IN at University of Iowa Forum

[crystalhawkeye]

Did your status checker change for those accepted?

Mine did a few days after my acceptance. Now says "Admitted." Imagine that.

[kollegekid]

Congrats, I was on hold the last time I heard from them so I sent a diversity statement and a professor of mine sent a LOR directly to the dean, I hope it works out as I am not an autoadmit by far. Would it be weird to call and ask how long it would be for them to go through hose on hold?

[lkw713]

I'm in too--got the email today! Congratulations to all those who've been accepted, and best of luck to all those waiting.

[hoosier1508]

Off topic: Anyone else glad to see Kirk Ferentz sticking around? I was concerned there for a little bit.

[IpunchedCharlieRose]

Honestly, without Google I wouldn't know who you are asking about.

[kollegekid]

Any of you that were admitted form the "on hold" file, I am apart of this group and hope to hear good news soon. It's midwest or bust for me, Iowa being my top choice.

-RF

[theuserdylan]

In at Iowa. Got the e-mail from the Dean today. I applied pretty late 1/15 ish. Does anyone know when they offer money? If they didn't offer anything in the initial e-mail is that bad? Or could it possibly come in a letter? I'm not expecting money, but it seems to be a possibility looking at my numbers and comparing them to fellow applicants on Law School Numbers from last year.

[crystalhawkeye]

In at Iowa. Got the e-mail from the Dean today. I applied pretty late 1/15 ish. Does anyone know when they offer money? If they didn't offer anything in the initial e-mail is that bad? Or could it possibly come in a letter? I'm not expecting money, but it seems to be a possibility looking at my numbers and comparing them to fellow applicants on Law School Numbers from last year.

Scholly offers come after acceptances. They need your FAFSA, then you have to fill out a form and something else. At least, that's the way I read it.

[hoosier1508]

In at Iowa. Got the e-mail from the Dean today. I applied pretty late 1/15 ish. Does anyone know when they offer money? If they didn't offer anything in the initial e-mail is that bad? Or could it possibly come in a letter? I'm not expecting money, but it seems to be a possibility looking at my numbers and comparing them to fellow applicants on Law School Numbers from last year.

Scholly offers come after acceptances. They need your FAFSA, then you have to fill out a form and something else. At least, that's the way I read it.

Not really.

The scholarships that have been going out so far are merit based scholarships. You don't need to have the FAFSA or the verification form completed for these. In fact, I don't even think the verification form is available from the financial aid office yet. You may need to fill these out for need based scholarships, but typically these are rare at public law schools.

It took about 2 weeks after I was accepted to get a scholarship offer. I think that has been fairly typical. Good luck.

[crystalhawkeye]

In at Iowa. Got the e-mail from the Dean today. I applied pretty late 1/15 ish. Does anyone know when they offer money? If they didn't offer anything in the initial e-mail is that bad? Or could it possibly come in a letter? I'm not expecting money, but it seems to be a possibility looking at my numbers and comparing them to fellow applicants on Law School Numbers from last year.

Scholly offers come after acceptances. They need your FAFSA, then you have to fill out a form and something else. At least, that's the way I read it.

Not really.

The scholarships that have been going out so far are merit based scholarships. You don't need to have the FAFSA or the verification form completed for these. In fact, I don't even think the verification form is available from the financial aid office yet. You may need to fill these out for need based scholarships, but typically these are rare at public law schools.

It took about 2 weeks after I was accepted to get a scholarship offer. I think that has been fairly typical. Good luck.

Ok, then I was thinking more for other financial aid purposes (need-based, loans). Whatev.

[kollegekid]

So I talked to admissions yesterday via email because I am on hold and I was curious about the whole on hold process, and they basically told me that nobody before April 1st comes off the hold list, in rare instances they do, and after April 1st everyone is moved to the waiting list. After April they go through the waitlist and "cut it down"(rejections) and then later on possibly even as late as May they take approximately 10-15 people of the waitlist. The point being that it is a long process as they have to wait for applicants to withdraw and to see the applicant pool. UGGGG. I hope this answers a few questions for those of us on hold.

-RF

[uncle mike]

So I talked to admissions yesterday via email because I am on hold and I was curious about the whole on hold process, and they basically told me that nobody before April 1st comes off the hold list, in rare instances they do, and after April 1st everyone is moved to the waiting list. After April they go through the waitlist and "cut it down"(rejections) and then later on possibly even as late as May they take approximately 10-15 people of the waitlist. The point being that it is a long process as they have to wait for applicants to withdraw and to see the applicant pool. UGGGG. I hope this answers a few questions for those of us on hold.

