The Top 10 Colleges and Universities in Iowa Heading into 2022

When thinking about higher-level education in the state of Iowa, it's easy to defer our thoughts to Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. They're the two state schools and regularly have an enrollment of over 30,000 students.

For young kids trying to determine where they're going to college, it's not that simple. As juniors and seniors approach the halfway point in the school year, they get bombarded with mail, emails, calls, texts, even social media engagement from universities state, and nationwide. There are 60 colleges and universities just in the state of Iowa.

It can be a lot.

I'll stop by to help you out. Here's your guide to the top ten schools in the state of Iowa, according to collegefactual.com (which you can compare to a similar list from 2018).

I've written quite a lot about my alma mater, the University of Northern Iowa -- mostly when it comes to sports. That's where my mind goes, as I spent a good half of my collegiate experience having something to do with covering the Panthers. Whether it was filming or doing announcing for ESPN+, serving as the news and sports director of the radio station, or leading a group of writers as the sports editor of the Northern Iowan, I kept pretty busy.

It wasn't just that, though. I was part of a Christian community called BASIC and Orchard Hill Church while I was in school. I met my best friend there and was the best man in his wedding last year. I went on a mission trip to Jamaica and the Caribbean Christian Center for the Deaf with them. I led two co-ed Bible studies with two of my favorite people. I felt so, so loved there.

My high school best friend went to Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo. I was able to walk on to the track team after having a rough experience elsewhere for my first semester of college (I quit a month into my sophomore year, it just wasn't a fit). I changed majors from exercise science to communication. I went through some real rough patches. I roomed with a couple of guys I barely knew and am still in contact with them today -- we had plenty of stupid fights about the cleanliness of our apartment, but we still loved each other.

I got a good education. I learned about myself and what I was good at. I got involved. I met SO MANY awesome people. I couldn't have had a better experience.

I'll always vouch for UNI.