<p>Hiya everyone! I received a pretty nice scholarship package from UI and am highly considering attending...I would major in Pharmacy and I heard that their pharmacy school is really nice. The only problem is, people have been telling me that it's in the middle of nowhere, that there's nothing to do, and that cornstalks can be seen everywhere. I've also been accepted to USC, UCLA, Purdue, UNC-Chapel Hill so it may be quite a contrast location-wise. While Iowa is a nice school, I really really would want a semi-lively campus with places to go to have fun! If anyone would give me an unbiased opinion of this, that'll be great!</p>
<p>My brother graduated from ui and im about to go there. </p>
<p>He is what I can tell. No it’s not a major city. But it isn’t bum**** nowhere. Iowa city is a college town with tons of bars coffee shops and small music venues catering to students. Plus it’s a university of 20000 plus so finding something to do will not be a problem. **** it was even ranked #9 by playboy In national party schools. </p>
<p>Plus the hawkeyes are a major program I. Football and basketball. Not to mention the national presence they command in wrestling. </p>
<p>If you want an urban school with big city attractions then yes ui would be a bad fit. But it’s a big school with a big party scene and no shortage of clubs and teams and activities. It’s just a great college town</p>
<p>Plus don’t hAte on cornfields, it’s probably Americas most important crop. Considering we eat it, use it as a sugar substitute, make ethanol, and feed it to our livestock</p>
<p>Seriously there is no shortage of things to do. Plus have you ever been to Iowa or the Midwest. Nicest most genuine people you will ever meet. I am from Texas and we are supposed to be friendly. No iowans put us to shame. Just great people. However be prepared for intense cold. Like below zero cold</p>
<p>The campus is very pretty and Iowa City is a great town. You would be hard pressed to find a better place to major in Pharmacy.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Iowa City council recently changed the laws and now anyone under the age of 21 cannot be in a bar or club after 10:00 p.m. This has put a huge damper on weekend activities if you’re not of legal age. </p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman there and is getting frustrated because she’s really sick of house parties and hanging out in the dorms on Friday and Saturday nights. She’s not a big party girl but would like to be able to go out dancing or just have a fun place to hang out with her friends on the weekend. </p>
<p>Hopefully the university and the council members will persuade someone to open up some 18 and older clubs to give students options other than getting drunk at house parties. </p>
<p>Her friends from high school are spread out throughout the country and they are all able to go out and socialize in the local establishments. Of course if they get caught drinking they get arrested and fined, as it should be.</p>
<p>Repeating what Kmac68k12 wrote, the people are friendly. The football season is the best time of the year, and it can get very cold and windy in the winter.</p>
<p>Kmac hit it on the nose. We visited Northwestern, IL Wesleyan, U/IL, & U/Chicago. Wherever we went, we said, “hello” to students on campus. Without a doubt, Iowans are the friendliest, nicest people you’d ever want to meet. Other places, they just kept their heads down and continued walking. The school spirit in Iowa City is also noteworthy. We live in Illinois and go out there regularly for football games and stage shows. Our daughter has made great friends out there and is graduating this year with a wonderful job working for a successful manufacturing company. Absolutely no regrets…</p>
<p>Lovemykids2, that bar thing in IC is definitely a two-way street. Wife and I attended in the 70’s when the drinking age was 18, so there was no problem at that time. D1 attended, joined a sorority, had a famously good time, graduated with honors in 2009 & is now in med school.</p>
<p>But during those years she was there we saw the hypocrisy of the law at that time that allowed 19-20 year olds IN the bars but couldn’t drink…supposedly. What would happen, of course, is that the 18-year-olds would get fake ID’s–which were readily available–and the 19-20 year olds would get a 21-year-old to buy beer for them. And because the bars were doing land-office business, it was definitely a nod-nod-wink-wink thing…but occasionally the IC police would come in undercover and bust a few kids at $300 per ‘ticket’, then everything would go on per normal.</p>
<p>NOW…I guess there is talk to repeal the law banning under-21’s because business has really dropped off. Well, hello–when you’re 21 or over, for the most part by that time the bar scene has lost its luster, so the bars’ clientele were the under-21’s anyway. When D1 was there & we’d come up on Parents’ Weekend, I will admit it was fun to go out (EARLY!) to some of these bars–especially the Piano Lounge–with other parents & students, but heck, we’d be heading back to the hotel before midnight for sure. That kind of business is gone for sure.</p>
<p>On the other hand, is the present situation with the house parties any better? Is there less or more binge drinking? For those students predispositioned towards that, it makes no difference whether they’re having someone else buy pitchers at a bar or they’re tapping a keg and playing beer pong at someone’s house.</p>
<p>Personally I think the bar situation in Iowa City needs to be weeded out (maybe bad choice of words!) anyway. In the downtown quadrant, I will bet you there are 3 times the bars than there were in the late '70’s. Is there 3 times the drinking now? I don’t think so–we did our damage back then. But there were many, many more quaint shops & restaurants downtown then than there are presently. Maybe–if this law doesn’t get repealed–things will turn back that way. Downtown is vibrant now, it could even be better. Or maybe I’ve just turned a little older…:)</p>
