CARNEY, Office of Auditor of State State of Iowa Auditor Iowa Form

Well it's been a long time since I've been there, so excuse me if I'm out of date or misremember things.Iowa State University (my alma mater) has schools for engineering, veterinary medicine and agriculture.   University of Iowa has schools for medicine and law.At a broad level, University of Iowa is better at liberal arts and has a well-known writing program (amongst many other things).  Due to the fact that its professional programs are more prestigious and high paid, it is frequently viewed as the more prestigious school.   The University of Iowa also has better life sciences that tie into medicine too.  The University of Iowa has a pretty good astronomy department.Iowa State University has good physical science programs and good life sciences that tie into agriculture.  Iowa State has a pretty good physics department.In terms of culture, students at the University of Iowa are generally more liberal than those at Iowa State University (both socially and politically).  Ames, where Iowa State is located, is a smaller town than Iowa City, where the University of Iowa is located.  Iowa City is the former capital of Iowa and the school is proud to have the old state capitol.  Iowa City is also closer to Chicago (about 3.5 hours away) and so it picks up more of that culture, where as Ames is 40 minutes from Des Moines which is a pretty small place.  There is a fairly strong rivalry between the two universities. But I don't think it's particularly hostile.

I would think about what you are looking to get out of your experience. I attended engineering at Iowa and would highly recommend it even though most would say go to Iowa State for engineering. Iowa State is more rural and there seems to be less to do and hence more emphasis on fraternities. The campus is gorgeous and I think it comes across more peaceful and chill. Iowa State has an excellent reputation with employers in terms of design, architecture, and engineering. There is a lot going on in Iowa City and you can easily get distracted. It is a fun school and some of the student body doesn’t seem to really care about academics. They are just there to get a degree. I suppose that is true everywhere. Iowa has an excellent reputation in health, medicine, and writing. Their engineering program is also terrific. I think the difference lies in their settings and surroundings. Iowa City comes across pretty urban, very liberal, and more diverse even though it is a small town and Ames seems more rural, less diverse, and probably a bit more conservative. Trust your gut and choose the place that you think you fit in best and a place where you feel you can make friends easily. I really don’t think you can wrong with either one. Good luck!

Thanks for the A2A, Mohamed! $15,000 is a 25% tuition scholarship; that’s very good! Many schools don’t offer financial aid to foreign students at all. I think you should be happy.Your stats are strong—1350 is 91st percentile on SAT—so you may have been able to get a greater amount of money at a small private college, but whether that would have made your education more affordable is a question. Most small private colleges are more expensive than a state flagship like ISU. Average tuition there is about $40,000, compared with $20,000 for out-of-state at ISU, so even with a 50% scholarship at such a college, it would be less expensive to go to ISU.

In state and out of state cost will be similar for both with out of state cost much higher. I don’t believe the state schools of Iowa have any recipicol agreement with any border states to reduce out of state cost. In state cost for Iowa State or Iowa will run about 19,000 a year

I graduated from Iowa State in May 2016. I studied at Iowa State for 2 years. I came in as an exchange student from India and loved the environment so much that I decided to transfer.Before continuing with my reasons to transfer, I would like to say that everything at Iowa State does seem to be about money like Kyle Roode said. The university seems to be very focused on making money in any way they can. Another thing about Iowa State that was hard for me to adjust to was the weather which is very cold.Moving to the good things:The labs (I am a computer engineer and hence, talking about computer labs): I loved the labs. Most of the labs were related to the course material and planned very thoughtfully to enhance the learning. The infrastructure of the physical labs definitely needed upgrade as the hardware was old and broke down frequently. However, recently, I have heard that they have made some major changes in that area.Professors and classes: This is a tricky one. Depending on the professor, either your life can be heaven or hell. Ratemyprofessor reviews are mostly true and certainly very helpful in deciding which class to take with which professor. Most professors though are ready to spend extra hours outside class to help you with study material. However, there are some bitter nuts. Computer engineer and computer science classes are heavily application based (lab based). They have interesting material and require hours of work outside classes and labs.Exams: Most professional classes are project based instead of exam based which means that projects influence the grade more than exams. However, most classes do have about 2 exams. Classes in the first two years of engineer (basic science and math classes) do have more exams and are not project based.Tutoring: I think that Iowa State has a huge tutoring culture. International students and women in science and engineering can get one subject free each semester. Tutoring services are always employing good students to help all the students perform better in their studies.Clubs and activities: During the period of good weather, there are a lot of out door activities taking place everyday. Students relax in the campanile on their hammocks and play frisbee with their friends. It is a delightful sight. The autumn is the most beautiful season at Iowa State. There are many clubs at Iowa State as well. Each semester they organize an event where students can browse through all the clubs.Sports: I have literally no idea about this. However, I dont really think that the football team is very good.People: Everyone is super friendly and always ready to help.Advisers: I think I would have probably died without my academic adviser. She was a life saver. She helped me understand the system (I was an international transfer student so their was a bit of a learning curve) and also helped me conquer it.Campus: The campus is beautiful and full of life. We see all the seasons (mainly winter) and the fall is beautiful. We have a lot of squirrels and rabbits running around the campus. The art work is unique and meaningful as well.Restaurants: There are definitely some great ones out there but I am not going to take any names because I dont want to turn this into an advertisement but I do have a favorite Chinese place, Brazilian place (dead giveaway), Italian place (obvious again) and a Mexican place.Safety Escort: From evening 6pm to morning 6am, the safety escort service ensures that you get home safely. This service was the only reason I could stay on campus till as late as I wanted.Welch/Downtown/etc: There are some good bars out there and most places have a great university feel to them, especially if they are located on Welch.Transportation with Ames: Cyride is pretty great, especially with the app, it makes it super easy to track the buses. The buses are also free with the student ID which makes travel by cyride very budget friendly.Transportation in general: There are a few cab companies out there but they are expensive. Moreover, uber is very limited. Transportation to places like Des Moines is available but again, is expensive.Overall, my experience at Iowa State was very positive. I enjoyed my time there and made a lot of good friends.

I study electrical engineering at Iowa State.Iowa State is known for its engineering program, while U of I is more known for its medical program.Here are a few links that would help you out with the hard numbers.The Best Electrical Engineering Schools ( in iowa and rest of the country)Outcomes, Salaries & Demographics ( iowa state)Electrical and Computer Engineering (university of iowa)