Iowa State University

Location and Contact Information

The campus is in a small city.

Overview

Iowa State University, or ISU, was founded in 1858 as the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. The university adopted its present name in 1959.

The main campus encompasses more than 1,900 acres in Ames, Iowa.

U.S. News & World Report ranked Iowa State among the top 50 public national universities. Half of ISU freshmen participate in ISU's learning communities, which were ranked in the top 25 nationally in the publication in 2005. These help launch the students to academic success.

The world's first electronic computer was invented on the campus in the late 1930s, according to ABC Computer magazine. The Ames Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy research facility operated under contract by ISU, is at the forefront of materials research, high-performance computing and analytical science.

ISU offers more than 90 Bachelors degree programs and 100 Masters Programs. The school is divided into the following academic divisions:

• College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
• College of Business
• College of Design
• College of Engineering
• College of Human Sciences
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• College of Veterinary Medicine
• The Graduate College

ISU has an active Greek community and offers more than 45 chapters-- involving 11% of its undergraduate students.

Iowa State fields 18 intercollegiate teams, known as the Cyclones, in the Big 12 Conference.

Among the famous alumni of Iowa State are George Washington Carver, internationally famous plant scientist and the school's first African-American student and faculty member; Carrie Chapman Catt, leader of the women's suffragette movement and cofounder of the League of Women Voters; Samuel P. Massie, chemist; Clayton Anderson, astronaut, currently on the International Space Station; Nancy Cox, chief of the Influenza Division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Allen Jacobson, former president and chairman of 3M, employed there for 44 years; Elwood Mead, Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation during the construction of Hoover Dam, and for whom Lake Mead is named; and Carl Sanderson, undefeated four-year ISU wrestler, Gold Medalist at 2004 Olympic Games.

Highlights (vs. Other Schools)

• Many students concentrating in animal science and care, engineering, architecture and planning, landscaping and horticulture, nutrition and exercise therapy, agricultural science and management, design, and mathematics.
• Large number of programs of study offered.
• Large number of students.
• High faculty salary.
• Good faculty-to-student ratio.
• High male/female ratio.
• Number of dorm rooms for students.
• High SAT scores (combined Verbal and Math).
• High percentage of students are from out-of-state.
• Affordable tuition & fees.

School characteristics:

• The school is public.
• Academic calender: Semester.
• Carnegie classification: Doctoral/Research Universities, Extensive.

Features of note:

• The school offers a faculty tenure system.
• There are one or more libraries on-campus.
• Campus housing is available.
• Students have meal (board) plans.
• Students may study abroad.
• Distance learning is available.
• Weekend study is an option.
• Part-time classes are available.
• ROTC.
• Athlete financial aid is awarded.

Similar Schools

Based on proprietary BrainTrack computer comparisons against all other US colleges, these schools appear to be most similar to Iowa State:

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Degrees Awarded (in 2009-2010)

Faculty

Tenure (2009-2010):

Students

Student enrollment was 26,856 in 2009-2010 (24,268 full-time equivalent).

About 54% of the freshmen class in 2009-2010 was male and women were 46% of the class.

Undergrads are 79% of enrolled students, graduate students are 19%, and those seeking first-professional graduate degrees represent 2%.

Students under 25 years old represent 81% of the student body. About 3% of the school is at least 40 years of age.

Among freshmen students, 97% are full-time and 3% are part-time.

Admissions Summary (2009-2010)

SAT Test Scores:

Room and Board

Iowa State provides on-campus housing for 9,485 of its 24,268 (full-time) students (as of 2009-2010).

Students may purchase a meal plan which includes 21 meals weekly.

Athletics

School sports include football, basketball, baseball, and track. The school is in the Big Twelve Conference for major sports.

The school offers financial aid for athletes. Of students receiving athletic financial aid, 159 male students received the aid (men were 52% of those receiving aid) and 145 women were awarded financial aid based on athletics (representing 48% of students receiving such aid) .

Graduate School Focus

Iowa State offers graduate (post-Bachelor) studies. The highest degree offered is the Doctorate (Research/Scholarship & Professional Practice).

Graduate offerings include continuing professional education and medical degrees.The school's Graduate School Carnegie Classification is Comprehensive Doctoral With Medical/Veterinary.