<p>That being said, OP, the University of Iowa is a wonderful place to spend your college years. Friendliest campus in the Big Ten, top-notch in many majors–including Pharmacy–and you will meet lifelong kindred spirits. Don’t let my explanation of the bar scene dissuade you in any way. Kids find a way to drink & have fun & you will too. Enjoy becoming a Hawkeye if that’s your decision!</p>
<p>Jnm123,</p>
<p>Thanks for your comments. The drinking age was 18 when I was in college and truthfully, binge drinking was uncommon. There wasn’t a reason to pre-game and most kids drank beer, which filled us up well before anyone could reach the point of needing a stretcher to leave the bar. By the time my friends and I turned 21 we were over the party scene and focused on building our careers. </p>
<p>I was in Iowa City this weekend to begin moving kiddo out of her dorm. The town was vibrant up until about 9:00 p.m., then it died. Not at all like it was when we visited before the 21 laws were put in place. </p>
<p>More boutiques and restaurants would certainly enhance the city, I’m not a big fan of bars being the main attraction to the pedestrian mall. However, the city has to find something for the under 21 crowd to do on weekends. </p>
<p>I hope they do repeal the 21 law because I think that house parties are much more dangerous. The only thing to do at a house party is drink, and those parties don’t have bouncers to prevent fights or worse. It would be nice if the young “adults” were treated as such. It’s sad that they can’t go out after 10:00 p.m. to play pool, listen to music, or dance without being fined a ridiculous amount of money. </p>
<p>My daughter is not a drinker, I know this because her brother thinks that she’s boring (he’s the one who will turn my hair gray). But, she does like to socialize and be where the action is. Sadly, her freshman year has been all about hanging out in apartments and watching people do beer bongs and shots. She’s usually back in her dorm room by the early evening watching a movie. </p>
<p>My family loves the U of Iowa for many reasons, and we’re rabid Hawkeyes fans. I just think that the city council needs to understand that they have done more harm than good with the 21 law.</p>
<p>Interesting insights, lovemykids2, and really something that needs to be addressed going forward.</p>
<p>You have to think that some savvy IC businesspeople have already thought about opening an 18-and-over club. So what’s the holdback? I don’t religiously read the Daily Iowan or the IC Press-Citizen, but I would guess it’s either the potential businesses can’t handle the liability of the 18-20 year olds that would no doubt ‘pre-game’ or sneak booze in, which kind of promotes binge drinking anyway, or that the city council wants to clean up downtown. </p>
<p>Or…it could be the University in conjunct with the city council have decided that if the state law is no alcohol under 21, then that’s it, no more hypocrisy despite all those $300 tickets into the city coffers. And maybe they’re also saying that the house parties that lead to fights & crimes are ‘less’ their responsibility, which definitely would be a wrong assessment.</p>
<p>I mean, in the years D1 was there ('05-'09), it was pretty wild the few nights I was on the pedestrian mall after midnight, with stumbling, bumbling undergrads winding their way back to the dorms. All pretty harmless of course, but not exactly a showcase for the UI as a whole either. </p>
<p>We’re from suburban Chicago, with many, many students attending my alma mater, and despite my love for UI & Iowa City in general, it has gotten a rep–maybe deserved–for undergrad drinking to excess, more than most universities.</p>
<p>The two of you have made some interesting observations.</p>
<p>My son is finishing his first year and, I have to say, when I read that IC went 21+ I mostly said, meh. If a 19 couldn’t legally drink in the bars previously, what difference does it make? I figured the law would just save many 19s from getting ticketed for illegal drinking or use of fake ID.</p>
<p>But it’s undoubtedly true that the bars still function as a gathering place for 19s to NOT drink but still have fun, a function now underserved by any institutions in IC, and LMK2’s daughter is proof of that.</p>
<p>I don’t actually know how my son spends his weekends and I’m not sure he’d tell me about frat or house parties he attends if he WAS attending them. Mostly he talks about watching Netflix or playing video games in the dorm. Sounds boring to me, but my wife reminds me that staying close to the dorm is a typical frosh behavior. It’s impossible for me to gauge whether his experience is being helped or harmed by the current law.</p>
<p>I don’t read the Daily Iowan online religiously, but I do see enough to know that the downtown business owners are concerned and are presently meeting to try to re-invent downtown. And to do more than simply go back to the old bar law is probably a good idea. I guess I agree with both of you in thinking this new law is dumb, but I’m hoping that having it will force IC’s downtown community to take a broader view of its future rather than the knee-jerk reaction of just going back to 19+.</p>
<p>Beastman—this goes back 30+ years, but back in the days when Iowa City was 18 to drink, I have NO idea whether there is a correlation but there was a plethora of great music venues that does not exist presently. Maxwell’s, C.O.D.'s, Gabe & Walker’s, The Mill, The Sanctuary. All these places had local, regional & national acts doing the major college circuit in the jazz, blues, bluegrass, folk, and rock arenas. And I’m not even talking about the major concerts at the Field House or Hancher. Killer stuff. You could walk from your dorm or apartment & see a great show with a couple of beers and some food.</p>
