big university but as a freshman my son never walked more than 15mins to class. Yet because the school is large there will be opportunities for him across the river and in the hospital; research jobs, etc. Things unavailable to him at a small school.</p>
<p>Honors has a lot of structure (see their website - it’ll make you dizzy) but participation is strictly voluntary. You don’t have to do ANYTHING officially “honors” if you don’t want to.Of course your transcript won’t show “honors” if that’s the case, but it illustrates that their program is about offering kids opportunities rather than requirements. It’s extremely laid-back. From your description of your son, it’s ideal for him. Sadly, my son’s days in the Honors program were pretty short. His first semester did not yield the required 3.3 needed to stay in the program. But students are re-admitted whenever their GPA improves to that level. And in the meantime, he’s got a great bunch of bright friends who’ve helped him immeasurably with his challenging courses.</p>
<p>My son was the opposite of yours; high grades but not high enough ACT scores for the Honors program so he wasn’t in honors when he started although he was a recipient of a National Scholars Award. However, if you meet the gpa criteria after the first semester, then you are automatically in and it seems, if you don’t meet it then you are automatically out so a person can go in and out of the honors program. My son isn’t interested in doing anything in the honors program because it’s all he can do to keep up on his classwork so the only participation he has is receiving all their e-mails. </p>
<p>A friend of ours had high enough scores but not grades for honors and he petitioned and got in so it’s very doable. He needed to get into honors because he decided on Iowa so late that it was his only chance of getting housing. He did get into the Honors dorm so it worked out for him.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your information and experience, so helpful. Good to know that a student can do as much or as little with Honors as they choose and that there is flexibility in admission both as an incoming freshman and beyond</p>
<p>As parents, we greatly prefer Iowa to our own midwest flagship – for the size, the programs, the Honors program and the fact that 50 kids from his high school will not be there. I also appreciate what you are saying about a generally more flexible, and engaged administration. Not the sense we get from our flagship. </p>
<p>Of course, our 17 year old likes our flagship precisely because he could room with any one of his friends. </p>
<p>I am hoping that the stories of increasing maturity during senior year come true, so that he gains some independence and perspective as he moves through the year. He is a bright, interesting kid who comes into his own when surrounded by independent, curious kids, but a bit of a follower and comic when surrounded by kids whose priorities are partying and getting by.</p>
<p>I remind myself he will be fine, and that he will be a really interesting adult (if I don’t throttle him before he gets there).</p>
<p>MMOB,
Our sons are similar. Our temptations to murder them are similar. Our beliefs that they’ll be fine are similar.</p>
<p>When my son asked about applying to the U of MN (20mi from home), I thought for a minute, swallowed hard and said NO. No, you must go at least 200mi away (the distance I figure at which it becomes painful to come home for weekends). The distance and the separation, both from you and his HS friends, are what he needs, if you’ll pardon me offering you some unsolicited advice.</p>
<p>I don’t know where you’re from, but your posts hint strongly SUBURBAN CHICAGO to me, and you’ll find many on this forum who find Iowa a superior choice for all the reasons you mention and more. If I’m right, consider also the relatively small Greek scene at Iowa - a smaller herd (of possibly less studious lads than you’d like) than you’d find at most Midwestern flagships!</p>
<p>If your son likes school spirit and Big Ten sports, get him to a Hawkeye game and your work is done!</p>
<p>Thanks, actually we are not Illinois, but another nearby “I” state with heavy Greek scene, lots of B school students and about 1/4 of his graduating class from public school. </p>
<p>I went to college 15 minutes from home, as a financial safety, but did not see anyone I knew until I came home for Thanksgiving. I was the only one from my school to go there, however, so met lots of interesting, new people. I want this delightful young man to have to branch out – he does beautifully when outside his comfort zone, but retreats to it too readily if it is available. He should get in to two strong, affordable flagships by early fall. And then the challenge will be to encourage him to apply elsewhere even after that – in our hearts, we think he is an LAC kid, but are trying very hard to respect that, right now, he wants a big school. During the fall, we will keep taking him to visit other places on the theory that “you don’t know what you want until you can figure out what you don’t want.” </p>
<p>I adore my teenage boys, but oh, they are a challenge.</p>
