The University of Iowa
StudentsReview ::
The University of Iowa - Extra Detail about the Comment | |||||||||||||||||||
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Educational Quality | D | Faculty Accessibility | C |
Useful Schoolwork | C | Excess Competition | C |
Academic Success | C | Creativity/ Innovation | C |
Individual Value | C | University Resource Use | B |
Campus Aesthetics/ Beauty | B | Friendliness | B |
Campus Maintenance | B | Social Life | B |
Surrounding City | B | Extra Curriculars | B |
Safety | B | ||
Describes the student body as: Describes the faculty as: |
Lowest Rating Educational Quality | D |
Highest Rating University Resource Use | B |
Major: Language - French/Spanish/etc. (This Major's Salary over time)
University of Iowa is a typical big state school. Many of the classes are mass lectures where you furiously take notes in an auditorium and there are a lot of exams with grading curves that are designed primarily to weed out unmotivated students. In general, to be a successful student, you're expected to memorize information and apply principles on exams. You don't necessarily have to attend every class and fully understand the material. You just need to be the best on exams which isn't too hard to achieve when you're in a room full of people who really don't know why they are in college. University of Iowa is a degree-granting machine. It does not inspire you to really pursue knowledge/research and does not prepare you to succeed in any real job. Generally other students don't care about anything more than passing classes with good grades. Professors are more focused on academic research. There is little academic support if you're struggling in fundamental courses like principles of physics (I had to rely on going to office hours of TAs from China who did not really have the competence to provide adequate help). Attending the University of Iowa was the biggest regret of my life. I only went there because my parents pushed me to go there for the low in-state rates, somewhat respectable national reputation, and because I really didn't know better at the age of 18. If I could do my life over, I would have fought much harder to go to a smaller private school like Brown, Northwestern, or University of San Diego that would provide better education quality and the direction/support I feel that I need to succeed.Thinking about the time I wasted at Iowa just makes me a really sad panda.