Economy in Ames and Iowa City? (universities, gated, design)

[Jay100]

Originally Posted by iowegian

Well, it doesn't snow that often. There are a few days every year (if there is a snowstorm or ice) that you aren't going to want to drive anywhere, let alone to Cedar Rapids, and you would have to call in to work. (If school is cancelled, it's probably pretty bad.) However, the vast majority of the time in winter you will be able to get to CR and back without any problems.

Of course, I'd advise that you look in Iowa City first in your job search. It's going to save you a lot of commuting time if you don't have to drive up to CR every day. If you can't find a job in Iowa City though, it wouldn't be terrible. Many people make that commute just fine.

That's great information. This past winter, I kind of monitored the Hawk Cam (pentacrest) and it looked like there was snow everywhere. Would I need to "winterize" my car and maybe buy some snow tires?

[Jay100]

Originally Posted by edsg25

Went to Iowa for a year and thought both Iowa and IC were great. Now I hope this doesn't come across as arrogant (since I am a Windy City guy), but do you think that Iowa's incredible connection with metro Chicago (huge part of the student body comes from Chicagoland and real sense of link here in the Chicago area where Iowa is considered to be right on top of where suburban high schools go to college....think of it as our own "Three I league": U of I, UI, and IU), I think Iowa City is DEFINITELY affected by its definingly strong Chicago links.

Is that true for ISU as well? If not, then why not?

[SharpHawkeye]

Originally Posted by Jay100

Is that true for ISU as well? If not, then why not?

No. Simple geography, man. Iowa City is about 3 1/2 hours out from the Chicago suburbs. Ames is over 5.

[DSMGuy]

Distance as well as the fact that Ames has more of a country/small town demographic given its ag college, vs IC with its Chicago influence.

[iowegian]

Originally Posted by Jay100

That's great information. This past winter, I kind of monitored the Hawk Cam (pentacrest) and it looked like there was snow everywhere. Would I need to "winterize" my car and maybe buy some snow tires?

I have regular tires on my car and I have not been in any accidents so far. (I'll knock on my desk now...) I'm pretty sure that most people don't have any special snow equipment for winter driving, other than maybe a blanket in the trunk in case you were to get stranded in the cold.

You just have to be really careful. Drive slower, take turns slowly, stop slowly, allow plenty of room between you and other vehicles. Low speed is really the key to winter driving. It will probably scare you (a lot) the first few times that you do it, but you will figure out what to do and you'll adjust quickly.

Plus, it snowed far more often last year than it normally does. So I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you find work in town, you could always take the bus on snowy days

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Jay100

Is that true for ISU as well? If not, then why not?

It's Big 12, not Big Ten

It's in central Iowa, not eastern Iowa

Its curriculum tends to be offerings that are less big city related, not more big city related

[DMRyan]

Originally Posted by edsg25

It's Big 12, not Big Ten

It's in central Iowa, not eastern Iowa

Its curriculum tends to be offerings that are less big city related, not more big city related

I know Ames is smack in the middle of major farm country and has it's roots heavily entrenched in agriculture, but there is much more to Iowa State University that ag. Saying the programs outside of the ag school are less big city related is silly. Engineering and major technology programs, the college of design, college of business, college of human sciences, veterinary school, etc. are all professions that are by and large clustered in population centers. U of I may have the Law and Medical program, but do not under estimate the technology and engineering sectors at ISU, which are absolutely huge.

I won't split heirs, Ames is more country than Iowa City, no doubt about it. Iowa State University isn't a small school in a one horse town either. There's surprisingly a fairly strong Chicago contingent of students that attend Iowa State University as well. I lived with plenty of em' when I attended school there. There's also a sizeable foreign population that attends school there, particularly with the Asian community. There's 28,000 students that attend ISU, not all are farmers, not all came from small towns.

[QuadCityImages]

Yeah, I've always considered ISU more of a nerd school than a farmer school. They turn out engineers and scientists faster than Ag folks.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by DMRyan

I know Ames is smack in the middle of major farm country and has it's roots heavily entrenched in agriculture, but there is much more to Iowa State University that ag. Saying the programs outside of the ag school are less big city related is silly. Engineering and major technology programs, the college of design, college of business, college of human sciences, veterinary school, etc. are all professions that are by and large clustered in population centers. U of I may have the Law and Medical program, but do not under estimate the technology and engineering sectors at ISU, which are absolutely huge.

I won't split heirs, Ames is more country than Iowa City, no doubt about it. Iowa State University isn't a small school in a one horse town either. There's surprisingly a fairly strong Chicago contingent of students that attend Iowa State University as well. I lived with plenty of em' when I attended school there. There's also a sizeable foreign population that attends school there, particularly with the Asian community. There's 28,000 students that attend ISU, not all are farmers, not all came from small towns.

You know, I'm not disagreeing with you all that much. ISU is an excellent school. And the colleges at ISU you mention do have urban appeal. As a suburban Chicagoan, I'm just aware that the more liberal arts based programs are more of a draw in Chicago. The same would be true with IU over Purdue as it would be for Iowa over ISU. We send more kids out of state to Iowa City and Bloomington than we do anywhere else.

[Jay100]

Thanks for all your input. This entire website has been a tremendous resource.