On an Iowa State visit, you’ll get a full walking tour of campus complete with historic buildings and decently steep hills to walk up. ISU also treats you to lunch in one of their dining halls where you can enjoy great food with more variety than one would expect. I personally got to spend two hours in the Ivy College of Business and Etes Simon Music Hall with students and professors in my majors. I was allotted time to explore where I myself would be studying, rather than just a general tour—the ISU tour felt more personalized, much like the school itself.

The University of Iowa, while close to home, is crowded due to Iowa City being one of Iowa’s most populated, bustling cities. On Iowa’s visit, you get a general tour with a free meal. The campus is very spread out with lots of walking, and unfortunately due to this, my tour group didn’t see everything Iowa had to offer. While not the most ideal campus, Iowa still highlighted its amazing academic programs and their career-driven success rates.

Drake University is located in Des Moines and was my favorite campus to tour. Despite the gloomy fall day, the students were lively and the campus was colorful. The Greek row at Drake is the most beautiful I’ve seen, with houses lining the street like something out of a movie. Without a guide, I could have easily gotten lost within the intricate campus, not for its size but because the paths wind around one another. Its buildings are uniquely layered with dining halls and entertainment, so each building feels like a different campus entirely. The majors fair was incredibly helpful and provided plenty of information on anything you may be curious about, as well as a logistics presentation about any minor details about applying.

Loyola University Chicago features a split-campus style, with their primary campus sitting beside Lake Michigan and their water tower campus existing in the heart of downtown Chicago. Your major will determine where you spend most of your time at school. The school has high environmental awareness, utilizing unique class projects to help the planet such as creating the fuel from compost to power the shuttles between campuses. The lakeshore campus was equally beautiful and straightforward—it was easy to navigate and the tour guide showed every corner. In the downtown campus there are only three buildings, all sharing the same intersection, consisting of living quarters for upperclassmen and the business college. The school is so unique that one would be hard-pressed to find it boring.