-RF

So, basically, all 600 offers of admission have already been made except for less than 25 people or so? Man.

Not good news but thanks for setting it straight.

[NorseHawk]

Got my acceptance e-mail from the "dean" a couple days ago. I'm really surprised by how quickly they made a decision. I didn't apply until 1/20 or so, and I figured with my GPA (2.99) I'd at least be put on hold or something. I guess being a resident and the good LSAT (168) made up for that more than I thought they would. I'm really excited about this, Iowa was definitely my first choice.

[theuserdylan]

Thanks hoosier1508 for the info on merit scholarships. I guess I'll just wait and see. I wonder if being in-state helps or hurts with merit scholarship offers?

For those of you waiting, you might find it interesting that with their acceptance letter Iowa sends out a form requesting that you inform them within ten days whither you are planning on attending, might attend, or definitely not attending. I imagine that they use this to try to fill out the rest of their class. If a lot of higher number students using Iowa as their safety school start informing them that they won't be attending then they'll start letting more students in. Just a guess.

Good luck everyone.

[Lawguru]

Thanks hoosier1508 for the info on merit scholarships. I guess I'll just wait and see. I wonder if being in-state helps or hurts with merit scholarship offers?

For those of you waiting, you might find it interesting that with their acceptance letter Iowa sends out a form requesting that you inform them within ten days whither you are planning on attending, might attend, or definitely not attending. I imagine that they use this to try to fill out the rest of their class. If a lot of higher number students using Iowa as their safety school start informing them that they won't be attending then they'll start letting more students in. Just a guess.

Good luck everyone.

I suspect the majority of people won't use Iowa as a "safety" Most T30s are less of a safety and more of a target.

Also: I suspect being in state slightly hurts your chances at getting large merit based schollys. Reason being, you're already paying half price. They accept some residents with lower numbers because they have a quota (which I think is sort of dumb, but they aren't the pnly public school to have that). They need the merit based to attract students with way higher numbers to bring their LSAT and GPA up to the target numbers to maintain their desired student body.

[rainmaker614]

Does anyone know if they offer travel stipends? I never realized how ridiculously expensive it is to travel to Iowa. $450 for an hour and a half plane ride? Plus an extra $60 or so taking a taxi to and from the airport. Plus the cost of lodging.... Going to the admitted students weekend is looking to cost about $800.

[Lawguru]

Does anyone know if they offer travel stipends? I never realized how ridiculously expensive it is to travel to Iowa. $450 for an hour and a half plane ride? Plus an extra $60 or so taking a taxi to and from the airport. Plus the cost of lodging.... Going to the admitted students weekend is looking to cost about $800.

Where are you from? You should try the quad cities airport or even Chicago. CHicago is only about 4 hrs drive.

[rainmaker614]

Does anyone know if they offer travel stipends? I never realized how ridiculously expensive it is to travel to Iowa. $450 for an hour and a half plane ride? Plus an extra $60 or so taking a taxi to and from the airport. Plus the cost of lodging.... Going to the admitted students weekend is looking to cost about $800.

Where are you from? You should try the quad cities airport or even Chicago. CHicago is only about 4 hrs drive.

I'm from around Detroit which is like an 8 hour drive. The quad cities airport is cheaper but the cost in taxi makes it equal and not worth the inconvenience. There isn't any train stations close to the University either. I can't drive because my car will be in the shop for the next 3 weeks and I'm driving a rental. The only other option is a greyhound but I'm pretty against taking buses and wouldn't do that unless it was an absolute last resort. Why does this place literally have to be out in the middle of nowhere. This is going to really suck for ever visiting home and stuff, as I won't be looking forward to paying $450 for each flight or how annoying it is that the flight is so short but I still have to make a stop because there aren't any direct flights out of that airport. I think a t30 school should be able to give some $$ to out of staters that are visiting, so we'll see what happens Monday I guess.

[Lawguru]

Does anyone know if they offer travel stipends? I never realized how ridiculously expensive it is to travel to Iowa. $450 for an hour and a half plane ride? Plus an extra $60 or so taking a taxi to and from the airport. Plus the cost of lodging.... Going to the admitted students weekend is looking to cost about $800.

