University of Northern Iowa? (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids: how much, high school, universities)

[golfgal]

Is anyone familiar with the school? Is it a good school, specifically for math and sciences? What is the campus like? Our high school juniors are doing their college search rounds and this was mentioned to us as a school to look into. Both of the kids are in the top 15% of their class at a top high school, 3.7 and 3.8 GPA's. They took the ACT last year as sophomores (haven't taken it as juniors yet) and scored 29 and 30. Good fit for them? They want a smaller school in a smaller town.

[Squeaky2012]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Is anyone familiar with the school? Is it a good school, specifically for math and sciences? What is the campus like? Our high school juniors are doing their college search rounds and this was mentioned to us as a school to look into. Both of the kids are in the top 15% of their class at a top high school, 3.7 and 3.8 GPA's. They took the ACT last year as sophomores (haven't taken it as juniors yet) and scored 29 and 30. Good fit for them? They want a smaller school in a smaller town.

I am an alum of UNI, and it is an excellent school for business and education majors. The School of Business is well known nationally and they have various centers that promote business venture opportunities for its students (I think). I am not sure about their math and science departments, although I believe they have a wonderful actuarial science program. If I were them, I would travel down I-35 to Iowa State, which has nationally renowned programs in the Sciences and Mathematics. My sister-in-law's brother graduated from there with his BS and MS degrees in engineering and he never struggled for employment, and I think that is because of the wonderful education in the aforementioned fields that ISU provides to its students. With ACT scores as high as theirs, I would think that they could get full rides from both schools. Also, since they are sophomores, more opportunities might arise from schools nationally that will have the small campus/small town atmosphere they seek.

UNI is located in a town of roughly 30,000 and the campus is a smidge over 12,000, and has a park-like atmosphere. I found it quite small compared to my former school, the U of Iowa, which I liked (most Big 10 schools are large, as you know with the U of M). There's not much to do on the weekends, but I was an older student, so I didn't gravitate towards the limited nightlife that was available. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls area has roughly 165,000 residents. Its a bit small, but large enough to have a mall and plenty of standard retail shops and restaurants. If they are interested in ISU, they are roughly 30 minutes from Des Moines and a metro area of just under 600,000 residents.

www.uni.edu

http://www.uni.edu/rbc/

http://www.bcs.uni.edu/jpec/

College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Squeaky2012

I am an alum of UNI, and it is an excellent school for business and education majors. The School of Business is well known nationally and they have various centers that promote business venture opportunities for its students (I think). I am not sure about their math and science departments, although I believe they have a wonderful actuarial science program. If I were them, I would travel down I-35 to Iowa State, which has nationally renowned programs in the Sciences and Mathematics. My sister-in-law's brother graduated from there with his BS and MS degrees in engineering and he never struggled for employment, and I think that is because of the wonderful education in the aforementioned fields that ISU provides to its students. With ACT scores as high as theirs, I would think that they could get full rides from both schools. Also, since they are sophomores, more opportunities might arise from schools nationally that will have the small campus/small town atmosphere they seek.

UNI is located in a town of roughly 30,000 and the campus is a smidge over 12,000, and has a park-like atmosphere. I found it quite small compared to my former school, the U of Iowa, which I liked (most Big 10 schools are large, as you know with the U of M). There's not much to do on the weekends, but I was an older student, so I didn't gravitate towards the limited nightlife that was available. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls area has roughly 165,000 residents. Its a bit small, but large enough to have a mall and plenty of standard retail shops and restaurants. If they are interested in ISU, they are roughly 30 minutes from Des Moines and a metro area of just under 600,000 residents.

www.uni.edu

http://www.uni.edu/rbc/

http://www.bcs.uni.edu/jpec/

College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences

Thanks. They are juniors now. We have been to Iowa State's campus--BEAUTIFUL campus, but just a bit too big for their liking. Our son wants to go into actuarial science so that is a good thing. Our daughter is thinking medicine. She is also a golfer so their golf program sounds like a program like she wants. They are really small town kids so 30,000 is "big" to them .

[scimitar12]

Northern Iowa is a good school that emphasizes teaching and learning a bit more than research (not that it is a bad thing). I have not heard the school being exceptional in the math and science areas but perhaps others have. ACT scores that high would merit potential scholarships from many schools, so I would encourage you to have them look at other candidates besides UNI.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by scimitar12

Northern Iowa is a good school that emphasizes teaching and learning a bit more than research (not that it is a bad thing). I have not heard the school being exceptional in the math and science areas but perhaps others have. ACT scores that high would merit potential scholarships from many schools, so I would encourage you to have them look at other candidates besides UNI.

