December 1 is the Early Action Priority Deadline for all programs.

Early Action Priority Applicants will be eligible for the following benefits:

• Priority notification for admission and the Presidential Scholarship
  • Notification between October 15 and January 15
• Priority for housing preferences

March 1 is the regular decision deadline to submit your application and supporting materials for all programs.

• Applications received after the December 1 Early Action Priority Deadline will be considered until the March 1 Regular Decision Deadline, with rolling notification of admission, Presidential Scholarship, and financial aid throughout the spring.
• Applications received after the March 1 Regular Decision Deadline will be considered on a space-available basis.

Complete one* of the following:

• Drake University Application
• Common Application, including the Common Application Member Questions specific to Drake University

Choose either method to apply. Both options are given equal consideration for admission. There is no application fee when applying online.

*Notice to Students in Nigeria: If you are a student applying to Drake University from within Nigeria, you are required to begin your application process through GIEVA, Drake’s admission partner in Nigeria. Please reach out to GIEVA by emailing them at Contact@gieva.org. If you apply directly to Drake without first going through GIEVA, it will significantly delay your admission decision.

If you wish to improve your language proficiency before beginning an academic program at Drake, you may apply for admission to an academic program at the same time that you apply for the Intensive English Program. With the exception of the pre-pharmacy program, Drake offers conditional admission to those applicants who meet the University’s academic requirements, but first need to improve English language skills.

Since we review each application for admission individually, there is no single, inflexible set of standards—such as GPA or test score. First-year students are required to complete an online application and submit high school transcripts. In addition,first-year students can choose the Test Score Pathway or Test-Optional Pathway.

• Test Score Pathway- submit ACT or SAT scores
• Test-Optional Pathway - Choice of submitting an application essay OR partipating in an admission interview.

You can visit our Test-Optional FAQs for more details.

Original or certified copies of academic records or transcripts in official form, including exam results, must be submitted by the educational institution directly to Drake either by mail or electronically. 

Photocopies, scans, or faxes of academic records submitted by students without a fresh seal or stamp of the school, college, or university attended are not accepted as official. Academic records are not considered to be official if certified by notaries, commissioners of oaths, or translators, regardless of how they are submitted.

For first-year applicants, official academic records from all secondary schools attended must be submitted whether or not a diploma was earned. Academic records include yearly secondary school records and certified results from external examinations. 

After initial review, the admission committee may request a credential evaluation.

All documents must be in English.  Translated records should be an exact translation (not interpretive) and be accompanied by the official, original-language document.

Sending documents to Drake:

You can email your official documents to: International@drake.edu

You can mail your official documents to:         

Office of Admission
Drake University
2507 University Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa 50311-4505 U.S.A.

While English proficiency is not required to apply for and be admitted into a Drake undergraduate program, admitted students must meet a minimum English proficiency score and submit proof to International Admission within the Global Engagement Office before the creation of an I-20 can occur. Students who attended high school or another higher education institution in an English-speaking country are exempt from providing proof of English proficiency.

Students not from an English-speaking country can satisfy the English proficiency requirement using any of the following options:

• TOEFL iBT:  Minimum overall score of 71.  Drake's TOEFL school code is 6168.
• IELTS:  Minimum overall score of 6.0.
• Duolingo English Test:  Minimum overall score of 105.
• Pearson Test of English: Minimum overall score of 48.
• SAT:  Minimum score of 500 on the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section.  Drake's SAT code is 6168.
• ACT:  Minimum score of 19 on the English section.  Drake's ACT code is 1302.
• International Baccalaureate (IB): A score of 5-7 or grade of A or B on HL English.

We strongly recommend that you send English proficiency test scores to Drake during the admission process to quicken the I-20 creation process. Students who do not prove English proficiency by August 1 for a fall semester start or by January 1 for a spring semester start will be required to enroll in the Intensive English Program (IEP) at Drake for that semester, thus delaying the start of their program studies by one semester.

Drake University offers a test-optional admission pathway.

If you choose the "test-optional" pathway, you are not required to submit an ACT or SAT score for review. Instead you will choose to complete either an admission interview or essay as a part of your application.

If you choose the "Test-Score" pathway and would prefer to submit your ACT or SAT scores instead, you must send an official copy of your ACT or SAT test scores sent to the Office of Admission from the appropriate testing agency.

• Drake University ACT school code: 1302
• Drake University SAT school code: 6168

Drake also accepts the CSAT from South Korea as a valid test score for admission.

Starting with students applying for the Spring and Fall 2022 enrollment terms, Drake will superscore either the SAT and the ACT. ("Superscore" means that Drake will combine your highest section scores to form a new composite score, even if the section scores are from different test sittings.)

A recommendation, while not required, is strongly encouraged.

The renewable International Student Grant may offer a partial award toward financial need. This grant, however, will not provide full funding.  Although it may be awarded along with other scholarships, the total combined aid will not exceed 40% of the total cost of attendance.

A link to the grant application process is provided within your Drake admission application.

Please view the Scholarship and Financial Aid Opportunities for International Students for more information.