According to the 1908 State University of Iowa Training School for Nurses guide, young women had to meet many requirements to be eligible for admission to the program:

The acceptable age for Candidates is from 22 to 32 (other ages not excluded) average height and weight. A thorough English education is essential, and women of superior education and cultivation will be preferred.

The applicant should have two responsible persons (not relatives) write letters, (directly to the Superintendent of Training School) testifying to her good moral character, and she should enclose with her answers to the paper of questions, a letter from a physician and dentist stating that she is in sound health.

The Training School Committee in conjunction with the superintendent of the Training School will decide as to the fitness of applicants for the work, and the propriety of retaining or dismissing them. They can also, with the approval of the board, discharge a pupil at any time in case of misconduct, inefficiency, or neglect of duty.

Those who prove satisfactory will be accepted as pupils after signing an agreement to the effect that they promise to remain 36 months in the school, and during that time to faithfully obey the rules of the School and Hospital, and to be subordinate to the authorities governing the same.

Courtesy of Heritage Room Collection, University of Iowa College of Nursing.

70. Staff and students of University Hospitals, c. 1915, courtesy of the University of Iowa College of Nursing