Meet Current Students

What was your experience like visiting Iowa State University?

My experience with visiting Iowa State was amazing! I went twice, the first time was fall of 2020 and the second was the summer of 2021. I instantly fell in love with campus. It is so easy to get lost around with all our green space. All the people who we interacted with were super kind and I found it very nice that almost all of the engineering majors each got their own building.

What made Iowa State your final decision?

My top choices of schools were Georgia Tech, Iowa State, and Purdue. What really stood out to me was once again the campus and the opportunities presented to me. I was offered to take part in a virtual APEX program through MSA and to be a part of the President’s Leadership Class. On top of those, the scholarships made it hard to say no. Iowa State is a very affordable and prestigious engineering school with a wonderful atmosphere.

How did you select your major?

Since middle school, I knew I wanted to do engineering and most of the time it was going to be mechanical. I can’t remember exactly what drew me into aerospace but once I found out about it and learned more about it, I was sold. I am really enjoying my program; I have worked now for almost 2 years with Collins Aerospace and am continuing to through 2024.

What is one fun experience you have had while attending ISU?

One of the many great experiences I have had at ISU was definitely camping outside of Hilton Coliseum for the ISU vs KU game. We camped for over 14 hours in zero-degree weather to support our Cyclones and it was something I will never forget. I went with some of my old dorm friends, and we spent the night having a great time with ourselves and the other campers around us.

Advice for incoming students:

My advice is to get involved! There are so many opportunities for you to succeed here at ISU. Do not let your time here just past by. Cherish it all, from our Greek life, clubs, intramurals, and so much more it is so easy to meet people and learn about everyone’s unique experiences that brought them here. I can almost guarantee that if you feel like you wont fit in somewhere, ISU has a spot for you.

What was your first experience like visiting Iowa State University?

I had a great time visiting Iowa State during the Multicultural Scholar Preview Weekend as I got to tour the campus and the engineering sector of the school as well as got to learn the experiences of the students and the inner workings of being a student here at Iowa State and the College of Engineering. The visit also helped me understand the environment that I will be living in during the next 4 years of my life and helped me see if I enjoy that environment or if I wish to go to a different environment for school.

What made Iowa State your final decision?

What made Iowa State my final decision is the size of the campus and the classes, despite having 30,000 students on campus, Iowa State feels small and more personal and that allows me to connect with faculty even easier as compared to a school back in California. Iowa State also offered me a full ride scholarship to go there, so that also helped me in my decision to come to Iowa State as school will not become an additional expense and I can reap the benefits and resources of ISU with little to no cost.

How did you decide on your major?

I selected my major because of my passion of working with my hands as well and building systems from scratch, I also have been fascinated by the science and logic behind aerospace systems and wanted to make that into a career that i will enjoy for a long time.  Aerospace Engineering combined my interest in air/spacecraft with my passion for working with my hands and building into a workable major and livable career.

Advice for incoming students:

Some advice that I have for incoming students is to not worry about things like grades and GPA, worrying about getting an A or a 4.0 will only do the opposite. Instead worry about doing the work and studying and the rest will come naturally. Another thing, is to have fun during your time here, there are only 4 years and if you work your life away during those 4 years, you will never really have learned anything by the time your graduate, college is the time to learn about your major, yourself, and life, don’t waste it all doing only homework and classwork. Get a job in something you love, join a club, find friends, balance is key to high success.

What was your experience like visiting Iowa State University?

Iowa State was relaxing; the change of pace from rapid California life to Iowa’s calmer atmosphere was very refreshing.

What made Iowa State your final decision?

Iowa State was a highly regarded research university in my major and I really loved Iowa when I visited family who lived here

How did you choose your major?

I selected my major through this event. I didn’t know what my major primarily did, but meeting the faculty on the tour made me fall in love with what industrial engineering could do. Another reason I decided on my major is because English and writing classes were my favorite classes and largest strength in high school, and Industrial engineering played the most into it.

What is a fun experience you have had while attending ISU?

One fun experience I had while attending Iowa State was attending the video filming for an advertisement of the Industrial Engineering. It was great experience, and I met many new people.

Advice for incoming students:

Do not fall behind on studying. Procrastinating is a large weakness for new students.

What made Iowa State your final decision?

