Choosing Iowa 

A global and local perspective on the University of Iowa

by Jill Nied

Every week, Rachel Lapides’ poetry workshop meets to review its latest projects. University of Iowa honors student Aishani Kundu was one of the few selected for the spring 2025 section.  This time spent revising her poems and connecting with fellow writers isn’t just her favorite class she’s taken at the UI — it’s a representation of the passion she’s found here at the writing university almost 8,000 miles from home. 

Kundu, a second-year psychology and English and creative writing double-major, is from Kolkata, India. She spent her high school years practicing karate and editing her school’s literary magazine, but she always knew she would have to travel far from home to pursue further education. 

“Schools out here offer more flexibility in terms of what you can major in,” Kundu said. 

With interests in both creative writing and psychology, she didn’t want to be forced to pick one or the other as she likely would have had she studied closer to home – that is, if the local universities offered creative writing at all.  

Kundu’s certainty about moving to the U.S. didn’t make her travel easy. The trip consisted of a series of plane rides totaling 25 hours of travel time. Kundu battled through the already stressful move-in day, sleep deprived and jet-lagged. And while her parents stayed in a hotel to help her unpack, her roommate was missing and wouldn’t finish moving in until the first week of classes. 

“It felt like, ‘Oh, I’m pretty much alone,’” Kundu said. 

The international student orientation and Honors Primetime events helped Kundu form new friendships. The farmers market was another event that brought students together in those first weeks on campus. 

However, she didn’t feel fully adjusted until the second semester. She put herself out there, attending literary readings, literary magazine events, and creative writing classes. She built a community of fellow creative writers, which eased the homesickness.

While Kundu adjusted to life on campus, Kate Schlawin was using her last year of high school to solidify her future plans, less than an hour away from Iowa City. An involved student participating in band, cross country, track and field, Schlawin never had a single passion she planned to pursue in college.

“I had no idea what I wanted to do until about my junior year when I discovered what actuarial science was,” Schlawin said.

Actuarial science, a discipline that combines mathematics and statistics to assess risk, was the perfect solution. Then, it was time to find an undergraduate program that would help her succeed in her newfound career goal and provide her with plenty of opportunities to continue band recreationally. The UI was always on her radar.

“You know the little toddler Iowa cheerleader costumes?” Schlawin said. “I had one of those.” 

She ran cross country meets on the university’s course, attended academic programs for high schoolers, and visited her older sister who was already a UI student. 

However, it wasn’t until her second official campus visit that Schlawin solidified her choice. She met with a staff member in the actuarial sciences department who walked her through the details of the program.

Her mom also helped with the decision. As an alumni of the Hawkeye marching band, she taught Schlawin the ins and outs of life as a student involved with music on campus. With the assurance of her mom and newfound knowledge of what the university has to offer, Schlawin made her commitment. She enrolled. 

Her move-in day wasn’t dissimilar to Kundu despite their varied travel times. Schlawin unpacked to an empty room and left for marching band rehearsals before her roommate arrived. They wouldn’t officially meet until late that evening.  

The busy marching band schedule, though exhausting, actually felt like a blessing. It left little time to feel homesick and was a natural way to make friends.   

“It was just go, go, go, and then I was in classes,” Schlawin said. “It’s sort of like a summer camp.” 

Kundu understandably struggled far more with homesickness in her first year.

“I feel like my dad misses me a lot,” she said. “He calls me every day and asks, ‘When are you coming back?’ But he also wants me to use every resource I can so I can fulfill my dreams.”

Like many college students, the dreams Kundu carried with her on her move-in day aren’t the same dreams she’s pursuing now. While she once thought she wanted to be a counselor, her passion for creative writing has grown exponentially after almost two years in the city of literature. 

“Creative writing was more of a side thing,” Kundu said. “That's not actually going to be my career. But since coming here, my goals have changed drastically because I'm leaning more towards creative writing now and hoping to do something with poetry as a career, possibly even going to grad school for poetry.”  

When faced with possibilities of grad school, Kundu knew she would have to focus on just one area of study, and the thought of ending her creative writing studies was difficult.

“I just thought, ‘Yeah, this is what I love doing,” Kundu said.

While she’s not attached to the Midwest, Kundu is interested in continuing her studies at the UI.  In general, she’s confident she’ll stay in the U.S. at least for the near future. Even as a first-year, Schlawin also has some ideas about her future. Unlike Kundu, she feels confident she’ll stay in the Midwest after graduation.  

“When I'm here, it’s comfortable,” Schlawin said. “I know Iowa City. I know how everything works.”

Despite coming to the University of Iowa from opposite sides of the globe, both honors students are making the most of what the campus has to offer.