Iowa State University, which is situated on 1,900 acres of land, is a Carnegie Foundation Doctoral and Research University. It is also ranked as one of the most beautiful college campuses in America. It is located in Ames, Iowa just 30 minutes north of Des Moines. This university was recently named one of America's top college towns. Iowa State has more than 33,000 students. They can choose from 120 majors to find their passion. Iowa State was 55th out of 146 Top Public-National Universities as ranked by U.S. News and World Report in 2020's "Best Colleges" list.

Iowa State is an AAU member and has over 6,500 qualified faculty and staff. Iowa State is a member both of the Big 12 Athletic Conference (Division I) and the NCAA (Division I). The Cyclones have 18 varsity teams, including 11 women's and seven men's intercollegiate squads. There are many networking opportunities for students, including more than 850 student clubs, 45 intramural sports and over 90 high-ranked, early-engagement learning groups.

Iowa State is recognized worldwide for its achievements in science, technology, discovery, innovation and student success. Iowa State's outreach programs, which are both educational and research-based, benefited over 1 million Iowans last year. This is in keeping with the university's Land Grant mission. Iowa State's research enterprise is integrated in this deep-seeded focus. It includes almost 100 centers and institutes as well as world-class facilities and award-winning scholars and researchers.

Schools and colleges

Iowa State University is divided into eight colleges and two faculties that offer 100 bachelor's degrees, 112 Masters and 83 doctoral programs. One professional degree program is in Veterinary Medicine.

These schools are part of ISU:

• Greenlee School of Journalism and Mass Communication (within College of Liberal Arts and Sciences)..
• School of Education (within College of Human Sciences)

Rankings

Iowa State is a Carnegie "R1: Doctoral University - Very High Research Activity" university. Each year, it receives almost $500 million in research grants.

The university is among the 62 elected members of Association of American Universities. This organization consists of the highest-ranked private and public research universities in the U.S.

The Association of Public and Land Grant Universities awarded the "Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities" designation to Iowa State University in 2016-17. This is a distinction that was given to only fifty-four institutions across the United States.

QS ranked the agriculture and forestry programs 16th worldwide in 2020. U.S. News & World Report 2018 ranks the statistics program tied for 20th. In engineering specialties, at schools whose highest degree is a doctorate, Iowa State's biological/agricultural engineering program is ranked first, the mechanical and civil are ranked 9th and 16th nationally in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report. Nearly all engineering specialties at ISU rank in the top 30 nationally. The chemistry and physical programs at ISU are among the most prestigious in the world, and are in the Top 100 globally as well as in the Top 50 nationally. The Greenlee School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ISU is one of America's top journalism schools. It was ranked 23rd by the AEJMC in a publication.

ISU is ranked 78th by the National Science Foundation in total research-development expenditures, and 94th for research-development expenditures in science and engineering. ISU currently ranks 2nd nationally in the execution of licenses and options on intellectual property. It is also #2 in licenses and options that generate income.

ISU's Landscape Architecture program was ranked the 10th best undergraduate program in America, while architecture was ranked the 18th best.