I actually visited the campus tagging along with my sister she was an accepted student, and I was in my freshman year of college already but once I heard about the innovative experiences happening on campus and the new implementation of the biomedical engineering major my parents and I looked at each other I feel like we both knew that I would be putting in a transfer application that spring. So, I would say that my visit was very insightful for someone like me who knew what I wanted to get out of my education, so I just felt like ISU was the correct path for me.

How did you decide on your major?

 I say this with no intention of sounding cliché but this major found me and I mean that because when I knew that I wanted to be a biomedical engineer since middle school and I knew what I wanted to do with my life and then I went through a tough journey of scoliosis that ended up with me getting a spinal fusion surgery and that whole adventure just solidified my passion so I simply looked up my requirements and what I wanted in from my education, which was to help people with medicine but also  being able to implement my own thinking and thought process I wanted to start from the beginning and change it develop a process that changes things from the root I wanted to innovate from scratch and when you google that biomedical engineering is what came up so yeah that’s how my major found me.

What is one fun experience you have had while attending ISU?

Fun experience I have had at ISU would be during finals week me and a group of friends in my CHEM lab all met up late at night at a local coffee shop to create a study guide and I think I had a lot of fun that night just talking and relieving a little bit of stress before exams with my friends over coffee and just laughing together.

Advice for incoming students:

Make friends, make lots of friends, lots of good friends, they are the ones that will get you through the semester and the year. Especially for those who are far from home. Making friends will be so important.

What made Iowa State your final decision?

I had done an online tour because I couldn’t visit due to personal circumstances. However, after watching videos, hearing about many people’s experiences, and discovering it was a true college town, I knew it would be a perfect fit. I decided to go with Iowa State because of how well-regarded their engineering program was and how much support they offered. The main thing I wanted out of my college experience was doing internships/Co-ops, so I felt relieved when I found out they had a career fair and helped their students get internships. With biomedical engineering being so new, I knew I could get the help and attention I needed.

How did you select your major?

For my major,  I knew I wanted to be a child psychiatrist for as long as I could remember, but I never really knew what I wanted to do in my undergrad. In high school, I was introduced to biomedical engineering by my dad; I thought it was cool that there were multiple different pathways, so even if I realized that I didn’t want to go to med school, I’d still have a degree that could get me a job in the medical industry.

What is one fun experience you have had while attending ISU?

There are many fun things on campus, but my favorite was ISU AfterDark. It was my first week on campus, and there were so many fun activities. I made many friends, lost bingo, and found out that the MU has bowling, and now I go every Monday with my friends.

Advice for incoming students:

Some advice for incoming students would be to set goals for yourself. This semester, I aimed to attend at least one event and talk to someone new in my big lectures every week. I knew coming to a college this big would be very intimidating, so I tried my best to tackle it in small chunks. I used to tell myself that I’ll go for at least 30 minutes and if I didn’t like it, I could leave. I stayed a lot longer most of the time and made new friends while I was at it.

What was your first experience like at Iowa State University?

I had a pleasant experience visiting Iowa State! My first time was during the Multicultural Scholar Preview. I got to tour campus, learn about the different engineering majors, and meet students, faculty, and staff from all backgrounds.

What made Iowa State your final decision?

After my entire experience at the Multicultural Scholar Preview, I immediately enrolled at Iowa State. I learned about campus and student life and knew I could make my place there.

How did you select your major?

At the beginning of my first year, I was an undeclared engineering major because I was still determining my major. I never knew there were so many different types of engineering. A little past mid-semester, I chose to be an Industrial Engineer because of a professor at ISU, Dr. Stone, previous research and because of the hands-on work and human interaction that comes with the job.

What is one fun experience you have had while attending ISU?

A fun experience at Iowa State was being a part of the APEX summer program because it allowed me to get a small college experience before classes in the fall of 2023 started. I was able to make new friends and live a relaxed college life.

Advice for incoming students:

My most extensive advice for incoming students is that it is okay to ask for help, it is okay to realize you are not the 4.0 GPA and all A’s student you used to be, and it is okay to slow down in your experience at college. It is essential to get out of the mindset that you are academically competing with everyone in college because the only person you should compete with is yourself. Study hard, progress, and do your best; good grades will follow you over time. All students and professors are here to help each other out in our experiences through college, so do not be afraid to ask for help. Lastly, take your time! Four years go by fast, and it is essential to know that your personal life deserves to be experienced as much as your school life!