Shivani Patel says that she chose Iowa because her brain told her, “Hey Shivani, go to the University of Iowa!” In her letter, she shares some of the ways she has gotten involved on campus and in the UI Honors Program--formative experiences that she hopes you will have for yourself!

Dear Prospective Student,

Congrats on your acceptance to college and more importantly, congrats on surviving high school and finally beginning this new journey! I know just how excited you probably are to begin college and can tell you that it is going to be wonderful. This is going to be a time full of new experiences, growth, and fun. I hope that your college experience is everything and more than you dream of!

Before I dive in, I want to share a little about myself. My name is Shivani Patel, and I will be a junior this coming fall 2023. I am majoring in political science with a minor in philosophy and am on the pre-law track. I am the director of diversity, equity, and inclusion of the professional pre-law fraternity on campus, Phi Alpha Delta; a board member of the Indian Student Alliance; and I work as a tutor for the ACT. In my free time, I love to read, go on runs, and take a sunset stroll across the capitol. Everyone has different hobbies here which is part of why college is great. You’ll never run out of things to try or do and that’s the beauty of it! I encourage you to push yourself to join different clubs and try new activities.

People often ask why I decided to come here. And honestly, I tell them I’m not sure! A part of me just knew I was supposed to come to this school. My brain just said, “Hey Shivani, go to the University of Iowa.” And now here I am sitting and writing this letter to you about why you should go here. Honestly, life really has a weird way of working out and I think that I’m an example of it! So, I encourage you to enjoy your college experience and remember that you only go through it once in your life.

This brings me to why you would make a great addition to the University of Iowa, and specifically the Honors Program. During my two years of being at Iowa. I lived in honors housing freshman year, did Honors Primetime, took an honors seminar and loads of other honors coursework, and now I have been an honors outreach ambassador for 2 semesters! I love being an honors outreach ambassador and engaging with prospective students like you. The experiences that I had with the UI Honors Program has molded me as an individual and continues to teach me a lot as I progress through my academic career. So, I highly encourage getting involved with Honors at Iowa and cannot wait for you to experience these same things for yourself!

I could go on and on about my experiences in college so far, so if you have any questions, please reach out to myself, one of the other honors ambassadors, or a member of the honors professional staff. I know that we all would love to help you in any way that we can!

Sincerely,

Shivani Patel