By Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez, Des Moines Register
Iowa-As applications to accredited colleges and universities are on the rise — up 83% over the past 10 years, according to The Business Journals — schools are getting even more selective with who they admit.
The Business Journals recently compiled a list of America’s most selective colleges, based on an analysis of U.S. Department of Education data.
One Iowa school made the list of the 100 most selective universities. Here’s what we know.
Which Iowa college is among the most selective in the country?
The only Iowa school to make the list of America’s most selective colleges was Grinnell College at spot number 55.
The school’s average acceptance rate in 2023 was only 12.7%. With just below 10,000 applicants last fall, the college only accepted 1,266 new students in 2023. And out of those only 457 enrolled.
Founded in 1846, the private college in Grinnell is known as a residential liberal arts and sciences college. It has also been named the 19th-best liberal arts college in the nation by U.S. News.
And, according to the Princeton Review, Grinnellians have the fifth-best classroom experience in the U.S., based on student answers to survey questions.
How selective are other universities in Iowa?
Drake University had the next lowest acceptance rate at 64.1%, according to The Business Journals.
Iowa’s three public universities had the highest acceptance rates in the state with the University of Northern Iowa accepting 94.4% of applicants. Iowa State University accepted 89.1% and the University of Iowa accepted 84.7%.
What are the top 10 most selective schools in America?
- Harvard University
- Stanford University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- University of Chicago
- Princeton University
- California Institute of Technology
- Yale University
- Colombia University in the City of New York
- University of Pennsylvania
- Dartmouth College
Harvard has been leading the way among selectivity at American colleges and universities for some time, but is now accepting 4% fewer students from fall 2024 to 2023, The Business Journals reported. Stanford and MIT have followed the trend.
In the U.S., 26 schools with at least 3,000 students posted single-digit acceptance rates in fall 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Education. All of them were private, besides the University of California at Los Angeles.
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