For those interested in studying in Iowa, we have a very useful list. We selected the best Iowa institutions for prospective students. Please know that rankings are based on academic research, alumni reviews, graduation rates, as well as assessment from peer colleges. On the page, you will find major admissions stats such as acceptance rate, tuition fees, average SAT scores for each ranked college or university.
| Rankings | Schools |
| 1 | University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA) Tuition: in-state: $8,057, out-of-state: $26,279 Total enrollment: 29,810 Fall 2011 acceptance rate: 79.8% Average freshman retention rate: 85% 6-year graduation rate: 71% Classes with under 20 students: 50.9% SAT/ACT 25th-75th percentile: 23-28 |
| 2 | Iowa State University (Ames, IA) Tuition: in-state: $7,726, out-of-state: $19,838 Total enrollment: 29,611 Fall 2011 acceptance rate: 86.3% Average freshman retention rate: 86% 6-year graduation rate: 68% Classes with under 20 students: 30.4% SAT/ACT 25th-75th percentile: 22-28 |
Highway 66
Highway 66 (US Route 66, Route 66) is one of the most popular historic highways in the United States. Also known as the “Mother of the Roads”, “America’s Main Street”, “The Great Diagonal Road” and the “Will Rogers Highway”, Route 66 stretches 3,940 kilometers from Chicago to Los Angeles. The famous highway passed through the states of Illinois (484 km), Missouri (510 km), Kansas (21 km), Oklahoma (695 km), Texas (299 km), New Mexico (784 km), Arizona (645 km) and California (505 km).
Highway 66 helped to strengthen the economy of the cities and towns through which it passed, and when the highway lost its importance as the most important transportation artery of the United States over time, it became one of the most interesting tourist attractions in the United States.
With the increase in the number of cars in the United States, there was a need to build roads connecting cities and states of the country. The prototype of such highways was the “Old National Road”, also known as the “Ocean to Ocean Highway”. Created back in 1912, the road ran from Baltimore in Maryland to San Francisco in California, but a significant part of it did not have a hard surface and did not satisfy the ever-increasing demands of car owners.
In 1925, the US Congress decided to create a national highway system. One of the first such roads was Route 66, the construction of which began in 1926. The new highway largely repeated the route of the “Old National Road”, but went much further south. Only twelve years later, in 1938, a hard surface was laid along the entire length of the highway, but the new road almost immediately became in demand and popular.
Already in 1927, in the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Highway 66 Association was created, whose task was to develop and popularize the new road. One of the first publicity events associated with the track was the 1928 transcontinental run from Los Angeles to New York, most of which took place along Route 66. Among the celebrities who supported this event was an extremely popular American artist and showman, Oklahoma native Will Rogers. Later, it was his name that the fans named the famous road. In Santa Monica, California, where Route 66 ends, a plaque has been erected in honor of Will Rogers.
Highway 66, once one of America’s finest roads of its time, has become one of the nation’s most important highways. In the thirties, it was along Route 66 that moved west to the fertile valleys of California, immigrants from Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, affected by devastating dust storms. During the Second World War, military supplies were transported along Route 66, and in the fifties numerous tourists traveled along it to the Pacific coast.