<p>I gotta think that the live acts went out when the bar proprietors realized they could make more money selling designer beers and those cockamamie shots of God-knows-what to the underclassmen. Now they can reap what they’ve sown.</p>
<p>Funny story–one Parent’s Weekend my wife and I were at one of these newer clubs with another set of parents, and the other dad ordered a seven-and-seven. Not only did the waitress not know what it was, but the bar didn’t even carry Seagram’s 7! We laughed like hell…times have changed.</p>
<p>Times have completely changed. I went to UW Madison and graduated in 1983 and every single weekend we were in the clubs and bars listening to music. The Union booked acts as well. Neither of my kids (19 & 17) have ever, as far as I know, seen a band perform live apart from at some street festival by accident. I personally don’t think live music has much relevance today, any more than buying an entire album on CD or vinyl does. It’s too bad.</p>
<p>I have to say that I still think IC is a great college town even though I haven’t spent much time there. I mean, it has a fair number of independent boutique-y retailers, NO chain retail that I recall, a lot of inexpensive ethnic restaurants, a handful of treehugger locavore-esque restaurants and outdoor perfomances (right?) when the weather’s decent. I guess I think it’s sad to think the town is DOA without bars letting 19s in. Something tells me these kids aren’t super-resourceful about making use of what’s going on. I have NEVER heard my son mention seeing an act or comedian at the Union, or watching an indie flick on campus. But he seems happy there, so I guess it all works out.</p>
<p>You’re right. Funny you should mention Madison, 'cause my other daughter’s there now, and she’s a definite non-partier but seems to make it work fine at ANOTHER Big Ten school known for partying till it’s coming out your ears. But it just seems like there more in the way of arts & things to do downtown there on State Street than downtown IC. Maybe not though. And you may very well be right about the resourcefulness, or lack of such, among these danged kids.</p>
<p>But here’s where the difference is–WE used to get together at places to talk and BS & figure out what to do or where to go next–NOW they text and poke and they’ve got it all figured out before they leave their room so there’s no reason to convene. Could it be that there just isn’t a market for these under-21’s to get together if they’re not drinking?!</p>
<p>I like our way better…:)</p>
<p>Beastman and Jnm123,</p>
<p>Times have changed, I’m not going to say that they are better or worse or I’ll end up sounding like my mother twenty-five years ago :)</p>
<p>I too went to school in Madison, spent most weekend nights at the Kollege Klub or at my husband’s fraternity house! Great times!!! </p>
<p>Madison has always been known as a party school, ranked right up there with UI. Indiana, Michigan State, and most of the Big 10 schools have party school reputations. When my DD’s friends were home during break she listened to them talk about going out dancing and hanging out at the bars. Like I said, she’s not a big drinker, but she feels like she’s missing out on a little bit of the college experiences her friends are having. </p>
<p>I live in a suburb of Chicago and it’s not the party school reputation that hurts UI, it’s the fact that it’s easy to get admitted, although when I look at the Naviance scattergrams for our high school that is changing. </p>
<p>When I hear a kid, or parent, say that Iowa is easy I can’t help but correct them. I tell them that it may not be as difficult to get into as Madison or Michigan, but it’s not easy to stay there. The rigor of courses is just as difficult as the other schools. And, nobody can duplicate Hawkeye spirit!</p>
<p>It would be nice if IC would repeal the 21 law. I don’t think it’s helped, and hearing the stories my daughter tells me, it may have made binge drinking worse. It certainly has pushed it underground.</p>
<p>I used to take a ride down to IC from Madison for a little change of scenery. Nice mid-sized college town with a good mix of funky local stores and national chains. Far from flat too. I like IC and if the weather were warmer I’d consider it for retirement.</p>
<p>LMK2, you are correct about Iowa being a school that’s fairly easy to be admitted (and get a decent scholarship if the stats add up) but it is equally easy for the wheels to come off if you’re not careful. Son of close friends chose Iowa and was back home at community college in 3 semesters. Back in the dark ages 
a pal of mine flunked out at winter break but still had his apartment, couldn’t sublet it & I didn’t even realize it until halfway through the spring when I asked him why he never had any books with him!</p>
<p>Yeah Barrons, Iowa City would be a sweet place to retire, especially if you had a part-time easy gig with the University to cover expenses. Those tree-lined streets on the east side of campus are idyllic.</p>
<p>Hey, are we off-topic here? Hah!</p>
<p>I also think the 21 ordinance could have easily been avoided. Underage drinking will be more prominent in house parties now and for those who do not party every week there may be less social opportunities. Recently I have notice a increase in students downtown.
Although I enjoy myself here I do feel like the city council fail to recognize the students, especially the mayor. Not sure why. </p>
<p>Sorry for the quick post ( was trying to make a quick reply to comments using phone), will return to.elaborate more.</p>