Programs of Study

(Number of degrees in 2009-2010 in parentheses)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT (210 awarded)

• Agribusiness/Agricultural Business Operations
• Agricultural Mechanization
• Agriculture, Agriculture Operations, and Related Sciences
• Crop Production
• Farm/Farm and Ranch Management
• Food Science
• Food Science and Technology

ANIMAL SCIENCE AND CARE (151 awarded)

• Agricultural Animal Breeding
• Animal Sciences
• Dairy Science

ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING (162 awarded)

• Architecture (BArch, BA/BS, MArch, MA/MS, PhD)
• City/Urban, Community and Regional Planning
• Landscape Architecture (BS, BSLA, BLA, MSLA, MLA, PhD)

ART STUDIES (8 awarded)

• Visual and Performing Arts

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT (852 awarded)

• Accounting
• Business Administration and Management
• Finance
• Labor and Industrial Relations
• Logistics and Materials Management
• Management Information Systems
• Management Science
• Marketing/Marketing Management
• Operations Management and Supervision
• Transportation/Transportation Management

COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (133 awarded)

• Computer Engineering
• Computer Science
• Computer Software Engineering
• Computer and Information Sciences
• Computer and Information Systems Security

CONSERVATION AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (40 awarded)

• Environmental Science
• Fishing and Fisheries Sciences and Management
• Forest Sciences and Biology
• Natural Resources Conservation and Research
• Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management

CONSTRUCTION TRADES (4 awarded)

• Apparel and Textiles

DESIGN (289 awarded)

• Design and Visual Communications
• Fashion/Apparel Design
• Graphic Design
• Interior Design

EDUCATION AND TEACHING (414 awarded)

• Agricultural Teacher Education
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Early Childhood Education and Teaching
• Education
• Educational Leadership and Administration
• Elementary Education and Teaching
• Family and Consumer Sciences/Home Economics Teacher Education
• Higher Education/Higher Education Administration
• Mathematics Teacher Education
• Music Teacher Education
• Science Teacher Education/General Science Teacher Education
• Special Education and Teaching
• Teaching English as Second/Foreign Language/ESL Language Instructor
• Technology Teacher Education/Industrial Arts Teacher Education

ENGINEERING (944 awarded)

• Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering
• Agricultural/Biological Engineering and Bioengineering
• Chemical Engineering
• Civil Engineering
• Construction Engineering
• Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Engineering Mechanics
• Industrial Engineering
• Materials Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Systems Engineering

FAMILY AND SOCIAL WORK (156 awarded)

• Family Resource Management Studies
• Family and Community Services
• Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences
• Human Development and Family Studies
• Public Administration

HOSPITALITY (58 awarded)

• Hospitality Administration/Management

LANDSCAPING AND HORTICULTURE (108 awarded)

• Agricultural and Horticultural Plant Breeding
• Agronomy and Crop Science
• Horticultural Science
• Soil Science and Agronomy

LIBERAL ARTS (588 awarded)

• Anthropology
• Creative Writing
• Economics
• English Composition
• English Language and Literature
• French Language and Literature
• German Language and Literature
• History and Philosophy of Science and Technology
• History
• Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
• Linguistics
• Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies
• Political Science and Government
• Sociology
• Spanish Language and Literature
• Speech and Rhetorical Studies
• Technical and Business Writing
• Women's Studies

MATHEMATICS (95 awarded)

• Applied Mathematics
• Mathematics
• Statistics

MEDIA (213 awarded)

• Advertising
• Communication Studies/Speech Communication and Rhetoric
• Journalism

MEDICAL ADMINISTRATION (6 awarded)

• Medical Illustration/Medical Illustrator

MEDICINE (129 awarded)

• Neuroscience
• Veterinary Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Other (Cert, MS PhD)
• Veterinary Medicine (DVM)
• Veterinary Microbiology and Immunobiology (Cert, MS, PhD)
• Veterinary Pathology and Pathobiology (Cert, MS, PhD)
• Veterinary Preventive Med Epidemiology/Public Hlth (Cert,MS,PhD)

MUSIC (6 awarded)

• Music

NUTRITION AND EXERCISE THERAPY (216 awarded)

• Dietetics/Dietitian (RD)
• Kinesiology and Exercise Science
• Nutrition Sciences

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY (19 awarded)

• Philosophy
• Religion/Religious Studies

SCIENCE (402 awarded)

• Analytical Chemistry
• Animal Physiology
• Astrophysics
• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics
• Biological and Biomedical Sciences
• Biology/Biological Sciences
• Biomedical Sciences
• Biophysics
• Botany/Plant Biology
• Cell/Cellular Biology and Anatomical Sciences
• Chemistry
• Ecology
• Ecology, Evolution, Systematics and Population Biology
• Entomology
• Genetics
• Geology/Earth Science
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Meteorology
• Microbiology
• Nuclear Physics
• Organic Chemistry
• Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
• Physics
• Physiology
• Plant Pathology/Phytopathology
• Plant Physiology
• Toxicology
• Zoology/Animal Biology

THERAPY AND COUNSELING (165 awarded)

• Psychology