Iowa State acceptance rate and admissions statistics
Iowa State admitted 21,652 of 24,625 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 87.9%. Every number below comes from the college’s own Common Data Set, each year linked to its document; a figure the college leaves blank says “Not published”, and the notes at the foot of the page say where a total is the sum of rows the college printed.
What did admitted applicants have? How to get into Iowa State counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
Iowa State acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 24,625 | 21,652 | 87.9% | 6,160 | 28.5% |
| 2024-25 | 23,095 | 20,475 | 88.7% | 5,906 | 28.8% |
| 2023-24 | 22,995 | 20,496 | 89.1% | 5,859 | 28.6% |
Acceptance rate is admitted divided by applied; yield is enrolled divided by admitted. Both are computed by Aristo Scholars from the two counts printed beside them.
Early decision at Iowa State
Early decision counts: Not published. Iowa State’s Common Data Set prints no early decision applicant or admit counts (section C21) for any year shown.
Iowa State waitlist
Waitlist counts: Not published. Iowa State’s Common Data Set prints no waitlist numbers (section C2) for any year shown.
Iowa State SAT and ACT scores
What Iowa State says matters in admission
In section C7 each college rates its own admission factors as Very Important, Important, Considered or Not Considered. These are the factors Iowa State rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: Standardized test scores
- 2024-25
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: Standardized test scores
- 2023-24
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: Standardized test scores
Iowa State testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Test optional: applicants choose whether to self-report ACT, SAT or CLT scores. Without scores, admission rests on high school GPA and core course completion. With scores, the Regent Admission Index uses the ACT composite or its SAT/CLT conversion. CLT is accepted for Fall 2026 to Summer 2027 but is not counted in the RAI.
From Iowa State’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
Iowa State reports no waitlist and no early decision plan.
Iowa State acceptance rate questions
- What is the Iowa State acceptance rate?
- Iowa State's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 24,625 first-year applicants and 21,652 admitted, an acceptance rate of 87.9%. It was 88.7% in 2024-25 and 89.1% in 2023-24.
- What SAT scores do Iowa State students have?
- In 2025-26, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1153 to 1360, and ACT submitters scored 21 to 28. 12.0% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
- Does Iowa State require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Test optional: applicants choose whether to self-report ACT, SAT or CLT scores. Without scores, admission rests on high school GPA and core course completion. With scores, the Regent Admission Index uses the ACT composite or its SAT/CLT conversion. CLT is accepted for Fall 2026 to Summer 2027 but is not counted in the RAI.
Applying to Iowa State?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what Iowa State says it weighs.
Source: Iowa State Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with Iowa State. All official acceptance rates