Iowa State University (ISU) is a public land-grant and space-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. It is the largest university in the state of Iowa and the third largest university in the Big 12 Conference. ISU was founded in 1858 as Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm (IAC&MF), making it one of the oldest land-grant universities in the United States. The first class enrolled 38 students from across the state of Iowa. The school’s name changed to Iowa State University of Science and Technology (ISU or “Iowa State”) in 1959 after it was designated a space-grant institution and renamed itself again to its current moniker when it joined the Association of American Universities as a research university.
The University’s athletic teams are known as the Cyclones and compete in Division I of NCAA athletics. ISU is classified among “R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity.” In 2019, U.S. News & World Report ranked ISU 12th among public universities on their “Best Colleges” list, which rates overall educational quality including teaching, research, social mobility, graduation rates, expert opinions of academic leaders, financial resources available to students/families, and student excellence. Additionally, Forbes magazine ranked Ames 3rd on their list of “The 100 Best Places To Live For Business And Careers” for small cities noting that Ames has very low unemployment rate at 1.8% and strong median earnings for college graduates at $50k per year; both well above average for small cities nationwide