Iowa State University Business Programs

Iowa State University is a public institution situated in Ames, Iowa. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

Iowa State University Rankings

According to our 2023 analysis, Iowa State is ranked #124 out of 1,477 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation. It is also ranked #3 out of 26 schools in Iowa.

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Iowa State has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#57	Best Business Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#118	Best Business Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#136	Best Business Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Iowa State.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best General Sales & Marketing Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#8	Best Agricultural Economics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#20	Best Hospitality Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#22	Best Managerial Economics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#24	Best Entrepreneurial Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#25	Best Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#31	Best International Business Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#55	Best Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#88	Best Business Administration & Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#106	Best Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Iowa State has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Best General Sales & Marketing Graduate Degree Schools	College Factual
#12	Best Hospitality Management Schools	College Factual
#55	Best Accounting Schools	College Factual
#56	Best Business Administration & Management Schools	College Factual
#81	Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools	College Factual
#127	Best Schools	Course Advisor

Where Is Iowa State University?

Contact details for Iowa State are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	1750 Beardshear Hall, Ames, IA 50011-2103
Phone:	515-294-4111
Website:	www.iastate.edu
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/IowaStateU
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/IowaStateU

How Do I Get Into Iowa State?

You can apply to Iowa State online at: www.admissions.iastate.edu/apply/

Admission Requirements for Iowa State

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	considered but not required
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	neither required nor recommended
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into Iowa State?

Since Iowa State has an acceptance rate of 88%, it is not too hard to gain acceptance into the school. Still, you need to be sure you complete your application in full and send in any other requested documents.

Approximately 53% of accepted students are men and 47% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 88%, and the acceptance rate for women is 89%.

Average Test Scores

About 17% of students accepted to Iowa State submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 480 and 630. Math scores were between 530 and 680.

Iowa State received ACT scores from 85% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 21 and 28. Math scores were between 21 and 28. Composite scores were between 21 and 28.

Can I Afford Iowa State University?

The overall average net price of Iowa State is $28,315. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Iowa State, approximately 51% of students took out student loans averaging $8,003 a year. That adds up to $32,012 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Iowa State is 2.4%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Iowa State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 26,843 undergraduate students at Iowa State, with 25,271 being full-time and 1,572 being part-time.

There are also 4,979 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 25,271 full-time undergraduates at Iowa State, 56% are male and 44% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Iowa State University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	981
Black or African American	640
Hispanic or Latino	1,631
White	19,454
International Students	952
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,613

Geographic Diversity

Iowa students aren't the only ones who study at Iowa State University. At this time, 43 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 120 countries are represented at Iowa State. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and Malaysia.

Online Learning at Iowa State University

In 2019-2020, 28,334 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Iowa State has changed over the last few years.

Online Affordability Rankings of Iowa State

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Iowa State University was $9,316 for in-state students. Out-of-state students paid $24,504. The following table shows how Iowa State is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Agricultural Economics & Business	#1	#4
Agricultural Economics	#1	#1
Other Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods	#7	#18
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	#13	#38

Online Growth Rankings of Iowa State

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Iowa State University was 53.8%. This is the #536 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Iowa State regardless of major.

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Iowa State ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at Iowa State.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Agricultural Economics	#1
Agricultural Economics & Business	#4
Other Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods	#6
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	#36

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Iowa State University Business Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Finance	258	1	23	0	282
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	270	0	0	0	270
Supply Chain Management	197	0	0	0	197
General Business Administration and Management	153	0	0	6	159
Accounting	156	0	0	0	156
Agribusiness/Agricultural Business Operations	121	0	0	0	121
Farm/Farm & Ranch Management	115	0	0	0	115
Meeting and Event Planning	86	0	0	0	86
Public Relations	69	0	0	0	69
Advertising	66	0	0	0	66
General Economics	38	0	1	11	50
Other Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods	16	13	15	0	44
Entrepreneurship	39	0	0	0	39
International Business/Trade/Commerce	29	0	0	0	29
General Hospitality Administration/Management	18	0	1	3	22
Business Economics	14	0	0	0	14
Agricultural Economics	0	0	1	0	1
Operations Management	0	0	0	0	0
Transportation/Mobility Management	0	0	0	0	0
Management Science	0	0	0	0	0
General Management Information Systems	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	1,645	14	41	20	1,720

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Jamo2008 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.