By Maddilyn Klemme
What started as a six-month semester exchange program at Iowa State University turned into much more when Jack Moran decided to return to Ames to complete a master’s degree.
Moran, a current master’s student in crop production and physiology, has a journey to Iowa State not like many others. Moran is from a small village called Multyfarnham, where he grew up in Central Ireland on his family’s farm. While completing his Bachelor of Agricultural Science in animal and crop production from University College Dublin (UCD), Moran also spent six months in Ames, Iowa, at Iowa State University on a semester exchange program.
Always wanting to travel and study at another institution during his Bachelors, the COVID-19 pandemic limited Moran’s exchange options to universities in the United States. He asked one of his professors which university had the best programs for crop production, and the response, "Iowa State."
“I didn’t even know where Iowa was on a map, I had to Google it to learn more about it,” states Moran.
In the fall of 2021, Moran started his semester at Iowa State taking classes in agronomy, seed science, soils and animal science, getting a taste of Iowa State’s agricultural courses.
Moran shares, “The biggest different between the two universities is the size of the campuses. ISU has a much bigger campus even though UCD is one of the largest campuses in Ireland, but both are similar in attendance.”
Other differences also noted by Moran are class assessments, housing and location. Course assessments at Iowa State are more continuous when compared to UCD, which has one exam at the end of the semester. Housing at UCD can be difficult to find and expensive when compared to Ames, which has lots of options at good rates. Lastly, studying in Dublin allowed Moran to live in a capital city and have endless options of activities to participate in any day of the week, that were not university related.
During his semester in Ames, Moran traveled to different parts of the United States. Effigy Mounds in the Yellow River State Park in Harpers Ferry, Iowa, was his favorite location in Iowa. Outside of Iowa, Moran enjoyed his trip to the West Coast, where he toured the coastline and Yosemite National Park. His favorite thing to do while in the U.S. is visit national parks, due to the scale of the parks as they are not like anything he has experienced in Ireland or Europe.
After finishing his semester at Iowa State, Moran travelled back to UCD to complete his degree. When reflecting on his semester exchange program, Moran mentioned that he learned how to be more independent and to leave his comfort zone.
During his senior year at UCD, Moran thought about attending graduate school. He reached out to Dr. Susana Goggi, a professor in the Department of Agronomy with areas of expertise in crop production and physiology, for a letter of recommendation, which then turned into an offer to study and research at Iowa State under her.
Moran shares, “Those six months in 2021 I spent at Iowa State were great and were the reason I came back to earn my master’s degree.”
Currently finishing his thesis on improving the establishment of cover crops as a groundcover, Moran will graduate in May of 2025 and return to Europe to travel and find a job within in the agriculture sector.
“Be open to options and don’t turn anything down. Take opportunities as they come and embrace them,” encourages Moran, when asked about advice for students wanting to partake in an exchange program.