Particularly COE College in Cedar Rapids? My daughter has applied there but other than the basic internet info, we don’t know much about it. Interested to know if anyone has any first hand experience, good, bad, or indifferent, here?
Fwiw, we are not residents of the state of Iowa, but it’s about 4-5 hour drive from me.
I went to Coe. Class of '01, so bear in mind that my info is approaching 20 years old.
Not a big name school, but I had some great professors (I studied history). I worked in the Writing Center and played on the ultimate frisbee team. In general I enjoyed my time there. I spent my first two years in Greene dorm (all male, wouldn't recommend it), junior year in a campus-owned apartment, and my senior year in Murray. The apartments and Murray were great (I mean...it's a dorm). Armstrong & Douglas (A-D) were kind of known as the party dorms. Voorhees is the all-girls dorm where the sororities are, if she's into that sort of thing. They put up some nice new apartments after I graduated.
Cedar Rapids isn't much of a college town, though. For that kind of experience, the U of I is a safer bet. That said, I didn't have a car, so it really didn't matter to me one way or another--I spent most of my time on campus. Having a car would be a big help. It's not the kind of neighborhood that caters to the students with 50 coffee shops and whatnot on every block.
Small class sizes--I had good relationships with all of my professors. The small faculty size means you'll be seeing a lot of profs in your field. I took 6 classes from one prof, five from another, four from another (or two).
The school has a good physics program, if she's into that, and it's not a bad place to be for poli sci. The Iowa Caucus is a big deal there, so if she's interested in that, she'll have some opportunities to explore it. In 2001 I got to see Al Gore, George Bush, Alan Keyes, Steve Forbes and Bill Bradley during their runs.
Best pizza is Zoe's, up First Ave a ways in Marion.
Hard to think of what else is worth mentioning. If she has specific questions, feel free to ask here or send me an email through the forum.
My girlfriend from high school went there but since I’ve never seen her since I can’t help any on that front. Cedar Rapids is an ok town though and close enough to Iowa City, Des Moines and Davenport for day trips
Great info Will thank you! Considering the cost of college, every little bit of insight helps.
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