University of Northern Iowa Top Questions

White and uptight. A lot of jocks and sorority/fraternity students

The common stereotype of students at UNI is that we all go home every weekend and it is a glorified high school. This is not true. Obviously there are some students who go home every weekend and think they are still in high school, as there are at every university. Here at UNI, campus can be as big or as small as you want it to be! If you want to hang out with just a few high school buddies all of the time and go home on the weekends you can. If you want to meet hundreds of new friends and find something to do on campus every weekend, you can do that too! There are events all of the time, most of which are free, and there are tons of people living on campus! Many halls even have open door contests so there are doors open and you can stop by and meet new people everywhere!

One of the common stereotypes of UNI is that it is "Switzerland." This is definitely true as there are a variety of students in ethnicity, culture, religion, likes and dislikes, academic standing and involvement...the list goes on. This may be true of other schools, but UNI is well known for the kindness of the community, professors, and students as well as their career preparation; much of this, I believe, is due to the acceptance of differences and encouragement to "stand out" here at UNI. UNI is also well known for its teaching and business curricula. However, there is a common misconception that it does not have "good" programs in other areas, such as the sciences, engineering, psychology, etc. This belief is false! UNI has exceptional programs for almost anything! The education here is top-notch and any student you ask will agree that they made the right choice in coming to UNI.

I don't think there are any stereotypes of the student body as a whole at the University of Northern Iowa. Although, I would say we are known for our school spirit! The Interlude Dance has been a huge factor in making our student section known nation wide. Also, we have a large enough campus that you can be who you would like and still be able to find a group to belong to. We don't have many fraternity or sorority groups, but they are a close knit group. We also have a lot of exchange students and that makes for a interesting and diverse student population.

A stereotype of students at UNI is that all of the students are from small Midwest farming towns. This stereotype is very innaccurate. Although UNI has a large number of Iowan students, not all of these students come from small, rural areas. Many are from Iowa City, Des Moines, etc. UNI also has a number of international students as well as students from other states.

I really don't think there is a stereotype of students at my school. There is such a wide variety of people here and pretty much all types of people hang out together. The one thing iI think people do stereotype about students here though, is that everyone goes home on the weekends. While some people do go home on the weekends, there are plenty of people that stay here too.