High Acceptance Rate? Something does not make sense

I have a question regarding the IU acceptance rate. I see that overall they have a 78% acceptance rate. I know IU wants good act scores in the range of 28-30 so something does not make sense. I know that an acceptance rate and how good a school are do not always correlate, I get it. However, it does seem a bit strange that the acceptance rate is so high. Is there something I am missing? My son wants to apply direct admit to Kelley, and I know the requirements are higher but I was just curious as to what you folks think. Thanks

According to their Common Data Set, 51% of IU’s incoming freshmen had an ACT composite from 24-29. Only 29% were above that.

https://www.iu.edu/~uirr/reports/compliance/cds/2015/IUBLA/C

My D goes to one of the largest HS in the state. According to our Naviance account, last year 622 students applied, 475 were accepted and 251 enrolled. My guess is that a lot of the ones who were accepted were accepted into the university division and not as direct admit’s to the schools of choice or were undecided in majors. Getting accepted into the university division is a lot easier than the direct admit programs. If you’re not direct admit, then each school has its thresholds for acceptance coming out of the university division. If your son doesn’t get in as a direct admit and only into the university division then make sure he understand what it will take to get into Kelly from the university division.

Thank You . I see this at alot of universities. If you do not get into the direct admit it is very hard to transfer once you are in the university. You are so right, you better know what it takes to get in if not accepted as a direct admit or you may be very disappointed.

@euve69 maybe someone who is in Kelly will post but I think you have to have B’s or better in all classes in order to apply to Kelly. Check out some of the old post on Kelly School of Business there may be more information. Those who don’t get into Kelly can still get a business degree from IU it just won’t be the Kelly School of Business degree that is highly sought after.

Yes, most schools seem to be going to the acceptance into the University divisions and then having to apply again to get into your potential School for your major. It wasn’t like that back in my day so that is a bit of an adjustment then what I experienced. It’s not enough to know what gets you into the University, you also need to know what it takes to get into the program of study you want. Good Luck.

The high acceptance rate also explains IU’s low retention and graduation rates compared to say University of Michigan.

@TomSrOfBoston

I agree. When you look at a school like Duke that has a 97% retention rate, it shows you that they are making the correct choices when accepting students. IU is an interesting case because the university itself looks average on the face of it. Especially with the high acceptance rate. However, IU has one of the best business schools in the country. Usually you see a school like U of Michigan, or Duke, Columbia etc and they have great business schools, but the entire university is great. With IU, they have an average to above average university, but a top 20 business school. You do not see that too often.

@euve69 And a top music school too!

Theater program!

And foreign language /ir+!