Iowa leads the nation in high school graduation rate.

[fezzador]

Originally Posted by Qwerty

Again, most schools use holistic admissions practices, meaning that they do look at your transcript, course rigor, extracurriculars, etc. Yes, there are some state schools that admit anyone that has a certain GPA and test scores, but most do not. Even the U of Iowa looks at classes taken, etc.

First-Year Students | Undergraduate Admissions - The University of Iowa

"First-Year Admission Requirements
Admission is based on a combination of your test scores, high school grades, and course work."

No where do they mention class rank, although that probably helps some.

With a 70+% acceptance rate they must only leaf through them.

Not trying to knock the U of I, but most comparable state schools in the area have an acceptance rate of about 50-60%. Of course, the bulk of UI applicants come from out of state (especially Illinois) but being the University of Iowa, it has to suck knowing how many in-state students get turned down in favor of out-of-state students... it's probably more due to economics than academics.

[attrapereves]

Originally Posted by fezzador

With a 70+% acceptance rate they must only leaf through them.

Not trying to knock the U of I, but most comparable state schools in the area have an acceptance rate of about 50-60%. Of course, the bulk of UI applicants come from out of state (especially Illinois) but being the University of Iowa, it has to suck knowing how many in-state students get turned down in favor of out-of-state students... it's probably more due to economics than academics.

The university I attended was only allowed to accept a certain number of out of state students each year (I think only 25% of the population could be OOS). This was done to give in-state students first priority, even if their grades and scores weren't the best.

Personally, I would avoid a school with a large number of OOS students. Generally they will get their degree, then move back to their home state and will never have a connection with the state where the school is located.

[fezzador]

It wasn't that long ago (maybe less than five years ago) that UI's incoming freshman class comprised of 53% OOS students. A huge chunk of them are from suburban Chicago, and Iowa was simply the fallback school for many of them (couldn't get into Northwestern, so they applied to Wisconsin or Illinois-UC, couldn't get in those schools either so settled on Iowa).

Personally I find that an indictment on the University of Iowa... you can't expect it to match the prestige of a Northwestern or Michigan, or perhaps even Wisconsin, but when Illinois at Urbana-Champaign rejects a lot of Illinois kids and they come flooding at Iowa's gates and are welcomed with open arms, that's not necessarily a good thing. The administration doesn't care because they're raking in money hand-over-fist with all the out-of-state tuition.

UI used to be the shining beacon of higher education in the state, but I'm not sure they have that foothold anymore. ISU is becoming more and more the "hot" university in the state, and has even surpassed UI's enrollment as of late. UNI isn't a top notch school, but it's got over 10K students, the overwhelming majority of which are native Iowans.

[Qwerty]

Originally Posted by attrapereves

The university I attended was only allowed to accept a certain number of out of state students each year (I think only 25% of the population could be OOS). This was done to give in-state students first priority, even if their grades and scores weren't the best.

Personally, I would avoid a school with a large number of OOS students. Generally they will get their degree, then move back to their home state and will never have a connection with the state where the school is located.

Sure hope you are not suggesting that to your students. There are a lot of benefits to attending a school with students from around the country and the world. It's a fantastic learning experience and quite honestly, prevents a provincial mindset after graduation...

[attrapereves]

Originally Posted by Qwerty

Sure hope you are not suggesting that to your students. There are a lot of benefits to attending a school with students from around the country and the world. It's a fantastic learning experience and quite honestly, prevents a provincial mindset after graduation...

Of course not, that was just my personal choice. Selecting a college is a personal, time consuming choice. I think I visited and applied to 5 or 6 different schools before I found the one I wanted to attend.

I visited a school with a 50-55% OOS enrollment (WVU) and it didn't really feel like a tight knit community. Besides educating individuals, the goal of a university is to provide the state with highly educated people.

If Chicagoans come to U of I, graduate, then move back (which I'm assuming most do), this causes the state to lose out on highly qualified/educated individuals.

[Qwerty]

Originally Posted by attrapereves

Of course not, that was just my personal choice. Selecting a college is a personal, time consuming choice. I think I visited and applied to 5 or 6 different schools before I found the one I wanted to attend.

I visited a school with a 50-55% OOS enrollment (WVU) and it didn't really feel like a tight knit community. Besides educating individuals, the goal of a university is to provide the state with highly educated people.

If Chicagoans come to U of I, graduate, then move back (which I'm assuming most do), this causes the state to lose out on highly qualified/educated individuals.

But if Chicagoans come to the U of I and love it, they stay. Iowa itself has a pretty small population and to assume that everyone that is from Iowa will stay in Iowa and only go to school in Iowa is pretty short-sighted. College is a great time to get out and explore the world. I would never want my kids to only be and live in one small area their entire life. The reality is that a good portion of college students do end up staying near where they went to college, providing the job opportunities are there. That is one area where Iowa really falls short though so even kids from Iowa move away for better job opportunities.

[atler8]

Here is additional new & more specific information on the high school graduation rates found across Iowa.

http://http://www.desmoinesregister....ease/70786938/