Augustana College is a private, liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The 100-acre campus makes the Augustana College the largest private university in South Dakota. Students, alumni, friends, employees, and those who know the college casually refer to it as “Augie.” Originally named "The Lutheran Normal School" and designated for the purpose of educating teachers, the college in 1918 received its current name after merging with Augustana College in Canton. The consolidation occurred as a result of synod officials finding it fiscally imprudent to have the two institutions so close together, the schools only some 20 miles (32 km) apart. The college nevertheless identifies its founding as 1860, the same as its sister-school (which shares the same name) in Rock Island, Illinois. Augustana derives its name from the Confessio Augustana, the Latin name for the Augsburg Confession of 1530. Augustana consistently receives high rankings among other Midwestern schools. Publications such as The Princeton Review named Augustana a "Best Midwestern College" and U.S. News & World Report listed Augustana as a "Best Buy" in 2009. U.S. News & World Report has labeled the school a top tier baccalaureate college in the Midwest for 13 consecutive years, with Augustana placing third as of 2009. It achieved this ranking again in 2010. Augustana College, as an undergraduate liberal arts school, grants four-year Bachelor of Arts degrees to its students. The school offers 53 majors, 34 minors, and 12 pre-professional programs within a 4-1-4 academic calendar. The top five most popular majors are nursing, biology, business administration, elementary education and psychology. Augustana's stated academic goals are to "promote sensitivity to and appreciation of values essential for students to become effective citizens in local, national and international communities." Central to these goals are five core values—Christian, Liberal Arts, Excellence, Community and Service—that serve as the foundation for the College’s academic and student life programs. The college's curriculum is based on a calendar divided into two 15 week semesters, separated by an interim period of four weeks during January, as well as an optional summer term of eight weeks. Classes may be taken during the month of January. The school offers a 13:1 student-to-faculty ratio, notable members including L. Adrien Hannus and Robert E. Wright.
Graduation requires completion of 130 total credit hours, 59 of which are general education courses, with a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0. "The Augustana Plan," the name of the 59 credit core curriculum, is "designed to develop articulate communicators, competent writers, creative thinkers, skilled problem solvers, and ethically minded, responsible citizens of the world." Extensive internship, study-abroad, undergraduate research and Civitas, the college’s honors program, supplement the curriculum. Between 2007 and 2008, 285 students participated in an international educational experience, and 44% of students study abroad before graduation. US News & World Report values Augustana's financial endowment at $53.3 million. Donations have allowed the school to expand its academic facilities, such as the recent $7 million renovation of the Mikkelsen Library and the planned $45 million reconstruction of the Gilbert Science Complex.
Augustana College Admissions and rankings
Augustana's student body consists of 1,820 undergraduates, 1,694 of whom full-time students and 126 part-time. For the class of 2011, out of an applicant pool of 1,353, Augustana accepted 83%; of the 1,105 that enrolled, 63% were female. US News & World Report classifies Augustana as a "more selective" school, with 62% of the students enrolled having graduated from high school in the top quartile of their class, the average GPA being 3.6. 3% of first-year students submitted SAT scores, with the middle 50% range for the mathematical and critical reading components being 530-630 and 490-640, respectively. ACT test score submissions had a 22-27 middle 50% range, with an average ACT composite score of 25. The school's retention rate of freshmen returning as sophomores is 86%. Those enrolled are primarily from South Dakota (42%) and Minnesota (34%), followed by Iowa (12%) and Nebraska (4%). In the fall of the 2010-2011 academic year, Augustana reported its largest ever incoming class of international students. Fifty-four new students representing 20 countries and 5 continents joined 25 continuing international students for a total of 79 international students from 23 countries, making up about 4.5% of the student body. Although only 46% of students claim a preference for the school's Lutheran religious affiliation, the school is nevertheless composed primarily of students following another Christian denomination, Catholicism being the second largest at 21%; 22% of students, meanwhile, are categorized under "other." In the 2009 U.S. News & World Report ranking of Midwestern colleges, Augustana placed third, and has, for the last consecutive 13 years, been labeled a top tier baccalaureate college. The publication additionally named it a "Best Buy" school, the award based on academic quality in relation to attendance costs. The Princeton Review called Augustana a "Best Midwestern College." Peterson’s 440 Colleges for Top Students featured Augustana, and Harvard Schmarvard: Getting Beyond the Ivy League to the College That is Best for You listed the school as one of its “top 100 outstanding (but under-appreciated) colleges." The Templeton Guide selected Augustana as one of 100 select colleges and universities nationwide as part of its "Templeton Honor Roll."
Augustana College Admission SAT Requirements
Augustana believes in a holistic review of admission candidates. We do, however, identify the following as minimum expectations of first-year applicants:
Grade Point Average of 2.7 (on a 4.0 scale). Augustana average: 3.6.
ACT Composite of 20 (SAT of 950). Augustana average: 25
Top half of your graduating class
Writing competency as demonstrated by admission essay
Official transcript, which shows evidence of a college preparatory program of study, including a recommended curriculum of:
4 years of English
3 years of math
3 years of science
2 years of foreign language
2 years of social science
Students who have completed the General Education Development Exam (GED) must score a minimum of 500 on each of the five GED tests. They are also expected to submit the results of the PSAT, ACT, or SAT exams. Transfer students must possess a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.25 (on a 4.0 scale).
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