University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a Tier-1 public research university in Iowa City, offering more than 200 majors, minors and certificate programmes across 12 academic colleges. Its automatic international award is among the larger ones recorded: the International Distinction in Education (IDEA) award is described by the US State Department's EducationUSA listing as 'an automatic merit scholarship for admitted international students, ranging from USD 2,000 to USD 15,000 per year', renewing each semester 'for a total of USD 60,000 over 8 semesters of study'. Iowa also operates a no-harm test policy, under which scores are used only if they help, while noting that applicants submitting an ACT of 26 or SAT of 1230 or above 'will have more opportunities for larger merit scholarships'. The hard cutoff is 1 February: applicants after that date are not eligible for merit scholarships at all.