Beginning Freshmen

Start your journey as a freshman

We’re so excited about your interest in Indiana University Indianapolis. As one of the nation's premier urban research universities, IU Indianapolis has everything you want in a college experience—an affordable, world-class education with countless opportunities to gain hands-on experience and get involved in Indy and surrounding communities.

We're here to help you navigate the entire application process, from preparing your application, to submitting your application, to knowing what to expect after your application is submitted

What we look for in applicants

At IU Indianapolis, we believe that no matter where you're from, there's nowhere you can't go. We take several things into account when determining your eligibility for admission, which includes reviewing academic factors and your personal experiences.

No single GPA determines if you are admissible to IU Indianapolis. Instead, we take a holistic approach to your application, reviewing academic factors as well as your personal experiences and attributes as we consider what you can contribute to our community. 

The average freshman is admitted to IU Indianapolis with about a 3.5 cumulative GPA; however, many students are admitted with either higher or lower GPAs. In fact, the middle 50% of our applicant pool carry GPAs that range between 3.21 and 3.92, and for those who submit test scores, those tend to be between 990-1160 for the SAT and 21-27 for the ACT.

View our student profile for our most recent freshmen class

Maybe you do great on standardized tests. Maybe they’re not your thing. We want to see the best of you, so we let you choose whether or not to include the SAT or ACT in your application. Admission consideration is the same either way — we give the same consideration to students who apply with or without their test scores.

If you decide for your admission to include your SAT and/or ACT scores, the average incoming freshman scores 1120 on the SAT and 22 on the ACT. IUPUI does super score, meaning we'll take the highest components from each time you take the exam and review your highest combined results.

When applying with your scores, we recommend having them sent to us directly from the agency. Our code for the SAT is 1325, and our code for the ACT is 1214.

IU Indianapolis applicants are required to have graduated from high school or secondary school or have received comparable results from an equivalency exam.

US applicants

If you attend or have attended high school in Indiana, you are expected to earn a Core 40 diploma and are encouraged to earn a Core 40 with Academic Honors diploma. If you attend or have attended high school in another state, you are expected to complete a high school curriculum equivalent to Indiana’s Core 40.

International applicants

You'll need to graduate from an accredited secondary school or provide examination results that show an equivalent level of academic achievement, such as O levels or a general equivalency diploma (GED).

Homeschool or alternative school applicants

If you are homeschooled or attend an alternative school, regardless if you are a US or international applicant, you should submit credentials that demonstrate equivalent levels of achievement and ability.

How to apply for admission

The first step towards your admission to IU Indianapolis is to submit your application by our posted deadlines for the term you are applying. You can usually apply for admission as a beginning freshman as early as one year before your semester starts.

  • The application for fall admissions is usually available on or around August 1
  • The applications for spring and summer admission are usually available on or around February 1

When you're ready to apply, you'll want to make sure to follow the steps below to make sure you are submitting a complete application.

With more than 100 undergraduate majors across 15 undergraduate degree-granting schools, chances are we have the major you are looking for at IU Indianapolis. And if you still aren't sure of your major, no problem. You can check out options in our 12 areas of academic interest, or apply as an exploratory student to find the right fit for you. 

You have two choices when you're ready to apply for beginning freshman admission to IU Indianapolis: the Apply IU application or the Common Application. Which one you use is completely up to you — we do not give preference or special consideration to one over the other. 

If you are planning to apply to more than one Indiana University campus, you can do this through the Apply IU application and pay only one application fee. The Common Application will allow you to apply to IU Indianapolis, as well as any of the other 900+ schools also using the application.

Do you have a fee waiver code? Fee waiver codes are only valid on the Apply IU application and will not work on the Common Application.

When you submit your application, you must pay a $65 nonrefundable application fee. If you apply online, you can pay the fee with a credit card at the time you submit your application. 

We'll waive the application fee for students who demonstrate financial need. 

If you're an Indiana 21st Century Scholar, your application fee will automatically be waived by indicating this on your application. 

You can request a fee waiver by: 

  • Submitting an ACT, College Board, or NACAC fee waiver request form through your high school counselor. 
  • Having your high school counselor submit a request on school letterhead or from their official school email account. 

