The Iowa Admissions blog is dedicated to showing perspectives from around the university. Here, you’ll hear from Alaina, a junior from Madison, Wisconsin, about what it’s like your first year at Iowa.

What to Expect Your First Year as a Hawkeye

Your first few days on campus are going to be…crazy. A blur. Weird. Awkward. Amazing.

First of all, let’s just put it out there right now that no one knows what they’re doing immediately when they show up to campus. Just because it looks like everyone else knows what they’re doing, don’t worry—they’re all probably just as nervous as you are.

When I moved into my residence hall room back in August of 2015, it was almost a hundred degrees. I had my mom, my dad, my stepmom, and my best friend in tow to help me move all my stuff. I honestly don’t remember a ton about my first few days on campus—there was so much going on! I met my roommate, struggled to put together a futon, made friends with a bunch of people on my floor, got lost a couple times, and then all of a sudden classes were starting.

Somewhere in there, On Iowa! happened. On Iowa! is actually amazing because it gets you out of your room and out into campus, meeting people and making friends! It’s super fun and it helps fill those awkward couple of days between move in and the start of classes. It also helps you find your way around campus better so that you’re not completely lost before your first class starts.

Speaking of which, I would definitely recommend tracking down your classrooms before the first day actually happens. It’s not fun to be running all over the building trying to find your class and then getting there 10 minutes late on the first day.

I joined a lot of student orgs my first year, and I’m no longer in any of them. But that’s okay! I didn’t hate them, but I decided they weren’t for me and joined different ones the next year. In my opinion, that’s the best part of college: you get to stop doing things if you decide you don’t like them. Don’t fit in with the student orgs you joined? That’s okay, join different ones! Realize you hate your major even though you were sure that’s what you wanted to study? Happens to lots of people—you can change it if you want! Don’t get along with your roommate? That’s okay, you’ll be living somewhere else next year.

I think the hardest part of college to get used to is the amount of freedom you have. This is your life. This is your school. Do what you want, not what you think anyone else wants. You have four years to make this into whatever you want it to be. Your first year is going to go by in a blur, so make the most of it! Take pictures and write stuff down because you’re going to want to remember this.

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The Iowa Admissions blog is dedicated to showing perspectives from around the university. Here, you’ll hear from Grant, a senior from Ottumwa, Iowa, who is about to graduate and go to the College of Dentistry at Iowa.

Dentistry at Iowa

One of the unique aspects The University of Iowa has to offer is its close proximity to world-class health sciences programs. This gives undergraduate students opportunities for exposure to graduate and professional experiences in various fields. A great example is The University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics, which offers undergraduate students unmatched exposure to the field of dentistry and gives them insight into the admissions process for dental school.

My interest in dentistry began towards the end of my junior year of high school after doing a career exploration project for a class. I had always been interested the health sciences, but hadn’t quite honed in on a specific field. After learning more about dentistry, I realized it was perfect for me because it combined the health sciences and the opportunity for me to work with my hands every day.

As I was going through the process of choosing colleges, I visited The University of Iowa. I chose to come here after a wonderful visit to campus where I felt right at home. That “feel” was the majority of my reason for choosing to come here. Once I got here is when I realized what an outstanding luxury it is to have such a fantastic dental school here on campus.

Once I got to campus in the fall of 2014 I ended up choosing Human Physiology as my undergraduate major and later added a chemistry minor. During my first few semesters of college, my coursework was composed mainly of science classes. These science classes were the pre-requisite classes that I was required to take to get into dental school. In my later semesters here at Iowa, my coursework has shifted to upper level courses in my major that I chose to take because they will help me down the road in dental school, or just simply because I thought they sounded interesting.

The summer after my junior year of college, I took the Dental Admissions Test (DAT). I took this test about a month after finals were over. Between finishing finals and taking the DAT, I spent every single day (except Memorial Day) studying, preparing, and taking practice tests. After I took the test, I submitted all of my application materials and was invited to interview at The College of Dentistry in early September. At my interview, I was very impressed with how nice and helpful everyone was. The interview was not what I expected at all. My interviewers were genuinely interested in learning more about me as a person and were not intimidating at all. When that interview day was all said and done, I was even more impressed with what an excellent program The University of Iowa College of Dentistry is.

