Coe College Admission
Coe College Undergraduate Program
Coe College Application

The Facts

Coe College is a small, private institution located in the town of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. In fact, it is one of the oldest insitutions in the state, as it was founded as early as the year 1851. The school is home to over 1,200 undergraduate students and approximately 150 graduate and part-time professional students, who are able to take courses in both the liberal arts and sciences, as well as preprofessional studies. The academic divisions offer broad majors in the areas of biological science (home to an innovative program in molecular biology), business, communications and the arts (which has a surprisingly good theater program, as well as a hard to find major in public relations), computer and physical sciences, education, engineering and environmental design, health professions (a large program with majors in pre-medicine and pre-dentistry, as well as a popular program in physical therapy), and the social sciences. Coe College offers its students a fairly wide range of majors in both the liberal arts and sciences as well as preprofessional studies, however, some of the most popular with students include majors in the areas of chemistry, physics, psychology, business administration, and biology.

Admission to Coe College is extremely competitive among the relatively few students who apply; last year, over 1,140 students applied for admission to the school, approximately 900 of those students were accepted, and 310 matriculated. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1130 to 1200, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 24 to 30. Additionally, more than 80% of the admitted students were ranked in the top 10% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about a 3.8.

Coe College has a very manageable student to faculty ratio of 16:1, and very rarely are there any lecture courses held. Students agree that the classes are engaging, as they are usually held in discussion formats where all students get a chance to have their voices heard. Professors themselves also get very high marks from their students in terms of accessibility and willingness to help students when they may need it.

The Social Scene

Cedar Rapids is one of the largest cities in the state. There are plenty of social and cultural offerings for students, and plenty of entertainment to keep them quite busy on the weekends. The college is also home to eight national fraternities and sororities which are quite popular with students, and many join a Greek organization at some point during their collegiate careers. Partying is big at Coe, and alcohol seems to fuel the partying in a big way. For those students not too interested in partying, the college offers over 60 student groups and organizations that are very easy to become involved in.

The dating scene isn’t terrifically diverse, but we hear that the students are so easy on the eyes it doesn’t even matter...

What’s Good

“I really like the area around the campus. There’s plenty to do that’s very student friendly.”

“The professors here go above and beyond to make sure you get the most out of their classes. That extra effort makes all the difference.”

“Even though we’re a very small school, we have a party scene like none other.”

What’s Bad

“The school is a bit too small for me; after seeing the same people day after day after day, it begins to become a bit tiresome.”

“Cedar Rapids is nice and all, but after awhile, you begin to get a little stir-crazy.”

“There isn’t really anything to do on campus besides party, and even that gets old after awhile.”

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