They are looking at other schools. We have been on 5 campus visits so far, formally-given tours, etc., but they have spent time on other college campuses as well so they have a pretty good idea of what they want and don't want. University of Northern Iowa wasn't really on our radar until a friend mentioned it to us so I thought I would get some info to pass along to the kids. I think it was mainly pointed out to us because of the golf program .

[Squeaky2012]

Originally Posted by golfgal

Thanks. They are juniors now. We have been to Iowa State's campus--BEAUTIFUL campus, but just a bit too big for their liking. Our son wants to go into actuarial science so that is a good thing. Our daughter is thinking medicine. She is also a golfer so their golf program sounds like a program like she wants. They are really small town kids so 30,000 is "big" to them .

If your daughter is thinking about medicine, perhaps she should try out the University of Iowa (even though there are 30,000 students). Its an excellent city and metro area, with a highly educated population, and one of the best hospitals in the nation. IC has 65,000 residents, but there are smaller local communities, such as neighboring Coralville, and booming North Liberty, which I believe has bus service, though I may be mistaken. If they want a semblance of "city life", they can head up I-380 to Cedar Rapids (Pop: 125,000), which has a metro area of roughly 250,000 residents. Plus, its only 25 miles away.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Squeaky2012

If your daughter is thinking about medicine, perhaps she should try out the University of Iowa (even though there are 30,000 students). Its an excellent city and metro area, with a highly educated population, and one of the best hospitals in the nation. IC has 65,000 residents, but there are smaller local communities, such as neighboring Coralville, and booming North Liberty, which I believe has bus service, though I may be mistaken. If they want a semblance of "city life", they can head up I-380 to Cedar Rapids (Pop: 125,000), which has a metro area of roughly 250,000 residents. Plus, its only 25 miles away.

She wants a smaller school than that though. We will probably tour there if we go down to UNI just because they are so close but every campus we have been on that has been over 10,000 feels wrong to her. I am a big proponent of letting kids pick the best choice for themselves so I won't push her to a bigger school. They have been on the Iowa State campus, which I loved, but that was too big for their liking. We've been through Cedar Rapids many times on our way south. We have some friends that live there as well so we are semi-familiar with the area.

[Ancalagon]

Hello everyone. I have a buddy who is looking at UNI and trying to figure out potential budgets. About how much are utility costs going to be for a 1BD near campus? Anyone live near there and can give some estimates?

Thanks for any info!

[jmgg]

Originally Posted by golfgal

She wants a smaller school than that though. We will probably tour there if we go down to UNI just because they are so close but every campus we have been on that has been over 10,000 feels wrong to her. I am a big proponent of letting kids pick the best choice for themselves so I won't push her to a bigger school. They have been on the Iowa State campus, which I loved, but that was too big for their liking. We've been through Cedar Rapids many times on our way south. We have some friends that live there as well so we are semi-familiar with the area.

You might want to check out U. of South Dakota at Vermillion. It's a reasonable distance from the Twin Cities at about an even 300 miles. They have a good math department and a very good science department since this is the only college in South Dakota with a School of Medicine. Tuition will probably be less than at the Iowa public Universities (my guess).

The campus size is fairly compact for an enrollment of just over 10,000. They won't have to be track stars to move between classes. The size of the college sounds like what they're looking form.

Being kids that like a small town atmosphere, it fits what they are looking for.
Vermillion's population is the same size as the college.

www.usd.edu

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by jmgg

You might want to check out U. of South Dakota at Vermillion. It's a reasonable distance from the Twin Cities at about an even 300 miles. They have a good math department and a very good science department since this is the only college in South Dakota with a School of Medicine. Tuition will probably be less than at the Iowa public Universities (my guess).

The campus size is fairly compact for an enrollment of just over 10,000. They won't have to be track stars to move between classes. The size of the college sounds like what they're looking form.

Being kids that like a small town atmosphere, it fits what they are looking for.
Vermillion's population is the same size as the college.

www.usd.edu

We've talked about Vermillion. I've been on that campus, it's not bad. They were not all that excited about looking at the campus but maybe we will just add it to the list and go. We lived in Sioux Falls for a couple years, our kids were born there even, and really liked Sioux Falls.