On December 1^st 2017, the national day that schools can start giving out acceptances, I was notified that I had earned a seat in the class of 2022. To say this was a huge relief would be a serious understatement. Iowa was the only school I applied to and the only program I wanted to be part of ever since I decided to pursue dentistry, so to earn a seat in their program means a tremendous amount to me.

In a few short weeks, I will be graduating and finishing my undergraduate experience. In August, I will begin dental school. I can’t wait to start taking classes and learning technical skills that I will be using every day in my career. Iowa is a phenomenal program with world-class faculty in all of the officially recognized dental specialties which will give me an opportunity to gain experience in all disciplines of dentistry. The college also just underwent a major renovation and I am really looking forward to learning in the new clinics and classrooms. Over the next four years I hope to learn as much as I can in order to be the best dentist possible for my patients. Plus, I’m pretty excited to spend four more years in Iowa City!

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The Iowa Admissions blog is dedicated to showing perspectives from around the university. Here, you’ll hear from Alaina, a junior from Madison, Wisconsin, involved with Honors at Iowa.

Honors at Iowa

The Honors program at the University of Iowa is something special. It’s a big part of what made my first year at Iowa so meaningful, and I’ve had access to tons of opportunities that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

The whole point of the Honors program is to create community among like-minded students who are focused on growing both academically and personally. The great thing about Honors at Iowa is that it is not necessarily more work—it’s just more opportunity.

I’ve been involved in Honors since my first days on campus. I got to move in early for Honors Primetime, which is a four-day workshop centered around your own interests. You even get one semester hour of credit for it! During my Primetime program, we got to write poems and help paint props for a theater show. My favorite part about that experience was getting to move onto campus before anyone else! We had a chance to meet people and get comfortable on campus before classes started.

I lived in Daum my first year, which the only residence hall on campus dedicated exclusively to first-year honors students. I loved being surrounded by other students who cared about academics as much as I did. We had tons of fun, but everyone was also very understanding if I wanted to stay in and study sometimes! The other nice thing about living in Daum is that a lot of your neighbors will be taking the same classes as you, which makes forming study groups super easy.

Daum is connected by skywalk to the Blank Honors Center, which has some great study spaces. I also had my Honors Rhetoric class and my Honors First-Year Seminar there, which was really convenient. An Honors First-Year Seminar is a one-credit class that you basically just take for fun. Mine was about Egyptian hieroglyphs. It didn’t add too much to my workload and it was super interesting.

Normally for lecture-style classes, the lecture is taught by the professor and the discussion sections are taught by teaching assistants (TAs). But if you’re in the Honors program, you can sign up for the discussion section that is taught by the professor. I really like that option, because it means you have more opportunity to get to know the professor (and maybe get a letter of recommendation for scholarships or grad school!) Some Honors classes might even be smaller than non-honors sections of the same course.

Honors staff offices are also located in the Blank Honors Center. Their doors are literally almost always open and they’re so helpful! Honors has both professional, full-time staff and student staff like peer mentors. They’re all there to help you get the most out of your experience at Iowa, and make sure you’re on the right track to accomplish everything you want to do.

There are also scholarship opportunities available only to Honors students—so if you’re considering joining the Honors program, go for it! There are honestly no downsides. You can really make the experience whatever you want it to be, and you’ll have a support system the whole way.

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The University of Iowa is proud to welcome students from all over the world. Our International Ambassadors are students that are excited to make the college search process a little more personal to future Hawkeyes around the globe.

Here, you’ll hear from International Ambassador Calli Tilson, a first year student majoring in Creative Writing with Linguistics and Korean minors. She shares what her daily life looks like as a Hawkeye.

