<p>My visit is scheduled for later this month, flight and rental car booked. We will arrive the day before our tour. Can anyone recommend a hotel near campus? I know there is one on campus (Iowa House?) and someone in Admissions suggested the Sheraton since it is in the heart of things and a fun area to walk around. </p>
<p>Also, any recommended places to eat? Thanks everyone! We are excited about this trip.</p>
<p>Iowa House is the University-run hotel in the IMU (Memorial Union). It’s been recently renovated from Soviet-bloc style to modern and is typical Holiday Inn type accomodations. It does have a free but ordinary breakfast bar and free parking. I do like it because it’s a University property and thus is part of the school.</p>
<p>Sheraton is indeed right downtown and near the “ped mall,” ideal for walking around and only 5mins from the campus buildings you’ll be visiting. Rooms are OK; generic convention hotel type stuff. Right next door is the slightly posher hotelVetro, which has very nice rooms, very contemporary, and equipped with frig and coffee maker. You pay for overnight parking at both these hotels.</p>
<p>As for food, Iowa City is pretty heavy on bar and grill fare but I can recommend two places. For Mexican and pleasant seating outdoors on the ped mall, there is Mondo’s. For a nicer dinner in a really gorgeous setting there is Orchard Green. Slightly off campus. For quick, simple breakfast and coffee there is The Wedge. Also does pizza but never had it. There are some other nice-looking spots downtown but I haven’t been to them. You could canvas the whole downtown area (for restaurants) in a half-hour walk.</p>
<p>I don’t recall if you’d covered this base already but I urge you to set up an appointment in your son or daughter’s intended area of study. Unfortunately the standard visit and tour is pretty short and will not bowl you over, unless it’s been changed since I was there. Our additional meeting was in the Engineering College and it was awesome. Not sure this is true of every dept on campus but worth checking out.</p>
<p>Iowa City is great in the summer. You’ll really enjoy your visit.</p>
<p>@beastman: Thank you as always for your feedback. In my past college visits with my other kids, we have generally tried to stay overnight on campus if that college offers accommodations. It helps to add some more insight. However, that advantage may not apply during the summer when the campus is mostly empty. Also, since the area surrounding campus seems to be part of the attraction of UI, I am thinking that staying in town may be better. Is it an easy walk to the Iowa Memorial Union from the Sheraton?</p>
<p>We did set up one meeting after the tour and information session with someone in Dance. (D is interested in that as a Minor). She is still undecided as to her major so there is unfortunately no department to reach out to. We are hoping to meet directly with an Admissions Counselor. D is a little short at this time of the RAI score for OSS students, they require a 255 and D is anywhere from 5-7 points short at this time so we want to learn more about the process and anything she can do to improve her chances of being accepted. The RAI is a new concept for us. Thanks again, always appreciate your feedback!</p>
<p>It is impossible for me to imagine her not getting accepted because of a few RAI points. There is a generous appeal process. They want your nice OOS $$.</p>
<p>You will see lots of students on campus but agreed, it will not bustle quite like during the year. My son has spent each of his three summers in Iowa City. He’s never come home! (except visits, of course).</p>
<p>Time to walk from IMU to Sheraton: 15mins. I think you’re right in choosing Sheraton as the IMU probably will be pretty empty during summer while the ped mall will be hopping. There is some pretty good boutique-type shopping downtown in addition to a nationally-known bookstore, vinyl record store, etc.</p>
<p>Just got back from orientation. S is going in the fall from MA. Stayed at the Sheraton. Its really nice, clean and in a perfect location. I don’t think you can go wrong with that. No one restaurant stood out but their are many to choose from. </p>
<p>Have a D that goes to Michigan and of course people rave about Ann Arbor. I think AA is great but imo iowa city is the better college town.</p>
<p>@beastman: I hope you are right about the RAI score, she is so close and I can already sense that she has high hopes for UI. As I mentioned earlier, I was ready to cancel the Iowa trip since I did not want her to fall in love with a college that was a real reach. However, a very nice person in Admissions said she was “on the cusp” and encouraged that we make the visit. They stated that she might not be an automatic admit, likely deferred, but that could be changed once they review her official high school transcripts and she submitted a personal essay. The next day we received my D’s ACT results and they were higher than expected. When I relayed the new ACT score to the person in Admissions, she stated that was very helpful and would improve her chances of an automatic admit, not a guarantee but much better odds. Our high school does not rank so we can’t really conduct an accurate RAI on our own. </p>
<p>@Bigdoglover: I appreciate the feedback of a fellow New Englander. Thank you and good luck to your son.</p>
<p>You have to eat at Shorts. Best burger in town. Also, if you call your high school and ask for a rank they may have it. It is always worth a try.</p>
<p>The Admissions Counselor that handles Connecticut contacted us today to let us know that she would would schedule a meeting with my daughter during our campus visit. My D is excited by the opportunity and hopes to be able to distinguish herself and possibly gain an advocate on her behalf in Admissions. I am guessing that the meeting is more informative than evaluative but it can only help if they remember her when the applications start coming in, especially with her RAI slightly lower than the minimum for OSS students.</p>
<p>Now she is nervous about the interview and has to prepare her resume sooner than she would have liked. More upside though than downside.</p>
<p>BobbyCT, of course I am not an insider but based on my arm’s-length experience here on CC I cannot imagine your daughter being denied if her RAI is within 15 points of the threshold. And my hunch is that the interview IS evaluative. Their processes just aren’t that rigorous. I know that if you don’t meet the threshold for the Honors program you shoot over an email explaining why you want “in” and, generally speaking, you’re in.</p>
