Why did you choose to go to ISU?

gocubs2118 · 02-21-2007, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by clones_jer

Is that the childrens literature class? My roommate and I took that class for about a week - tons of freshman ladies - very stupid class. We traded for Psych 101, almost as many women and you don't have to write papers on "Peter Cottontail".

That was the best thing about engineering, never took a test with one of those little blue notebooks. Haven't had an essay test since hs.

Its something like Individual and family life development. Its a dumb and boring class but required for some reason for my major.

iccyfan · 02-21-2007, 05:03 PM

I was lightly recruited to run track and/or play baseball by a host of very small schools throughout the midwest (think Central, Elmhurst, Wartburg, Yankton, Macallister, Grinnell, etc.). After visiting a couple, my finalists were Nebraska Wesleyan (play sports) and ISU (close to home and cheap in-state tuition). I've very happy to have graduated from ISU, but sad to admit that my year-younger HS girlfriend figured prominently in the decision. Her parents pressured her to follow family tradition and attend EIU, leaving me no choice but to dump her!

It may have been a dumb reason to attend ISU, but I'm thrilled with the end result. As a postscript, both the HSGF & I ended up in Chicagoland following graduation! She married a guy from the southside and I married a girl from Elmhurst; we attended each other's weddings and we're friends to this day!

All's well that ends well!

mustangcy · 02-21-2007, 05:04 PM

Kind of a "Rudy" story without the football...I wanted to go to ISU badly but had terrible HS grades so I enrolled in DMACC for a year and got accepted. I still remember how thrilled/proud I was to be going to ISU as an ITEC major...now I'm a safety man for Kraft in SE Iowa.

Seriously, how great is ISU!

jparker22 · 02-21-2007, 05:06 PM

I moved to Ames after high school with no intentions of attending ISU. I wanted to work in medicine, and worked in central Iowa nursing homes when I got here. I was following my high school girlfriend who came here as a Chem E. I met some people at the rec playing pick up ball, and a buddy from NIACC that came here to be Athletic Trainers. Those guys sold me on ISU’s tradition in the athletic training program. (one of the best in the country) Sports medicine at a division I college sold me on attending school, but I was sold as a fan by TD and Tim Floyd. My college roommate and I had a running joke that this was the only bandwagon going slow enough for our old a4$$es to catch. Neither of us started school till after our 21st b-days.

clonomaniac · 02-21-2007, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by EggMcClone

I'm curious. That's a pretty wide geographic area of schools to choose from.

Alright here I go... (it shouldn't bore you)

I was raised outside of US for my entire childhood. My dad worked for the government in Qatar (middle-eastern country). When I finished high school in 1999, I had a choice between colleges in US or elsewhere in the world. Some of my friends picked Australia, India, while a lot of them picked colleges here in the states. I applied for 3 colleges in the US, 2 elsewhere. The reason I picked Iowa State is because I would be away from all my high school friends (needed a fresh start), more affordable out of state tuition and good engineering program. Kansas has probably one of the most beautiful campuses in the US, and Texas is just a good school, no doubt. Iowa State didn't require me to take SAT scores, and approved me based on my high school grades, which by the way makes any institution more respectable than others IMO. Texas required all kinds of scores (SAT etc) and I had just way too many friends move to Kansas (didn't want to live close to them).

Anyway, during my sophomore year (after 50 credit hours), Texas approved my admission as a transferred student. I decided not to go and I am glad I did that. The reason is Iowa State gave me a chance when Texas wouldn't even look at my resume without SAT scores.

Oh, and Ames is just the kind of place I consider my new home. I like the people, and I love the school - its not about the athletics, ISU is the reason I am in the US.

Another thing, not a lot of people back in Qatar (at least my advisor from high school) know much about University of Iowa. Maybe its because I only looked at engineering and not medical.

Cypwr · 02-21-2007, 05:24 PM

Originally Posted by pulse

Always bled cardinal and gold. Like everyone here, Engineering, Computer E. though. And no I'm not going to fix your computer... stop downloading porn.

