Transfer admission - Math and MIS majors at ISU

Hello all. Californian here with ties to Iowa (UI) from ~30 years ago as an International grad student in Mech Eng. But I digress.

Have 3 questions, all TRANSFER admission related:

  1. Daughter wants out of CA! Wants no part of UC or CalState systems if she can help it. Encouraged her to apply to IA state for a transfer, she is has 2 years from Community college. Hard worker, but average GPA 3.14 - just "bad luck" C's with about 4 classes of the 14 she took. Borderline, but I think she will get admitted. Comments?
  2. I know programs in Engineering / Comp Sci at ISU and even UI are excellent, but not sure how Math and Management Info Systems are (I do realize MIS is in the School of Business). Any inputs on the quality of these two programs at ISU? I think that for the most part good Engineering/CS programs almost always imply equally good Math/IS programs. Would appreciate thoughts on the quality of these programs if you are familiar with them.
  3. How soon do they notify transfer once the app materials are all in? I am disappointed with the status they provide online for the app. Transfer admission notifications are not on the same schedule as freshman admission.

Greatly appreciate your time!

@PlainSimpleDad - This is not a particularly active board and I have not seen many if any discussions about transfer admissions.

Sorry, I cannot answer any of your questions specifically. My youngest son is a freshman from Arizona, studying materials engineering. He absolutely loves Iowa State and based on our visits and phone calls with him, we think he made a great choice. He’s in the Freshman Honors Program and made the Dean’s list first semester.

Good luck to your and your daughter! Based on what I’ve been reading and a lengthy discussion with a California OOS parent (Berkeley graduate), I understand completely why you want to escape from the UCal and CalState systems.

@Beaudreau - Congratulations on your son’s achievement so far. It is always very nice to know of youngsters doing well. I am sure he will come out with flying colors at Graduation.

I do think ISU is a great school. Very underrated and gets lost among the Midwest greats - Minnesota, UIUC, Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin. No slouch school at all, especially STEM. Neither is Iowa at Iowa City. I also hear decent things from Nebraska at Lincoln.

Appreciate your wishes for our daughter. California is in a spiral down, nowhere more evident in the Cal States and now UCs too. Once the torch bearers of education in the USA, UCs are now are badly affected by this social entitlement cancer. I think Silicon Valley is holding it up, but that discussion is a digression.

@PlainSimpleDad - My son at ISU has two older brothers, one a sophomore at Miami (Ohio) majoring in biomedical engineering and one a Junior at Texas A&M majoring in aerospace engineering. We visited in total 21 colleges starting when my oldest was a junior in high school. Cal Berkeley is a very highly rated engineering school, so we combined a short family vacation to the Bay area with visits to Cal and Stanford.

Cal was an incredible disappointment. Coming up from the BART station we were confronted with blocks of homeless camped on the sidewalk. It was difficult to thread our way through them to get to campus. The campus is in a lovely setting, but overall looked pretty run-down. On our tour, the student guide enthusiastically showed us where various demonstrations had taken place over the years. When we passed by the engineering buildings, she sort of waved that way and said “over there is the engineering complex.” Most parent questions concerned whether their kids would be safe at Berkeley and a good bit of the tour focused on campus safety, so it seems the guides were programmed to discuss safety.

I did like the little on-campus parking lot “Reserved for Nobel Laureates.”

@Beaudreau Ah! A family of Engineers! Very nice. I wish all of them a great future!

Berkeley baffles me! On the one hand Engineering and overall academic quality elsewhere also is second to none, but on the other hand, socially, it is left of Lenin - that school might as well be in Moscow!

Updates-

D got into IA State for Math. Admissions counselor we worked with is an outstanding lady, got the app processed really fast. Very helpful, very responsive. Will visit early April. Awaiting financial award info.

@PlainSimpleDad - Congratulations! PM me if you have any questions. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll fake it.