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Iowa’s Morningside College is sixty-eight acres of “beautiful campus,� and it boasts a job and graduate school placement rate of 99 percent as well as a 100 percent rate of students receiving financial aid. At Morningside, there is an “intentional focus on a liberal arts education,� and since “it’s not an especially large school … there are a lot of opportunities that may not be available to a larger student body.� That includes May Terms, which give students the opportunity to take classes not normally offered (many choose Study Abroad) and the Palmer Research Symposium, an undergraduate research day that “allows students to gain experience in creating and presenting research across the disciplines.� Off-campus learning opportunities extend the curriculum, offering opportunities such as job shadowing, service learning, internships, and clinical experience.

Bolstering the academics are professors, described by some as “the best thing about the college.� These educators “are sincerely focused on teaching their students everything they can,� and small class sizes make faculty “more accessible and personable�—most “are on a first name basis with their students� and are “very quick to respond to emails relating to homework.� If you want an in-person conversation, they are also “more than willing to talk to students about anything.� It’s clear that the faculty “really care about the topics that you are learning,� and while there are some lectures, “many professors pose questions to lead discussion and then just let the students talk about what they think.�

Since this is a “close knit and tight group,� Morningside “has a small community feeling within a larger city.� Here, “friendly smiles and hellos are what you will see along the campus no matter what,� and “everyone wants to get to know everyone�—and there’s a lot to get to know about each other since there are “a good number of foreign students.� But while “everybody has their own opinion, … everyone respects each other's opinions.� In general, “everyone … is very enthusiastic,� and that extends into the neighboring areas as well: “Students enjoy volunteering in the surrounding community.�

Students love Morningside “in the spring, [when] all the flowers and trees are blossoming.� And when students aren't studying, “people hang out, use the pool rooms in the dorm building, go to the mall or the movies,� or “hang around in the lounges of the residence hall or head down to hang out in the grill of the student center.� Students can find something to do, since there “are always events happening on campus� such as “slam poetry, guest speakers,� scavenger hunts, “comedians, magicians, and bingo,� all of which serves to “bring the student Mustangs together.� Keeping students even busier, a good number of them are “involved in extracurricular activities or have jobs on campus or in the surrounding community.� And speaking of the Sioux City community, establishments around town offer additional options for a night out, “giving Morningside students free movie nights … [and] karaoke nights.