College profile
Drake University
IA · Private nonprofit · Mid-size city · 7,741 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The campus itself adds earnings power. Opportunity Insights tracks it: only about 4% of students arrive from the bottom income fifth, but those who do reach the top fifth by their 30s at a 48% rate — a strong sign the outcomes here are the campus, not just the intake.
- The 6× payoff headline requires aid. Without aid this runs ~$64,835/yr. There's no income cutoff for need-based aid — whether you qualify depends on the gap between a school's price and your family's finances, so at a price like this even six-figure incomes often show need. Families who receive aid average ~$29,127/yr — against that, ten years of median earnings run ~6× the cost. Run the college's own net-price calculator before anchoring on the multiple.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
Moderately selectiveSolid match for academically prepared students.
Best for
- Solid academic profiles — the admitted-student bands above are within reach for strong students
- Students focused on Business, Management, & Marketing (the school's signature program)
- Families wanting a small undergraduate experience
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1190, or ACT below 24, or unweighted GPA below ~3.50 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.
Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
8% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 31% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What Drake University actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Drake University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$460K ahead at full price +$603K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Drake University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Drake University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Drake University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods. | $97,132 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | $90,639 |
| Economics. | $88,638 |
| Finance and Financial Management Services. | $88,637 |
| Accounting and Related Services. | $87,582 |
| Management Information Systems and Services. | $87,551 |
| Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration. | $75,867 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | $73,523 |
| Marketing. | $71,246 |
| Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology. | $67,547 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
AI program signal
AI + computing education at Drake University
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
Alternatives to Drake University
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
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Deciding on Drake University?
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantDrake University is a private nonprofit four-year college in IA. It admitted 64% of applicants (7,741 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1190–1390, ACT 24–30. 8% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 31% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Cost: about $29,127 a year on average with aid, $64,835 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $71,901 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $602,502 ahead with aid, $459,670 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods ($97,132); Computer and Information Sciences, General ($90,639); Economics ($88,638).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 4% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 48% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/drake-university.json