I was invited to walk on at both ISU and UI for football, at the time ISU was better. I was also a big wrestling fan and my favorite wrestler was Frank Santana.

jdolson · 02-21-2007, 05:27 PM

I chose ISU because it has one of the best Agricultural colleges around. Choosing between ISU, Texas A&M and Nebraska(puke) was a no brainer as far as money and being close to home goes. I was rasied in North Iowa and therefore poisoned by the relentless coverage of Hawkeye sports. I give thanks everyday for the oppurtunity become a CYCLONE. Now I have the joy of teachong my daughters the difference between right(ISU) and wrong(Iowa):)

cyclonenum1 · 02-21-2007, 05:30 PM

Great campus, engineering school, excellent social opportunities.

psycln11 · 02-21-2007, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by cycloneworld

That's definitely true.

You should have been a civil engineer...there was a fine selection of good looking girls to choose from!

And by "fine selection"...I mean you could choose from 5 girls with one that was "reasonable" looking.

AMEN to that!!!!! And she had a boyfriend her entire time on campus!!

cycfan1 · 02-21-2007, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by clone52

Grew up a cyclone fan. Was always good at math so everyone told me to be an engineer. By the time I was old enough to think about college, I had decided on engineering and basically even though I applied and was accepted elsewhere, I never seriously considered another university. Ended up choosing Aerospace Engineering.

Wow, basically my life story right here. Not sure on what type of engineering yet for next year though.

Al_4_State · 02-21-2007, 05:43 PM

Originally Posted by jdolson

I chose ISU because it has one of the best Agricultural colleges around. Choosing between ISU, Texas A&M and Nebraska(puke) was a no brainer as far as money and being close to home goes. I was rasied in North Iowa and therefore poisoned by the relentless coverage of Hawkeye sports. I give thanks everyday for the oppurtunity become a CYCLONE. Now I have the joy of teachong my daughters the difference between right(ISU) and wrong(Iowa):)

I'm from North Iowa, and to be quite honest, I don't think the Hawkeyes are as overly covered there as they are in other parts of the state. Growing up I never felt totally alienated as a Cyclone fan, although i knew we were a minority. Could just be a difference of perception.

threemuch · 02-21-2007, 05:50 PM

excellent social opportunities

That is freaking hilarious. Maybe if you like the sausage party. ISU is alot of things, but a party school it is not.

Best Engineering School for the $$ that I could get accepted by within reasonable distance from home. Turned out to be a great decision, if I had only really wanted to be an engineer. I graduated in 91, and I have had steady employment wherever I wanted to live, and nice salaries ever since. Too bad what I really wanted to be was independently wealthy. That and engineering are pretty exclusive.

I didn't attend for the athletics, that's for sure.

I met a girl once at a party in Chicago wearing a squawks sweatshirt, and I asked her why she chose EIU. She told me she wanted to go to a good football school. It took me half an hour to stop laughing at her.

crash_zone · 02-21-2007, 05:52 PM

My dad, 3 uncles, 2 cousins, 1 sibling, and 1 grandpa went to ISU....where else would I go?

clones26 · 02-21-2007, 05:58 PM

Grew up in Des Moines area, went to Cyclone athletic events. Went to ISU for hockey and baseball, then baseball went club as well my senior year so I couldn't do 2 club sports. I had it down to Minnesota, Boston, & ISU. $$ reasons pointed highly to ISU as well. I however am outnumbered as I was a business major.

BryceC · 02-21-2007, 06:03 PM

I don't know why I went to ISU honestly. I went to college in general pretty much because that's what you do after you graduate from high school. I was actually accepted to ISU and Iowa, but I decided to go to ISU because I wasn't much of a partier and all my party boy friends were going to Iowa and I didn't want to continue hanging out with them in college.

I've had a great time in college, and it will always have a very special place in my heart because that's where my girlfriend and I really matured together and decided to get married. We had wedding photos outside of the Campanile and Cy came to our reception.

I think the thing I'll take away from ISU was the great friends I made, and the fact that I feel like my education has enabled me to enjoy a lot of things I might not have otherwise experienced.

By the way, where have all these engineers come from? All my friends that were engineers ended up burning out and becoming MIS majors or dorks who played Quake too much.

BTW, I was an English major. Somebody's got to represent liberal arts I guess.