If you apply online and request a fee waiver, the form must arrive by the date you designate on your application. 

The quickest way for us to make a decision on your application is to have your high school send us your transcripts electronically through a delivery service like Parchment or Naviance.  

You can also have your high school send us a sealed official transcript through the mail. Transcripts should be mailed to:

IU Indianapolis Office of Undergraduate Admissions
Campus Center 255
420 University Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46202

Please note, we cannot accept PDFs of transcripts.

If you are applying to IU Indianapolis through a test-inclusive review, you'll need to submit your SAT or ACT scores to complete your application. When you take either of these tests, you’ll be asked to choose the universities to which you want your scores sent. Use our school codes below to have your scores sent to IU Indianapolis directly from the testing agency:

  • SAT code: 1325
  • ACT code: 1214

Self-report SAT or ACT scores

You can also choose to apply with self-reported SAT or ACT scores; however, you will need to send official scores to us after you are admitted, and before you register for your summer orientation session. We recommend submitting official scores at the same time you commit to IU Indianapolis with your enrollment deposit.

Provide your self-reported test scores

If you are applying for admission to IU Indianapolis as an international applicant on a non-immigrant visa, the process for you to submit your documents to IU Indianapolis International Admissions is different from students who reside in the US. 

Review what materials we need and how to submit them

If you are a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, refugee, asylee, or undocumented immigrant who has completed secondary and/or postsecondary education outside the U.S., you will apply through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. U.S. citizens who attend American, international, or U.S. Department of Defense schools that hold U.S. accreditation also apply through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

To apply, you will follow the admission process for freshman applicants. After the Office of Undergraduate Admissions receives your application for admission, we will submit a request for Educational Credentials Evaluators (ECE) to review your credentials for any secondary and/or postsecondary education you completed outside the U.S. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions submits the evaluation request directly to ECE on your behalf and pays the evaluation fee—you do not have to make the request or pay the fee yourself.

You can view the required documents for your country of education on the ECE website. Use the dropdown menu in step 2 under “5 Easy Steps to Apply” to select your country of education. You do not have to complete any of the other steps in the checklist; the Office of Undergraduate Admissions will handle those for you.

We will send instructions for submitting the required documents to ECE to the email address you provided on your application for admission. All documents must be sent directly to ECE, not to IU Indianapolis. Documents submitted to IU Indianapolis will not be returned or forwarded to ECE. Documents must be received by ECE by the priority application deadline.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions will make an admission decision after we have received notification that ECE has evaluated your credentials. We use ECE’s evaluation to determine your level of prior education and whether you qualify as a freshman, transfer, second degree, or nondegree student. We will accept only an evaluation that we request directly from ECE.

Information for students with prior behavioral or academic conduct

As part of IU Indianapolis' commitment to maintaining a safe campus community, you must disclose on your application prior conduct that resulted in legal or academic disciplinary measures.  

  • Have been subject to formal disciplinary action (including, but not limited to, suspension or expulsion) for academic or nonacademic reasons at any high school, postsecondary institution, college, or university.
  • Have been charged or convicted of a crime (or a foreign legal equivalent) that has not been expunged by a court.
  • Have any currently pending criminal charges (or a foreign legal equivalent) against you.
  • Have engaged in any behavior that caused injury to any person(s) or property (including, but not limited to, vandalism or behavior that led to a restraining order against you) that resulted in some form of discipline or intervention.

 

You will not automatically be denied admission to IU Indianapolis if you have a previous conviction or disciplinary action, but your application must be reviewed by the Admissions Committee before an admission decision is made. It can take up to four to six weeks for the Admissions Committee to review applicants with disclosures.

If you meet the criteria above, you will need to provide IU Indianapolis with a detailed statement of your prior conduct and, if applicable, grant us consent to access any legal records associated with your disclosure.  

Learn more and disclose your information

Campus safety and security reports

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, containing policy statements, crime and fire statistics for all Indiana University campuses, is available online. You may also request a physical copy by emailing IU Public Safety at iups@iu.edu or by visiting IUPD.