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Sort By: [Date] [Major] [Rating] Engineering Department  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Quite Bright I've lived in Iowa City my entire life and wanted to go to the U because it would be cheap. I regret this decision. I got into Luther and U Chicago as well and really regret not going. If you are moderately intelligent and want to actually learn something, the U of I is probably not for you. If you plan on going into the sciences expect to spend the first two years fighting through incomprehensible introductory courses meant to weed out those who shouldn't be in college or don't actually want to be in college. Odds are also good that you'll have a professor who cannot teach, "but are really cool/funny/entertaining." You'll spend the next two/three years struggling to relearn everything you didn't learn the first two years because you were bored out of your mind by classes taught for the lowest common denominator while completing ridiculous amounts of coursework. There's probably one good professor in the linguistics department (where I started out.) The others are old/slow/confused or can't teach and then call students out individually for not understanding in front of the entire class. Hopefully you'll have an awesome TA or text book because the professors generally are mediocre (as are the useless text books they've written and force you to use.) Also, Rick Altman doesn't actually teach anything so don't get too excited about that. As for social life, if you want to have one let's hope you're an alcoholic. The U is really just a babysitter for rich Chicago suburb babies that want to party. I bet more money is spent by the university trying to keep underage kids from getting caught drinking than providing resources for people who are actually here to learn. Oh, but that's okay "they're the good kids." They don't need help, they've always been independent. The university will start begging you for money starting your sophomore year. Er, sorry, they'll start asking you about philanthropy and why your definition of it is not giving all your money to the U. The one awesome thing about the university is that it is in Iowa City. It's a UNESCO city of literature, the library and pedestrian mall are amazing (when not completely filled with drunks.) The campus itself is beautiful tons of green space/places to throw a Frisbee. If you give a shit about school, chose a real one, or go to community college for a couple years because you're probably better off.If you still want to go to the U, or have few other choices, I recommend living at home if you can and catching a bus/driving to campus. Apartments in Iowa City are overpriced and rarely in a condition to be lived in. If you must live on campus/in Iowa City just live in a University apartment. They're hot without an air conditioner (a small window air conditioner makes it livable) and slightly depressing but at least it will be decently taken care of and there's no management company that's going to nickel and dime you (read: steal all of your deposit and then some for things they legally have to do and cannot charge you for.) See also Apartments Downtown Lawsuit. Campus Aesthetics: A+, Education Quality: F Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  Nov 06 2011 3rd Year Female -- Class 2014    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=82591&uid=382'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save Biology  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Quite Bright Overall an ok school, but I know many people who have gotten in trouble for stuff they didn't do. A freshman I know was recently fined $300 for his roommate having a couple of beer cans in the room and a small amount of hard liquor that he didn't even know was there (apparently some friends of the roommate brought it in earlier in the day). The other kid was gone all day and went out at night to skate board (hadn't been drinking or anything illegal). He came back around 1 am to go to bed, saw the beer can (it was empty and the other one the RAs found was in the roommate's fridge-they had separate fridges). As he was getting ready for bed, the roommate drunk friend came in as some RAs were doing rounds and he ended up getting fined because there was alcohol in the room even though none of it was his and he hadn't been drinking at all. They said he was in trouble for not reporting it to his RA. Note his RA never enforced the alcohol policy to begin with, so it would have been really weird for him to go report to his RA that he noticed an empty beer can in the room (it was not his RA that reported this incident, but rather 2 other RAs from the building). So if you ever notice an empty beer can in your dorm room, make sure you report it to your RA right away...even if your RA does nothing about kids drinking beer. Oh and then when he requested to switch roommates he was told that was not a possibility (Well he could be put on a wait list for who knows how long) and instead he should have a "heart to heart" with the roommate who really had no interest in following the no alcohol in dorm rooms policy. So, basically, if you choose to go to the U of I you're pretty much responsible for your randomly chosen roommate's actions in your room, whether you know about them or not. Although, you are (kind of) in luck because they don't actually report these alcohol-related incidents to the police. Instead, the U of I just makes lots of money from them...which kind of seems like a conflict of interest to me at the very least, but that's another rant. When he went to appeal the fine, he was told before he even started the process (some staff member...I'm not sure who exactly), that there was no way he would win the appeal, so he shouldn't waste his time. Sure enough, while whoever makes appeal decisions "sympathized" with his situation, they said they couldn't make individual exceptions to the policy, so he would still have to pay the $300 and have the incident on his disciplinary record at the school. So, basically, no one has the authority to use common sense and treat individual situations individually at this school. And while they can sympathize with students treated unfairly, they can't actually do anything to remedy them. I've heard of quite a few other similar situations as well, but this is the one of which I know the most details and am sure all the details are correct. But, anyway, just something to think about before choosing U of I. Don't have any other major complaints about the school, but just wanted to share this. University Resource Use: A, Faculty Accessibility: F Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  Oct 23 2011 1st Year Female -- Class 2014    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=82149&uid=382'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save Accounting  Major Salary, Salary Trend, Satisfaction, Unemployment Average I am a transfer student from Indiana University and wish I began my education at Iowa. Despite the negative remarks from the previous poster, they obviously aren't too bright. Considering they used slang for you as well as proceeded to spell jealous and program incorrectly.Anywho, UI is a great college and the people are FRIENDLY. Some of the professors like to think they are such superior but for the most part they are considerate and willing to help. Many will make an exception or go out of their way if you simply ASK them to. Back to the people and the social life, the party scene is starting to lack because of the 21 ordinance but you attend college for an education not to party 24/7. As for students getting in trouble as the last poster stated, it is primarily underage kids who are drunk on the streets of Iowa City or in the bars after 10pm. Therefore, I would say it is safe to assume that 80% of that 15% who get in trouble are under the age of 21, so as a grad student you should have no issue. Social Life: A+, Useful Schoolwork: F Have a Question? Your Response/Question:     To be informed when someone replies to your comment. (private)  More →  Jul 06 2011 1st Year Female -- Class 2013    Forward  Blog it! Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account: Just copy and paste! <script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=78819&uid=382'></script> <a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a> Rate this comment: Useless (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Helpful       Save  Prev    Select Page:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8 ... 23    Next

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