Where are you from? You should try the quad cities airport or even Chicago. CHicago is only about 4 hrs drive.

I'm from around Detroit which is like an 8 hour drive. The quad cities airport is cheaper but the cost in taxi makes it equal and not worth the inconvenience. There isn't any train stations close to the University either. I can't drive because my care will be in the shop for the next 3 weeks and I'm driving a rental. The only other option is a greyhound but I'm pretty against taking buses and wouldn't do that unless it was an absolute last resort. Why does this place literally have to be out in the middle of nowhere. This is going to really suck for ever visiting home and stuff, as I won't be looking forward to paying $450 for each flight or how annoying it is that the flight is so short but I still have to make a stop because there aren't any direct flights out of that airport. I think a t30 school should be able to give some $$ to out of staters that are visiting, so we'll see what happens Monday I guess.

Well, Cedar Rapis/ IC isn't exactly the middle of no where. It is roughly 225,000 plus people. Granted though, the Cedar Rapids airport is shit. You'll feel differently about its remoteness when you're there. It isn't a very small or boring place at all.

[Altanis]

Everyone drives in Iowa. Even moreso than "real places" like Los Angeles. Iowa City is practically the only fully-walkable town in the state, and even then, I wouldn't recommend it.

[crystalhawkeye]

I'm making the drive from here, rainmaker. It's still shorter than the 9+ hours it took to get to Lexington...

[rainmaker614]

I'm making the drive from here, rainmaker. It's still shorter than the 9+ hours it took to get to Lexington...

It looks like I might be doing the same and taking a friends car (hopefully he'll come for the ride lol). Do you know where you'll be staying yet? I think I'm getting a room at the hotel that the reception is at which looks great and is reasonably priced at 130 a night (hotel vetro, I think). Also, i'll let you know how it goes when I call tomorrow about the travel stipend since it would benefit you too. This will probably be my last time down there until I move in for good so I'm also trying to look at apartments. I found that housing is going to be a rough ride. I want to live close to the school and i'll have a car so parking it will be an issue (even if I don't use it and get to walk to school). I also want to live alone since finding a decent room mate will probably be close to impossible lol. The problem is i'm not sure what is considered good housing or good pricing in the area so maybe some of you can help me. I found these apartments (owned by the same group that owns that hotel mentioned above) and they're $775 a month for a studio (not sure if this is a good price?) and it seems like it's in a convenient location.

http://www.moengroup.com/whiteway-photos.html

Any suggestions on decent housing that is convenient? Are there fully furnished options in the city as well? I'm really into downtown living and like lofts, but if that means a price that is twice as much as normal then i'd be glad to give up that luxury.

[crystalhawkeye]

I actually am looking for the same thing as you (1-room, close to campus, cheap). I think $775 might be a bit much for IC. For comparison, my friend who I just visited has a 2-bedroom in Chicago, Hyde Park, 3 blocks from campus, and it's ~$1100 a month. So we should be expecting much cheaper. I found some stuff online for $500-600, but I couldn't vouch for the quality or proximity. I'm hoping to find something for around that, but I might need to give up the proximity to do so.

I appreciate the travel thing, by the way; that'd be great if they offered something. I'll probably also stay at the hotel, but not sure yet. I'll probably stay Thursday and Friday night so I can walk around on Friday and have all day Saturday to make the drive home. For that reason, I might look at a different place that's a little cheaper.

Edit: Just looked at that link. Damn those places look nice. I'm probably going to look for something less nice and less expensive.

[mikeytwoshoes]

This site lists apartments downtown. They're all within a reasonable proximity and price range.
http://www.aptsdowntown.com/?do=View&lo ... div=FallAv

[scott82]

This site lists apartments downtown. They're all within a reasonable proximity and price range.
http://www.aptsdowntown.com/?do=View&lo ... div=FallAv

Do not rent from Apartments Downtown, or Apartments Near Campus. These people push the limits of landlord/tenant law, and they will steal your rental deposit. An apartment advertised for $600 will be $900 after they get you in the office and tack on a bunch of hidden charges. And if you want parking, expect to pay $900 to $1200 extra for the year.

I've rented from both of these landlords and had good experiences:
http://hpmic.com/index.php?option=com_e ... t&Itemid=3
http://www.iowacityhouserhomes.com/