<p>I do believe she’ll find an advocate. Even though the school is large our own experience has been that if you ask for individualized help or consideration, you get it. I badgered my son’s poor rep endlessly and she very graciously set up an overnight visit, chaperone and class visit JUST FOR HIM. Imagine the screwing around she had to do for one kid. So my hunch is that if she can show some enthusiasm and some prospects for good academics she’ll be golden. </p>
<p>And remember that Iowa has been making a concerted effort in the past 3-4 years to recruit OOS students. I remember reading a statement of Michael Barron’s to that effect.</p>
<p>A fascinating Q and A with Admissions Director Michael Barron can be found here (start at bottom of page):</p>
<p>[IOWAQ-AND-A</a> - The Choice Blog - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/iowaq-and-a/]IOWAQ-AND-A”>iowaq-and-a - The Choice Blog - The New York Times)</p>
<p>I just wanted to thank everyone for their feedback. It helped me organize this trip. We have a full day planned on campus next week with an admissions presentation, campus tour, meetings with a few departments and a meeting with D’s Admissions Rep. It will be a long but comprehensive day.</p>
<p>Since we are attending the ISU open house the day before, it should be a very interesting contrast. I am looking forward to hearing D’s impressions Once again, thanks!</p>
<p>I look forward to hearing about your visit! You will find the vibe of ISU and Iowa very different, I think.</p>
<p>And since you’ve got two huge days back to back, I suggest you make some notes after each day to keep everything straight. Really, after a week or two the whole episode will become one big glob in your brain and you’ll find yourself wondering “which one had the really cool dorm? What was the name of it?” etc.</p>
<p>Something I wish I had done is take pictures of notable things on the campuses we have visited–another way to keep things straight. </p>
<p>Looking forward to hearing what you and your daughter think of both schools.</p>
<p>Really looking forward to your review as my oldest daughter just graduated from Iowa and I graduated from Iowa State. If you want a little fancier dinner the Linn Street Caf</p>
<p>We made it to Hickory Park late last night for dinner. Good lord! We won’t be able to eat for another day. My daughter has been in a food coma since we got back and I am awaiting for her to emerge from her hibernation so we can run over to campus. We had a rough trip, huge delays, and got here hungry after 10 hours of traveling. That is the place to go when you are hungry. </p>
<p>I am just hoping that the weather cooperates with us. It is raining on and off with likely scattered thunderstorms forecast for today and tomorrow.</p>
<p>My apologies. I meant to post the Hickory Park comment that on the ISU thread.</p>
<p>BobbyCT, how were your visits?</p>
<p>@beastman: Our visits went very well and we are glad we visited. My daughter applied and was accepted into ISU and also submitted her application to UIowa. She won’t hear any news if she was accepted until next week since they don’t start processing applications until August.</p>
<p>I don’t think we would find two schools that are so different, particularly in the same state, than ISU and UIowa. My D’s first impression of UIowa was not very good. We arrived the night before her visit and walked from the Sheraton to campus. The Ped Mall was filthy with litter and it was relatively empty with the exception of some unruly kids and a few drunks. We walked around campus a little that night but D wanted to return to hotel. She did not want to tour UIowa the next day but I told her to keep an open mind and that we should tour campus. I also reminded her that the Ped Mall was not the campus. We went to the tour the next morning and we are very glad we did.</p>
<p>I was very impressed with the mix of quality academics, athletics and a great art scene. I don’t often see that combination. The Admissions people could not have been nicer and the academic departments that we met with were beyond helpful. D is more interested in a centralized type of campus, not urban, but she was impressed enough with UIowa to apply. She should hear something next week. I think she is on the cusp of acceptance/deferral. That may also have been a reason for her apprehension. If she is accepted, her whole attitude towards the campus may change. She said to me several times that she was frustrated that she could not find a college with the majors offered at UIowa but in an ISU type campus. We will see. At this point she is just hoping to get accepted. </p>
<p>Thanks to everyone for their feedback!</p>
<p>Wow, Interesting Bobby CT. Shows that not all New Englanders see things alike. I found “urban” to be relative I guess - more like a great campus with a little city attached. If it didn’t have that it would be a decent campus with nothing around (just our opinion).</p>
<p>Also I think you had bad luck with the cleanliness. I’ve toured 30 campuses with three kids and I think UI was probably the cleanest (and we were near the Ped Mall at times). never saw a place with so many recycling spots and places to dispose of dog poop!</p>
<p>Anyway to each his own. Never been to ISU so I can’t compare. Wish your visit was better but hopefully your D will get in both and have the choice. My S checks in at UI three weeks from Wednesday and he can’t wait!</p>
<p>@Bigdoglover: When I used the term “urban” campus for UIowa, it was strictly relative to ISU’s campus, not a traditional urban campus like NYU, Drexel, etc. </p>
<p>To clarify, the UIowa campus was spotless. My comments regarding cleanliness were in reference to the Ped Mall only. I am sure it has a whole different feel when college starts. Also, I think our visit went well. D was impressed enough to submit her application. I suspect that part of D’s apprehension about the college is based, in large part, on her belief that she may not get accepted, a classic case of the “I didn’t want them anyway” defense mechanism. Something tells me is she is accepted, her view may change. </p>
<p>Good luck to you and your son on the move in and initial transition!</p>