<p>Thought I’d add a bit more based on your latest comments…I grew up in Chicago and attended the I school that has both the big engineering school and big B school back in the 80s. We now live on the west coast, but our oldest was very interested in the midwest and east coast, so we discussed a few schools and visited the I flagship you are referring to, plus Kansas, Iowa, and DePaul. A few east coast schools, notably UConn, Delaware and Pittsburgh were also considered. </p>
<p>After visiting the midwest schools, Iowa quickly floated to the top. All the reasons cited earlier played a role, but relative to the I school you are referring to, although your flagship Big I school is wonderful, it is very large, and while not unfriendly in any way, it just did not seem as warm, welcoming, down-to-earth and personal as Iowa. </p>
<p>Also, while the Big-I you are referring to has ~40,000 students on a monolithic, sprawling (and also beautiful) campus, at The Univ. of Iowa, as discussed above, the part of the campus for liberal arts kids is and feels much, much smaller (LAC + engineering + business). Especially for our kiddo who gets lost easily. And yet the sports scene is arguably stronger at Iowa right now given a strong football program and rebuilding bball program, whereas the Big-I school is rebuilding both. </p>
<p>So while every situation is different, to me it sounds like you are on the right track based on our experience and based on what we have seen. </p>
<p>Thank you for the additional thoughts. All of us found Iowa to be pretty amazing and my husband and I really prefer it to our own flagship. While Indiana is a lovely campus, with strong programs --10,000 more undergrads is a big difference, plus I found it rather predictable and almost ordinary. I realize that is my own bias creeping in, from frustration with son who hasn’t lifted his head much to look around. Still, during our Iowa visit he said it was his next choice after Indiana, and that he could definitely see himself there. </p>
<p>Wonderful marketing by Iowa – after a year of hearing how difficult it is to get into Indiana, our son heard about the National Scholars award during the Iowa information session, quickly sketched out his RAI and passed me a note saying that he not only can get in, but gets merit money. That was a boost for him, for sure. </p>
<p>My hope is that he gets in – by petition – to Iowa Honors, so that he really is looking at potentially different experiences. Financially, because we have university tuition benefits, the cost of in-state at home vs. OOS plus National Scholars is equal to us, at the end of the day. </p>
<p>We are fortunate to be in this area where there are such strong schools. I have to keep reminding myself that I already went to college . . . this is about him. Goodness knows, when the boys have asked for more help than I thought was appropriate on their school work, I was quick enough to say that “I had already finished 7th grade, this was their education.” As we head into this next year, I need to keep that front and center. </p>
<p>Thank you again, and wonderful to hear your son is enjoying Iowa.</p>
<p>MMOB,
My son also felt pretty good knowing that Iowa WANTED him, both in getting National Scholars and admittance into Honors. Now we all know that this is not the same as getting into Stanford but who cares? To him it meant a lot. And you know what? Iowa DID want him and he is not exceptional by any means. After he’d spent a very positive overnight experience at Marquette, his number 2 choice, I searched for the same experience at Iowa, and there wasn’t one. I contacted his admissions counselor to see if it could be arranged and two days later it was all set up. An overnight stay, a student to shadow in classes, a meeting in the engineering college. This was all off-script, not SOP. For one kid amongst thousands. You can do the same. Do it on a football weekend and you’re in.</p>
<p>You have discovered a little group of Iowa-loving parents here on the Iowa forum. I live minutes away from rwe’s “I” school and my older son goes to your “I” school and I have to say my younger son’s freshman experience at Iowa has been outstanding. We have found it to be much less “sink or swim” for the freshmen both academically and in the dorms. Not to mention my Iowa son’s dorm room was way nicer than his brother’s at IU. We really were not sure he was ready to leave home this time last year but he has excelled at Iowa and we are really pleased with his choice. My older son, of course, loves IU but his freshman year was definitely a little rockier. I just can’t believe it is almost time to move them back in! His lease starts next week so we are going to take a load of furniture over before we go on vacation.</p>
<p>Izzie (and all of you wonderful Iowa parents), thank you for your insight. We felt that Iowa was well-run, with an admissions office full of attentive, intelligent people (not our experience elsewhere). Our 17 year old will need a warm community and support, if he goes the state school route, and our sense has been that it would be more sink or swim at our own flagship. </p>
<p>We will definitely look at another visit in the fall, so he gets the Iowa full experience. Thank you all!</p>