I guess I was very fortunate. I got my under grad degree at Nebraska Wesleyan University on Lincoln in English and education. My dad and mom insisted that I enroll at Iowa and study for a Masters degree in English. R. G. Carlson and J. Conner were two of the pre-eminent scholars in adolescent literature research and taught most of my courses. They became mentors and friends.
Later on, my advisor and mentor George Chambers, a pre-eminent national scholar in school finance, offered me a grad assistantship to go into residency on my doctorate. George had returned to the classroom after many years as Sandy Boyd’s vice president for finance. Among other things, George was the only administrator allowed direct communication with Roy J Carver. George was also the go to guy with the head of the finance committee in the Iowa legislature. The other prof’s in that department taught every single course I took. I also became acquainted with the Dean of the College of Education during that time. The courses I took were challenging, comprehensive, and just plain fascinating.
I realize these were grad level courses. No TA’s. But as a result of my time as a grad student at Iowa I had a rewarding 40 year career and credit my mentors at U of I for their contributions. Just have almost no negative thoughts about my experiences at Iowa.