jamie
I enjoy this school. Everyone is very nice and supportive. I have a lot of resources to help me in my academic success. The spirit here is great and everyone is open.
Rebekah
The University of Iowa offers some great academic programs for students who are willing to learn. On the other hand, it is also a great place for slacking students who just want to party and waste their money skipping class and drinking. Admissions are fairly easy, so you'll find a lot of people who don't care or are just plain stupid, but given it's medical programs, there's a lot of the opposite, too! If you want to succeed at Iowa, get involved, talk to your instructors and advisers, and really make an effort to get the most out of your education. If you do that, you'll find that the university offers a lot of great resources and there are a lot of people out there that want to help you succeed. People are generally very friendly. Iowa City is, in my opinion, the best place to live in Iowa. It's an extremely liberal town where almost everything is in walking distance. The bars are fun (especially if you're 21), the culture is great (as it gets for Iowa), there's a wide range of restaurants and places to hang out, and people are less likely to fit the "small town" stereotype that Iowans usually get. If you want a taste of the University of Iowa, visit during football season, when school pride peaks and everyone is anxious to have a great time!
Lauren
I love Iowa! The school is definitely large, but has a small school feel. I always see people I know around campus, even though many are involved in different majors and activities. Even after moving off-campus I still see people I know pretty much everywhere I go. Football weekends are probably my favorite time of year. There is a huge sense of school pride especially seeing students and alumni all decked out in black and gold. There is nothing like the feeling as 'Back in Black' comes on in Kinnick at the beginning of a football game.
Kiley
The University of Iowa is great! I find it very easy to make friends. With all the different organizations at the University its hard to not find others with the same and similar interests as you. As you start choosing majors and you get further into your educational path, you start to see similar faces and you can make a lot of great friends within your field of study.
Drayton
It is a very unified community where everyone usually gets along and have tremendous school pride. Football games in the fall are very exciting, fans begin tailgating at dawn until the game begins. It is also very convenient how close all the classes are to each other and how close the campus is to downtown. The social and night life are second to none. The campus is a perfect size, considering how many undergraduate students there are, and has many historical aspects to it such as the Old Capitol. There are a ton different places to study such as the IMU which is open 24 hours or the various libraries on campus. The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics are recognized nationally as one of the best college hospitals. The recreation center was just built in fall 2010 and is state of the art, however the weight room is crowded all the time so it is not the best place to lift weights. I spend the majority of my time in the Pentacrest or main library during the day. There is so much to say about how wonderful the University of Iowa is in multiple aspects. I believe I made the right decision choosing this school.
Austin
This school was the perfect fit for me. I grew up in a small town so a huge school in a city exceeding more than 100,000 people would have been out of the picture for me. Iowa City is a great college town fully integrated with its community.
The school itself has well-known reputation especially its college of medicine and medicinal research facilities are top notch.
The football team here is as close to a professional sport as an Iowan can get so loyalty and school pride for the school and athletic events are huge. If not a fan you will almost be "guilted" into or peer-pressured into becoming a lifelong fan. :) Go HAWKS!
Some things I would change are the facilities and academic faculty. Some of the facilities have seen there better days but some are getting renovated for the better. As for the faculty, the math department can run into language barriers, the physics department can run into teaching abilities or lack there of, but chemistry department and engineering department have good reputations in my book.
Ariel
My overall opinion of the U of Iowa is that the entire administration really loves what they do and therefore enjoy teaching you everything they know. Their main concern is making sure you learn their material, and offer so many extra opportunities to students who need or want extra time to go over the course materials. Everyone is here to learn and the faculty and staff make it enjoyable.
Lucas
I love this school because of its affiliation with the graduate colleges and internship opportunities. If your interested in medicine or law for instance, we have one of best medical campuses in the country as well as a great law school. Its a large school, 30k+ students but it makes it more diverse which is good. Another great thing is the school pride, we love our hawkeyes and no one ever skips a home game, tailgating is a huge event every saturday. I'd say the downfall of Iowa is that its a very liberal place, and that tends to make some people uncomfortable.
Theron
I think the University of Iowa is an above average university. Most of the professors seem genuinely interested in teaching their subjects to the students. However, there are some faculty that are more interested in their other duties. If I could change anything about this school, it would be those professors that don't put forth their best effort.
The school is large, but it also offers a great community feel. Football games are a great way to connect with other people on the campus. There are also a lot of fairs and events that keep the student body feeling smaller. Some of the best events, in my opinion, are the concerts and athletic events.
Anthony
I like it at U of I for the same reasons that a lot of people do, and so overall, I'd have to recommend the school to most people. The amount of pride, energy, and activity in Iowa City is enormous at any given time. That said, for someone like me, it can be very easy to feel lost in such a large crowd. I applied for U of I before any other college and decided to attend mostly based on the volume of scholarships and financial aid I was offered. If I had the chance to go back, I would visit more small schools. I am happy at U of I but I wonder if I would have a better chance to make myself heard somewhere else, outside of my home state.