Life at Iowa

My name is Calli, and I’m a first-year here at the University of Iowa. My life here is jam-packed with tons of fun things that keep me busy in day to day life. Let’s go!

The first class I have for the day is my Korean language class at 8:30 AM. I start my day with the su

n, waking up and grabbing a quick bite to eat before heading out. I live in Mayflower Hall, one of the furthest resi

dence halls from campus (however, with my own bathroom and kitchen area, it’s well worth it). Since I live a little farther away, I take the bus to get to where I need to go. The Cambus system makes transportation around campus a million times easier and quicker for both students and the public! The buses run on a consistent schedule, and if you ever wonder how long until a bus arrives at your stop, there’s always Bongo, an app that gives you real-time updates of where buses are and estimated arrival times.

After Korean, I have Civilizations of Korea at 12:30. This is a lecture-style course, one I am taking for dual credit to satisfy both a general education requirement and a requirement for my minor, which is Korean Studies. Sometimes lectures can seem a little long, but I have a professor who is always active and interesting to listen to, as well as a few friends who keep me company! Having the ability to create my own schedule is great – since there are so many courses to choose from, I look forward to taking even general education classes! Last semester I fulfilled my Historical Perspectives GenEd by taking a course all about Russian fairytales and folklore. It was so much fun, I never wanted to miss a class. Crazy, I know!

After my Civilizations class, I normally stop by a dining hall to grab a quick snack before heading to my next class. The Catlett dining hall just opened this year, and it’s one of my favorite places to go! Not only does it look incredibly sleek and modern, the environment is always lively and welcoming. Among other options, Catlett often has a wide variety of multicultural foods on their menu.

Next, I have The Art and Craft of Personal Writing. I’m enrolled in this course for my major, English/Creative Writing. This course emphasizes critical reading skills, as well as giving students opportunities to apply what they learn to their own written pieces, which are discussed and given feedback during workshops. Workshops might seem scary to some writers – after all, writing can be extremely vulnerable – but what I’ve found is that not only do my professors ensure everyone feels comfortable and protected, but my classmates do too. In all the writing classes I have taken this year, I can confidently say that they really feel like complete safe spaces.

Lastly, I have Language and Formal Reasoning at 7:30 PM. This course is technically a linguistics class, but it also fulfills a Mathematics general education requirement, which is what I am taking it for. Even though 7 PM seems a little late to still be going to class, my professor is so passionate about what he teaches that I am always wide awake! He always finds ways to keep things entertaining. This class is one of my more difficult ones, especially since it is lecture-style as well. Fortunately, it’s paired with a discussion class that happens later in the week. My discussion takes place in a smaller classroom-esque setting, with around 20 or so people, plus a teaching assistant for that class. The teaching assistant, or TA, does a great job at connecting one-on-one with students, and is always there if anyone needs help with questions on the homework or concepts covered in lecture. My TA also has open office hours, which is a great resource! If I am ever confused over lecture or am unsure about anything, I know help is only a quick stop away!

After this class I can finally head back to my dorm! I typically make dinner with my roommate before doing homework and hanging out with friends. It’s not the same in every residence hall community, but people on my floor are extremely friendly and close like family. If you walk down the halls, you can often hear music and laughter, and see many open doors! Open doors are following a policy that says if you leave your dorm room door open, people are welcome to stop in and hang out, or just say hi! In the beginning of the year, this is how everyone got to know each other, and is a great way to meet new people on your floor. I have made some of my best friends this way, as well as discovered other students that can help me do homework and study alongside me. On Thursdays, our residence hall always has a fun activity going on, whether it’s international food night, or watching a movie while decorating cookies! Living in a dorm has given me so many new friends, and time flies by when I’m with them!

This is one of the busiest days on my schedule – not every day is this jam-packed. When I have free time, I like to go out to eat with my friends at one of the multicultural restaurants in Iowa City – Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Greek – you name it, Iowa City has it! Other days my friends and I like to watch movies together in the dorm or simply just hang out and talk. On Sundays I have a hip-hop dance class, which is another fantastic way to meet new people. There are literally hundreds of organizations and clubs on campus. From LGBTQ+ organizations to A Capella teams, there’s something for everyone!

