Admissions & selectivity
Iowa State University Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Iowa State University?
Iowa State University’s reported acceptance rate is 88.7%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 88.7%
Source: College Scorecard · Fall 2024 admissions. Acceptance rates can change from year to year; this figure does not predict the current or next admission cycle.
Source: Iowa State University Common Data Set 2025-26, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
Iowa State University admits most students who apply, with an admission rate of 88.7%. That figure sits above the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size).
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 24,625 applicants, 21,652 admitted students, and 6,160 enrolled first-year students.
What SAT and ACT scores do Iowa State University students report?
The academic profile of Iowa State's entering class is broad, with the middle half of enrolled students who submitted SAT scores earning between 1,120 and 1,360. For the ACT, the middle half of submitted scores ranges from 21 to 28.
These ranges describe the enrolled class, not minimum requirements. An applicant whose record sits within or above those bands is in line with the middle half of the enrolled class.
The figures offer a benchmark for the academic profile of recent entering students, not a cutoff.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Iowa State University. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
- Approximate lower endpoint
- 1120
- Approximate upper endpoint
- 1360
Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff. The endpoints add section percentiles; they are not verified composite-score percentiles. A separate SAT-equivalent average is not plotted as a median. Source: College Scorecard; sum of section 25th/75th percentiles; enrolled score-submitters.
- 25th percentile
- 21
- 75th percentile
- 28
Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Figures cover fall 2024.
Who enrolls at Iowa State University?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 18.8%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 18.7%
- First-year retention
- 87.6%
Retention source: College Scorecard; full-time first-year retention.
About these student measures
The entering-student group includes part-time entrants as well as other attendance patterns.
Iowa State University admits 88.7% of its applicants, a rate that sits above the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 24,625 first-year applicants, 21,652 admitted students, and 6,160 enrolled first-year students.
The undergraduate enrollment of 25,367 includes a Pell Grant share of 18.8% and an estimated share of entrants outside the first-time, full-time group of 18.7%. For transfer applicants, the university reported 2,757 applicants, 2,206 admitted students, and 1,351 enrolled students in its 2025-26 Common Data Set.
The composition points to a campus where nearly one in five undergraduates receives a Pell Grant and a similar share arrives after starting college elsewhere. Pell-eligible and transfer applicants can use the university's cost calculator to see how aid and transfer credits might shape their own path.
Students who enroll at Iowa State University tend to stay and finish at rates above the typical benchmark for comparable institutions. The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 75.3%, above the peer median of 65.0% (the middle value for comparable institutions).
The first-year retention rate is 87.6%, higher than the peer median of 83.1%. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported that the first-time, full-time fall 2024 entering class returned at a rate of 89%.
Pell recipients in the first-time full-time cohort complete at a rate of 67.5%, below the overall six-year rate by 7.8 percentage points. Students who enroll should expect a campus where persistence and completion both run higher than the peer-group medians.
Data & methodology
Sources and reporting periods: methodology.
Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.
Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.
Admission rates describe past applicants, not an individual’s chance of admission; confirm requirements and deadlines with the institution.
Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.