Hello. I am intrigued with the University of Iowa’s RAI admission policy. I think it’s terrific to see something that (I think) is pretty straight-forward. So many universities appear to use the “holistic” approach and to me it’s a frustrating game. My daughter doesn’t have a lot of Extra-Curriculars. She is also very quiet/shy/socially anxious, and to be honest the college admissions madness seems to favor the Extroverts of the world. She is interested in creative writing. And she is interested in touring Iowa. Any input is very welcome, thank you! (more info: California residents. Not chasing or interested in “merit aid”.) Also - are there other colleges that do this RAI thing?
Most if not all Iowa Colleges do RAI.
There are only 3 public universities in Iowa and they are all required to admit by the RAI formula. I agree it’s refreshingly simple, but not sure how it would work for the more in demand schools, unless it was the first X number of applicants that met the criteria I guess.
I’m in MN and a lot of kids that can’t get into the University of Minnesota for engineering end up going to Iowa State because it’s a (pretty much) guaranteed in. However, it’s still a rigorous program and I’ve heard there’s a lot of weeding out after the fact, but I haven’t seen any actual stats on that.
Love love love University of Iowa and their very straightforward admissions and financial awards. My daughter was admitted before senior year even began and would have been happy to attend. Great town, happy atmosphere, pretty campus, school spirit, etc. We are from Illinois and found U of Iowa just a friendlier, more appealing school than U of Illinois. Financially it was more affordable too (combination of FA and merit from Iowa, nothing from Illinois). For sure you should visit and see for yourself.
D18 was pretty set on U of Iowa until we went to accepted student weekend at University of San Diego–fell in love. Midwesterners easily swayed by your CA weather and surf!
U of Wyoming has a nice creative writing program and will accept about a week after application (almost guaranteed). You don’t have to chase merit aid, it is pretty straight forward with gpa/ACT score. http://www.uwyo.edu/admissions/scholarships/non-residents/rms.html
My daughter went to Wyoming. I’d probably pick Iowa (I like bigger schools) but the writing program is very competitive so not sure if admission to the university also means admission to the major.
The three public universities in Iowa use the Iowa RAI for automatic admission.
Other moderately selective universities have their own automatic admission stat thresholds. For example:
- Most Texas publics (except UT Austin and UT Dallas) have automatic admission stat thresholds (rank and/or test scores) that out-of-state applicants are eligible for.
- Arizona publics have automatic admission stat thresholds.
- Non-impacted majors at non-impacted CSUs admit at baseline eligibility.