Life at the University of Iowa is amazing! Go Hawks!

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The University of Iowa is proud to welcome students from all over the world. Our International Ambassadors are students that are excited to make the college search process a little more personal to future Hawkeyes around the globe.

Here, you’ll hear from International Ambassador Grace Bryant, a first year student double majoring in International Relations with Spanish and French minors. She shares why she became a Hawkeye.

Why I Came to Iowa

As a high school student living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, I always swore there was NO WAY I was going to attend college in-state. I didn’t want to run into people I knew all the time. I wanted to experience the diversity of a big city. I wanted a vast array of academic and experiential learning opportunities that I didn’t think were available at Iowa state schools.

However, upon visiting the UI campus, my opinions changed. Along with falling in love with the urban-feeling campus, I realized that the University of Iowa offers over 200 areas of undergraduate study, meaning anything and everything I was interested in learning about was likely to be offered here. I was excited to learn that UI has sent students to study abroad on all seven continents and that a high proportion of Iowa students find internships and employment opportunities during their undergraduate years.

Deciding to come to Iowa was one of the best decisions of my life. I have had the opportunity to take a wide variety of classes focused on my various interests. I am preparing to study abroad in Spain in the fall and have received scholarships to do so. I’ve become involved with several student organizations, through which I have met people from all over the state, country and world.

The University of Iowa is a wonderfully diverse campus in which I’ve had the opportunity to pursue my interests and dreams. I couldn’t be happier to be a Hawkeye!

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The University of Iowa is proud to welcome students from all over the world. Our International Ambassadors are students that are excited to make the college search process a little more personal to future Hawkeyes around the globe.

Here, you’ll hear from International Ambassador Ala Mohamed, a first year student double majoring in Marketing and Chinese. She shares her experience in getting involved on campus with Brand You, a fashion and marketing student organization. In Brand You, Ala is involved with styling and modeling for photo shoots, and promoting the organization to fellow students.

Brand You

One of the most exciting things about Iowa is the opportunity to join clubs and do things you enjoy. I am a big fan of fashion and graphic design, so I joined a club called Brand You and I’ve had the best experience so far.

One project I really enjoyed was a paparazzi styled photoshoot, where models had to pretend to shy away from the camera as if they were some sort of celebrity.

This project was inspired by Balenciaga’s latest Instagram posts which featured models also shying away from the paparazzi, but in Balenciaga’s latest winter collection. I really enjoyed this project because I was able to work with new people while doing something that I love.

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Hi Future Hawks!

With just months left until you begin your first college classes at the University of Iowa, I want to remind you of resources available to help you succeed academically and personally at the University of Iowa!

At your summer orientation program, you will meet your academic advisor and select your classes for the fall semester. Your academic advisor is a wonderful resource to you throughout all of your years in college, but most importantly your first semester. Your Academic Advisor can help provide insight to help you decide what you would like to major in, how classes can best fit your interests, help you create a balance between schoolwork and having free time or being involved on campus. They are like a one-stop-shop for any questions on how to succeed your first semester.

It is important to focus on your academics upon arrival to Iowa, and seek out resources that will help you do your best in your classes. Supplemental Instruction is a free resource offered for assistance in many of the classes students will take during their first year at Iowa. It is a tutoring session led by an upperclassman who has previously exceled in the course. The Academic Resource Center (ARC), located in the Iowa Memorial Union, assists students with finding tutoring opportunities, but is also a great place to start learning about our other tutoring centers on campus. Learn more about the opportunities here.

Don’t forget to have fun and get involved on campus! If you have questions about different student organizations or how to take the first steps to being involved, make sure to stop by the Pick One Fair during On Iowa! or reach out to the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership. Remember there are over 500 different student organizations and ways to make connections on campus!

Erin Monroe
Admission Counselor
The University of Iowa
Office of Admissions

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