AHS must approve the courses allowed to be taken at ISU under PSEO. To qualify under the PSEO, students may not enroll in a course in an eligible postsecondary education institution if a comparable course is available in the local school district or community college which is defined in rules adopted by the board of directors of the public school district. Further, the student must meet the entry requirements of the postsecondary institution. Under the act, the school district pays the cost of the course. These are high demand classes for ISU students since all three are required by all ISU students for graduation and are not allowed to be taken at ISU under PSEO:

For any student requesting an upper-division course (300 or 400 level - where there's not a placement exam or not continuing on a series),the PSEO Academic Adviser (Dan Rice) must review prior to registering a student in the course. 

• Exceptions where Registrar's office will not need Dan's approval include:

  • ENGL 150 and ENGL 250: not available for PSEO students due to high enrollment demands on these courses from our degree-seeking students.

  • Apparel, Merchandise and Design (A M D)  courses: are not allowed for PSEO students.

  • Chemistry courses: Students will need to take ALEKS and have high enough ACT or SAT scores to register.

  • Engineering courses (orientation courses): can register the week before classes start. PSEO Registrar Coordinator will get approval before registering students. 

  • Honors seminar/courses: PSEO Registrar Coordinator will contact Honors Program Office before registering students.

  • Mathematics: The ALEKS placement exam is required before student takes first math course at ISU. https://math.iastate.edu/academics/undergraduate/aleks/taking-the-aleks/

    • If the student wants Math 166 or 265, they have to take the blackboard exam too.

  • Music classes (not lesson - illegal according to PSEO handbook): can register students the first week of classes. (Music lessons are not allowed as a part of PSEO). 

    • Music Theory (MUSIC 224) - can't register until first week and must be approved via slip by the instructor.

  • Orientation courses: check with the college. May be appropriate if coming to ISU the following term. Cannot be R credit - according to PSEO laws.

  • Restricted to certain majors: must have department approval.

  • WLC courses (Spanish, etc.): Placement exams required for entry into first WLC course (Spanish,etc.) taken at Iowa State unless it is the beginners course (101). 

Additional Information regarding Speech Communications and English 150/250: 

ENG 150/250

• AP Lang and Comp can be taken at AHS as a dual-credit course (granting both credits at AHS and DMACC concurrently). The DMACC credits granted for this course is ENG 105/106 which transfers to ISU as ENG 150/250. Therefore, it is not necessary to sit for the AP Exam for this course. 

  • • • Additionally, students who score the following on ACT/SAT exams meet the six-credit hour graduation requirement and will be placed in English 250 or 250H and will earn an additional 3 hours of English 150 “T” (test-out) credit if they meet the placement criteria based on ACT/SAT test scores and receive a “C” or better in English 250/250H taken at Iowa State University.

        • • ACT-E SCORES of 24 or higher

          • SAT-ERW SCORES of 600 or higher

• Therefore, if a student has already taken the ACT/SAT and received the above test scores, the student can start at ISU in ENG 250 (Comp 2).  ISU doesn’t waive Comp 1 if only Comp 2 is taken elsewhere.  For those wanting to have Comp 2 (ENG 106/250) done in high school, both (DMACC ENG 105/106= ISU ENG 150/250) would need to be taken in the high school years.