I started my undergraduate at the University of Northern Iowa in August 2014 and ended May 4th, 2018. I originally didn't want to go here because my parents pretty much forced me to go here and because the some concrete buildings gave me the impression that UNI looked like a concentration camp. Yet again, I never found a college that hasn't given me an ugly/prison-looking vibe at first, so take this first impression for granted. After starting marching band camp the week before class started my freshman year, I was completely wrong. Going to UNI won't be some prison sentence. Rather, it would be a terrific experience I would remember forever. I participated in the UNI marching and pep bands for four years, and it was great because I got to travel on two abroad marching band trips (London 2015 and Rome 2017) and learned the inside band nerd sayings said at the opposing team at basketball games. Another major extracurricular I got involved with was the UNI Forensics Speech Team. I spent four years traveling across the Midwest to go to competitions that we used memorized speeches about advocacy to get our messages across. I also went on the Cuba Capstone in May-June of 2017, and it was great because of all the wonderful sights and perspectives we had and also because two of my high school classmates went there too. I ended becoming a Spanish major (not teaching, just Spanish) on accident because I wanted to learn more Spanish after high school, and the classes in their Department of Languages and Literatures were always the classes I kept enjoying and wanting to continue. My advice is to get the English-Spanish Translation minor like I did because it only requires an additional class of intro to linguistics (a TESOL class). I also got a creative writing minor because I enjoy writing, but one thing I would do if I went back and repeated these years again would be to get the interdisciplinary writing major, that isn't widely known and talked about because of its smallness, which is basically the combination of the professional and creative writing minors. Overall, my experience at UNI was spectacular. I got to be involved with the church at St. Stephen the Witness right next to the book store while having the ability to make new friends, see the world, and get out of my personal bubble. I highly recommend going to this university because I clearly underestimated UNI's ability to grow on me, and one's first impressions on a place does not determine the outcome. Rather, it's one's ability to grow with perspective and taste that really defines what someone would experience as a student at this establishment.
All USA
I started my undergraduate at the University of Northern Iowa in August 2014 and ended May 4th, 2018. I originally didn't want to go here because my parents pretty much forced me to go here and because the some concrete buildings gave me the impression that UNI looked like a concentration camp. Yet again, I never found a college that hasn't given me an ugly/prison-looking vibe at first, so take this first impression for granted. After starting marching band camp the week before class started my freshman year, I was completely wrong. Going to UNI won't be some prison sentence. Rather, it would be a terrific experience I would remember forever. I participated in the UNI marching and pep bands for four years, and it was great because I got to travel on two abroad marching band trips (London 2015 and Rome 2017) and learned the inside band nerd sayings said at the opposing team at basketball games. Another major extracurricular I got involved with was the UNI Forensics Speech Team. I spent four years traveling across the Midwest to go to competitions that we used memorized speeches about advocacy to get our messages across. I also went on the Cuba Capstone in May-June of 2017, and it was great because of all the wonderful sights and perspectives we had and also because two of my high school classmates went there too. I ended becoming a Spanish major (not teaching, just Spanish) on accident because I wanted to learn more Spanish after high school, and the classes in their Department of Languages and Literatures were always the classes I kept enjoying and wanting to continue. My advice is to get the English-Spanish Translation minor like I did because it only requires an additional class of intro to linguistics (a TESOL class). I also got a creative writing minor because I enjoy writing, but one thing I would do if I went back and repeated these years again would be to get the interdisciplinary writing major, that isn't widely known and talked about because of its smallness, which is basically the combination of the professional and creative writing minors. Overall, my experience at UNI was spectacular. I got to be involved with the church at St. Stephen the Witness right next to the book store while having the ability to make new friends, see the world, and get out of my personal bubble. I highly recommend going to this university because I clearly underestimated UNI's ability to grow on me, and one's first impressions on a place does not determine the outcome. Rather, it's one's ability to grow with perspective and taste that really defines what someone would experience as a student at this establishment.