University of Iowa

First-year admission

Apply through the University of Iowa application or the Common Application (fall session only). Decisions are made on a rolling basis from August. The application fee is $55 (fee waiver available). First-year students enroll in Liberal Arts & Sciences, Engineering, Business, Nursing, Public Health or Education, each with college-specific requirements and high school core course expectations.

Iowa is test-optional for general admission (program-specific requirements may apply). Scores are used only if they benefit the applicant; applicants at or above 26 ACT / 1230 SAT typically have more opportunities for larger merit scholarships. Institution codes are 1356 (ACT) and 6681 (SAT).

Deadlines: Early Action November 2 (documents November 9); Regular February 1 (documents February 8); fall acceptance deadline May 3. Applicants after February 1 are not eligible for merit scholarships.

Transfer admission

Apply through the University of Iowa application ($55 fee) and have official transcripts sent from every college attended. Applicants with fewer than 24 semester hours also send test scores and a final high school transcript. Most programs: May 3 for fall (documents by August 1); December 1 for spring (November 16 for international applicants).

International applicants

The international application is for students who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The fee is $80 and generally cannot be waived. Applicants who attended high school outside the U.S. need a 3.0 GPA on academic courses (U.S. B or better), three years of completed secondary coursework and completion of secondary school. Transcripts are uploaded in MyUI. SAT or ACT scores are not required, but are required for academic scholarships, direct admission to Tippie College of Business and the Honors Program. The spring acceptance deadline is November 16.

English proficiency: TOEFL iBT 80 with all subscores 17 or higher (taken before January 2026); TOEFL iBT 4.0 with subscores 3.5 or higher (taken after January 2026); TOEFL Essentials 9; IELTS 6.5 with subscores 6.0 or higher; ACT English 21; SAT Reading and Writing 540; or AP English score of 4. Students below certain scores take ESL courses, and a TOEFL iBT of 100 waives all English placement courses.

The University of Iowa, founded in 1847 as the state's oldest institution of higher education, is located alongside the Iowa River in Iowa City, Iowa. Its campus blends into downtown Iowa City, with most first-year classes held within a three-block radius and a downtown district of restaurants and entertainment directly across the street from the heart of campus.

The historic Pentacrest forms the central part of campus; Schaeffer Hall, at 20 East Washington Street, sits there and houses the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences administration. The college alone occupies more than 30 buildings and over one million square feet across the campus, and the university's Dance Building on the west side of the Iowa River was recently renovated from the former art museum.

The campus spans both sides of the Iowa River and includes University of Iowa Health Care, one of the country's major academic medical centers, together with facilities for Big Ten athletics. The university's campus master plan describes the Pentacrest and the Iowa River corridor as defining features of the campus, along with natural landscapes in the Finkbine and Hawkeye areas, and notes that campus land is also located in Coralville.